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John Mellencamp had an operation at six-weeks-old where doctors were forced to cut off his head

John Mellencamp and band perform at Farm Aid 2023, on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, at Ruoff Misic Center in Noblesville Ind.
John Mellencamp and band perform at Farm Aid 2023, on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, at Ruoff Misic Center in Noblesville Ind.
Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

You know, most people don't recover after having their heads cut off, but most people aren't John Mellencamp.

In a new interview with Esquire, Mellencamp revealed that after being born with spina bifida, doctors were forced to operate on him at just six-weeks-old where the procedure involved cutting off his head.


Mellencamp told the magazine, "I had my head cut off when I was six weeks old.  There were three other kids who had that same operation that day. The other kids died, and I lived. One girl made it for a while, and I used to see her at basketball games. She was paralyzed from the neck down. She died when she was about, I don't know, thirteen."

The singer didn't even find out about his procedure until he was 12-years-old, and a schoolmate asked about the scar on his neck.

In the '50s when Mellencamp was born, most surgeons waited until patients were at least six-months-old, Dr Robert Heimburger, carried out an experimental procedure on him at just six weeks, charging the his parents just $1 fee.

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