Amazing Baby Survives With Heart Outside of His Body:

First Boy In The World To Survive With Heart Outside of His Body

Ryan Marquiss is truly a miracle boy, and one of the most amazing cases in medical history: he’s the first baby in the world to survive a birth malformation which is incompatible with life.
Baby Ryan was born in 2009 with one of the rarest heart malformations in the world, instead of growing inside his chest, this little boy’s heart had developed outside of his body and when he was born, half of his heart was on the outside, being covered only by a thin piece of soft tissue. His condition is named ectopia cordis, and all of the other kids born with this malformation died within 3 days of birth.

Despite the fact that all odds were against him, this amazing little boy struggled to survive, and won the battle with death. And as if the fact that his heart was beating outside of his chest cavity wasn’t life threatening enough, baby Ryan also had only half of heart, due to the fact that inside the womb, it couldn’t develop well enough. The second defect is calleld hypoplastic right heart syndrome, where only the left side of the heart had developed accordingly.

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You may be wondering how was i possible for the baby to even be delivered in this day and age when all of the medical equipment and investigations can detect malformations from early stages of the pregnancies. Well, modern medicine did its work and picked up on the fact that Leighann and Henry Marquiss’ baby has a very rare condition which will most likely lead to a stillborn baby, but against all medical advices, the parents decided not to terminate the pregnancy.

The probably had a feeling that little Ryan was a fighter. Their gamble paid off cause this year, Ryan Marquiss is celebrating his third birthday and he’s a very enthusiastic child, full of life who acts just like any other child his age.

Dr Mary Donofrio, Director of the fetal heart programme at the Children’s National Medical Centre told the family that: “If he survived the birth his exposed heart likely would become infected and kill him. Even if infection didn’t happen his heart had one working ventricle and he would require open heart surgery to rewire the blood flow through it.”

Luckily, after undergoing dozens of operations, Ryan Marquiss didn’t catch any infection, and survived absolutely every single surgical intervention, proving to everyone that the miracle of life is one of the most amazing gifts of all.

Now, Ryan enjoys his life and loves playing with his two big sisters. Of course, his life threatening condition did leave him with a few complications. The doctors operated on him to “fix the wirings” in his heart, and make the left side viable again. After that was out of the way, other surgeries were required to expand his skin tissue in order to create a proper covering for the exposed heart. At the present time, Ryan still needs surgery for inserting some sort of chest protection. Also in the feature, the little kiddo may need heart surgery, but for now, he’s progressing really well.

For a baby who had all odds against him, and everyone was expecting him to die, Ryan Marquiss proved that life is worth fighting for. This amazing medical case should be a lesson to all of us: even if everyone around you says that it’s impossible, you have to believe in yourselves and hope for the best.

Here’s a little video to show you how Ryan’s heart beat outside his chest. Amazing indeed!

So what exactly is “ectopia cordis”?

Ectopia cordis is a congenital malformation in which the heart grown outside of its normal cavity, either partially or totally outside the chest cavity. The heart can either grow in the neck, chest, or abdomen, and in most cases, the heart protrudes outside the chest being covered only by a fine membrane. During the embryonic development period, in which basically, the heart fails to migrate to its anatomical position, and the rest of the body develops around the heart, trapping it outside the body.
Out of every million infants born with the condition, but up until now, only a few amazing babies survived.

Below you can watch some more videos with babies suffering from an ectopic heart. Sadly, they died soon after birth. Please be advised that these clips are not for the faint of heart. Watch them only if you are sure you want to see them.

Are you wondering what Ryan’s chances are for future survival?

Well, he’s got a pretty good chance. Another amazing case of ectopia cordis is that of Christopher Wall, who was born in 1975 with a less severe form of this heart defect.

