A US woman based in Illinois has got a new lease of life after doctors managed to reattach her head to her spine, following a freak sports injury that left her on the verge of being “internally decapitated”. Megan King was only 16 when during a gym class, she leapt in the air to catch a football but fell awkwardly to the ground — damaging her right ankle and spine whilst tearing the muscle off both shoulder blades.
Despite undergoing dozens of surgeries over the next few years, her condition continued to decline, leaving doctors scratching their heads. With no treatment in sight, Ms King’s muscles started to tear apart while the joints weakened.
In 2015, a decade after the injury, doctors diagnosed her with hypermobile Ehler’s-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), a genetic disorder that stops collagen – a key joint tissue – from forming properly and leads to joint instability.
A year later, her neck became dislocated as she was fitted with a halo brace where screws are directly bolted into the skull to keep the neck from moving. However, her problems worsened during the operation as her skull became internally detached from her skull.
“I flew my chair back to keep gravity from decapitating me. My neurosurgeon had to hold my skull in place with his hands. I couldn’t stand. My right side was shaking uncontrollably,” she was quoted as saying by news.com.au.
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‘A human statute’
Through 37 surgeries, the doctors have fused Ms King’s skull to the spine, all the way down to her pelvis, meaning she can no longer shift her head up, down, left or right.
“I’m literally a human statue. My spine doesn’t move at all. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped living.”
She has even managed to land a job and runs her social media accounts to spread positivity and awareness about her situation that others might be facing.
“I’m grateful for God, my body, my doctors, my family, my friends, my online community & more. I’m proud of all the hard work I put in to get to this point. God is so good”.
