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A CHILD BORN without most of his skull has reached his first birthday.
Jaxon Buell, who has been nicknamed Jaxon Strong, was initially incorrectly diagnosed with a variety of conditions, before doctors later found that he had Microhydraencephaly, a severe abnormality of brain development.
The condition does not have a clear cause and cannot be cured.
At birth Jaxon’s parents were told that he would not be expected to speak, hear or see and would not live more than a few months.
Strong progress
Speaking to Fox 35, his parents Brittany and Brandon, said that the experience was new to them and that they had been lucky to have the support of family and friends around them.
Jaxon’s mother Britany is currently staying at home with the child full time.
Around one in 4,859 babies in the United States are born with the condition every year, with most of these dying soon after childbirth.
Campaign
To support Jaxon, his family are asking people to support them online and have set up a GoFundMe page.
Speaking about his progress, his family have said: “Ultimately, Jaxon will need a miracle long-term. We continue to ask for support and prayers, as it is a blessing that his Mom continues to stay home with him for constant care, nurturing and development”
Individuals are asked to tweet their messages of support with the hashtag #JaxonStrong.
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God bless him poor little chap
Such a beautiful looking child. That must be heart breaking for any parents to have to deal with. Knowing that they could lose their child at anytime. I don’t know if I could deal with something like that.
You’d have no choice but to deal with it if it happened, and people are much stronger than we give them credit for. There’s a well-spring of strength and coping abilities we have as humans that when called on through necessity, bring out the best in us.
Agreed Sgt Pepper. While people can deal with circumstances when they arise, through resilience, it is the aftermath that creates the major psychological problems. Every parent will do the utmost possible for a child.
Absolutely, after the initial wrench you’d adapt and do whatever you needed for your kid.
Check out the eyes on that little hero though!
You little legend.
If the “pro choice” brigade had had their “choice”, he would have been aborted in the womb
We just call it fatal foetal abnormality.
You do realise that this couple are American, where abortion is freely carried out without question. The fact that young Jaxon has just reached his first birthday, provides all the clues you need to determine this family’s view on abortion.
No, you see we believe in “choice”, both for any woman who decides that the trauma of bringing a child into the world to inevitably lose it is too much, and also for women who decide to carry through to full term and they have the required support to allow team to do so with dignity and respect.
Dignity and respect being the key points.
You however would probably prefer to strap a woman down and force her to continue with an unwanted pregnancy against her will or ship her out of the country to become someone else’s problem.
Idiot.
Patrick you are an idiot. That family had the choice for an abortion and they didn’t. The key is in the word. Pro-CHOICE. Nobody is forcing anyone to have an abortion, or a baby they don’t want. Well, Ireland is, but let’s not go there, since we have the UK.
That’s the meaning of pro-CHOICE.
Obviously not fatal, so not FFA. Clearly living up to half your name.
One rare case should not preclude all treatments. For example, if a person with kidney issues shows unexpected improvements, should we make kidney transplants illegal. It’s great that this child is doing well, but all mothers should not have to carry a child with such a condition only to watch them die in agony in their arms.
Daisy, he’s actually right though so your condescending tone isn’t necessary. A fatal foetal abnormality is a condition in which the majority of cases will result in death either immediately after or soon after birth.
There are exceptions to the rule and some children with fatal foetal abnormalities can survive for extended periods but the prognosis is always slim with a poor quality of life even if the child miraculously survives.
Socrates was not aborted in the womb.
To those that are saying – its all about choice – can you please read up on Miss C and tell me what was her choice?
Paul are you going to make a credible and decipherable point in an effort to contribute or just point out the obvious?
You mean you haven’t deciphered it yet?
Socrates is slow.
Mucky, you just made the argument for open access to abortion while trying to provide an argument against it. The entire C Case came about explicitly because of Ireland’s hostile legal framework towards abortions. If there was a system here in Ireland which provided clear access to information relating to abortion as well as the services to carry out said abortions, the travesty that was the C Case would not have happened.