Cris’ mother, Teresa Wall, was enjoying the joys of pregnancy not knowing a thing about the dreadful moment when her baby boy would be born with this ruthless defect. The mother recalls that “Everyone was all joking and laughing and the doctors and nurses teased me, asking, This is your first baby?” But all of the fun came to a haul when doctors delivered Christopher Aug. 10, 1975. “It was like a cloud of doom came over,” Teresa said, “Christopher was born and everything got really quiet, really quiet. The nurses started hustling around.”

Back then, pregnant women did not have to get ultrasounds during their pregnancy, so the malformation went by unobserved, as soon as he was born, the baby was rushed in to the operating room and checked for more abnormalities.

Due to the fact that the heart had been developing outside the chest, there was no room for this vital organ on the inside. Operating him was even more difficult that expected due to all of the blood vessels, which made it impossible to insert the heart back in. Nevertheless, baby Chris surprised everyone by surviving the first weeks of his life and fighting for his life.

During the first 15 months of his life, Chris underwent 15 surgeries in order to insert the heart back in. Amazingly, the surgeries were a success and Christopher Wall was able to go on living like any other normal child. You can watch an interview with him and his friends below.

Hayley Okines: Teenager Suffering from Progeria Who’s Actually 105:

Hayley Okines Suffers From Progeria, A Rare Disease Which Makes Her Body Age 8 Times Faster.

We also created a list with other kids suffering from Progeria.

Take a look at this girl. Can you believe she’s just 14 years old, and not a 96-year-old senior citizen? Hayley Okines suffers from an extremely rare condition known as Progeria, which causes her body to age eight times faster than a normal person. What’s even more amazing about this little girl is the fact that she has already surpassed her life expectancy.
Normally, those who suffer of Progeria don’t survive passed the age of 13 (when their body’s biological age is much higher). This rare disease affects one in eight million people and it is not passed down from one generation to another.

This amazing little girl was born on December 3rd, 1997, and by the time she was 21 months old, doctors had already diagnosed her with this weird disease which affects the normal growth of her organism. When doctors announced the family that their new baby girl wouldn’t live passed he age of 13, they were devastated, especially her mother, Kerry Okines, who was shattered with disbelief.

 

Luckily, they didn’t lose faith, and took their child to a lot of experts, who managed to identify the gene that mutated, and included Hayley in a clinical trial of a drug which has been proven to reverse an abnormality in progeria cells during their experiments.

Now look at this amazing little girl, she’s already 14 years old and despite her arthritis and other old age diseases, Hayley acts completely normal, hanging out with her friends and doing day-to-day activity. Actually, the little girl even wrote a book about her life which she titled “Old Before My Time”, in which she candidly speaks about the struggles of aging rapidly, and the impact of her disease on the family.

“I’m not worried about dying. They said the Titanic wouldn’t sink but it did, so that proves experts can be wrong and I want to prove the doctors wrong. Deep inside, I am no different from anyone.”

Amazingly, this inspirational girl has beaten all of the odds as she recently celebrated her 105-Year-Old Birthday. Cause, according to calculations, Hayley’s body is that of a 105-Year-Old person, despite the fact that she just turned 14.

But what is Progeria?

Progeria is also known as Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), and it is caused by a mutant protein in the body called progerin. The alteration of this protein leads to premature aging, at a speed 8 to 10 times faster than normal. By the time the baby is 18 to 24 months old, the first signs appear, and the consist of hair loss, lack of growth, aged-looking skin and other signs which make the baby look like an elderly person.

So far, there is no cure for this fatal disease, but scientists have discovered effective treatments which may prolong the life of the patients with progeria.

Luckily for Hayley, she was able to benefit from such a treatment and she is now 14 year old, taking every day step by step.

Have a look below to see a few videos of Hayley Okines, and the amazing child who is older than her mother.

And below is a video with other children suffering from Progeria and Hayley talking about their illness.

