Doctors at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital are being credited with helping to save and improve the life of a 2-year-old boy who was severely injured in a car accident.
The Staub family was vacationing in Mexico in April when their minivan was hit by an armored car. The impact disconnected 2-year-old Oliver Staub's head from his spinal cord. Oliver was airlifted to a hospital in Mexico City, and his father, Stefan Staub, says the outlook was grim.
"They told us that Oliver is not leaving the hospital. That Oliver has had a stroke. The pictures look very bad. So he will die by his own between five to seven days and that we should think about donating his organs," recalls Staub.
The family refused to give up, and began searching for doctors around the world who might be able to help--eventually connecting with Dr. Mohamad Bydon at UChicago Medicine.
"It's really an injury that's considered not consistent with life," explained Dr. Bydon.
Still, Dr. Bydon and his team agreed to help, and after two risky spinal cord surgeries in July, Oliver is now moving his fingers and toes and talking, laughing, and smiling again.
His mother Laura Staub-Garcia can't thank Dr. Bydon enough, saying "he didn’t promise us a miracle, but he delivered one. Now we know that there's a chance."