Instead Ms. C was provided no information relating to abortion and could not make an informed decision. She was also provided inadequate care both abroad and here in Ireland again due to Ireland’s hostile legal framework.
I can try assume what you mean Mr Roche, but I would rather you spell it out so that I don’t mistakinly conclude anything. Accurancy is aim, not abject conclusions.
1997 C Case
A 13 year old girl, known as Miss C, is raped and becomes pregnant. The Eastern Health Board takes C into its care and in accordance with the girl’s wishes, obtains orders from the District Court to take C abroad for an abortion. C’s parents challenge these orders in the High Court. The High Court rules that as Miss C was likely to take her own life if forced to continue with the pregnancy, she was entitled to an abortion in Ireland by virtue of the Supreme Court judgement in the 1992 X Case. Miss C travels to England for the abortion.
“in accordance with the girl’s wishes”
As it turns out, Ireland’s continuous attempt to brush abortion under the carpet has only contributed to the creation of a framework that is, as Jason so accurately describes, hostile to women who might need or want an abortion.
Because ‘abortions do not happen here’, we have a historical lack of trained staff. Staff that would be able to provide counsel, advise of ALL the options available, etc. If proper counsel had been given things might have been different today.
Nothing will change until the 8th is repealed and new legislation is brought forward.
Think the point is people like Jaxon don’t always get a choice on whether they should be allowed to live. Little dignity and less respect in that choice.
Thank you Brian.
Whoever is abusing the name of Socrates needs to smarten up. The miracle that is Jaxons life is not a reason to promote abortion as a “treatment”. His parents are to be commended, not held up as examples of people who made the wrong “choice”.
Who the hell said these parents made the wrong choice? They made the choice that was right for them and all possible support and resources should be provided to assist them. Everyone above was making the case that “choice” is the operative word and that in Ireland, women are given no choice at all.
They absolutely made the wrong choice. Paul, you may notice another poster initially used this poor boys situation as a tool to deny abortion to all and control women. Is that appropriate? Not in my mind, hence my challenge. You seem to consider yourself smart but clearly missed the point and reason for this topic. Read it a few times and get back to us matey
Apologies, that was meant to say they absolutely made the right choice
The c case didn’t want her abortion neither did her parents. She was forced to have one and now deeply regrets that.
Fiona, Socrates is Looking Stupid would be the answer to your question.
You have a more sophisticated grip on your sale of “Choice” than it does.
Paul, ad hominem exposes your immaturity. Care to make a point and add something or are you just here to insult like a child?
Patrick it was America they have choice
Oh get lost, Minford. Stop trying to hijack the topic for your own agenda.
My “agenda” is to stop babies being killed
I made my point Socky, you just didn’t, or chose not to understand it.
You made an attack. And if that’s the only point you can manage to make, I pity you.
What a gorgeous little fella.
so beautiful I wish his a happy and healthy life
Happy birthday x
see those eyes awww… :-)
happy birthday Jaxon xx
The child will never know its own condition.
It will lack all understanding.
The frontal lobes of the brain (within the high forehead) are what makes humans uniquely smart.
A little fighter!
One thing for sure, he’ll be way ahead of his peers by the time he reaches adulthood because he’ll be overcoming challenges constantly. He’ll need all the support he can get, but could turn out to be a very confident and intelligent young man.
No he won’t. It’s incredibly unlikely that he’ll survive more than a few years. He will be neither confident nor intelligent because he does not have the capacity to be.
He won’t even have the ability to communicate even if he does survive unfortunately. It’s impossible to change the fact that he was born without large parts of his skull or brain with modern technology.
He won’t even have the ability to communicate?! There is no need to make assumptions.
My son was born with hydranencephaly, he lived for 23 months.
He was able to communicate.
Some patients with this neurological disorder may develop only minor neurological problems and have normal intelligence.
That is an outrageous comment! I surely don’t need to tell you why?
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