Brazilian Wandering Spider – The Most Poisonous In The World:

The Most Venomous Spider On Earth: Phoneutria (The Wandering Brazilian)

He’s big, ugly and more importantly, he’s the most poisonous spider in the world… The Brazilian wandering spider, scientifically known as Phoneutria, is officially the most venomous spider in the world. The Brazilian Wanderer even received certification for its deadliness, as it’s listed in the Guinness World Records 2012 as the most poisonous spider in the world.
This wicked critter can have a leg span of up to 13–15 cm (4–5 inches) and its body varies from 17 to 48 mm. The spider is highly dangerous and well known for its aggressively and every encounter with it may lead to death.

Even its name indicates how deadly it is, the word Phoneutria means murderer in Greek… Did we mention that it’s highly aggressive? If you’re thinking you can fight it off with a broom, as we do with most of our eight-legged opponents, think again! The Brazilian wandering spider has been known to frequently climb up the broom handle and bite the human who’s trying to fight him off.

Whenever the deadly spider is angry, it hops on it’s back legs and reveals his distinctive red jaws as a threat signal towards possible aggressors. The Phoneutria genus includes 8 documented species, and all are equally lethal. They’re called wandering spiders due to the fact that instead of lurking in a lair or taking care of a web, this poisonous villain roams the jungle floor in search of prey during the night, and hide in termite mounds or such other hide-aways during the day.

What happens if you get bitten?

Well… first step, pray you survive! The venom of the wandering spider contains high levels of seritonin, making it 18 times more deadly than the black widow. Once injected, the poison causes tremors and pain throughout the entire body. As if the pain itself weren’t enough, the venom also has an awkward and embarrassing side-effect on men: the chemicals stimulate the brain inducing a persistent lifting of the male reproductive organ, which is extremely painful, and often, victims who survive, never escape this side-effect.

And below you can watch a couple of videos which illustrate just how dangerous the Brazilian Wandering Spider

So now that we’ve taken a look at the world’s most poisonous spider, don’t you wanna know who were the runner ups?

Here’s list of the top 9 most poisonous spiders in the world, after the Brazilian Wandering Spider.

1. The Yellow Sac Spider

Do you think this little critter looks adorable? Well think again… It may be the least venomous spider in this list, but nevertheless, if you get bit by this guy, you’ll most likely end up with necrosis and dead tissues.

This is just a mild bite by the Yellow Sac Spider but it could be a lot worse

2. Fringed Ornamental Tarantula

Although tarantulas are commonly used as exotic pets, this breed is quite dangerous, and they have even been known to induce comas with their bite. They are 18 cm long, and unlike other tarantulas if you get bitten by such a spider, you might end up in the emergency room.

3. The Chinese Bird Spider

This spider is also a tarantula and a pretty dangerous one for that matter. It’s also known as the Earth Tiger, due to its enormous size: it has a leg span of of up to 8 inches (20 cm). Even a small dose of its venom can bring down a small mammal in a matter of seconds. A shot of 0.70mg/kg is enough to cause death to its victim so you most certainly do not wanna mess with this tarantula.

4. Mouse Spider

This amazing spider may look “friendly” but its bite is very severe. However, they have been known to give “dry” bites, which means they just bite without injecting venom, but when it does bite, it can be lethal for human beings. Luckily, their habitat is far from those of people, so just steer clear of them.

5. Brown and Chilean Recluse Spider

This spider is extremely dangerous and it’s venom has been known to cause necrosis at the bite zone and the potential for the wound to grow to 10 inches and become gangrenous sending the infection in the entire body.

6. Redback Spider

The redbacks are related to the Black Widow family, but they’re less poisonous, they have caused 14 deaths before an antivenom was developed and the symptoms of the bite also include swollen lymph nodes, migraines, fever, nausea and shaking.

7. Black Widow Spider

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Now who hasn’t heard of the Black Widow? It’s one of the most poisonous spiders in the world, with bite effects that include: extended muscular spasms and even spinal or cerebral paralysis, but it rarely kills.

8. Sydney Funnel-Web

This spider is going to bite, run away, and then come back again for another bite. Before the antivenom for this bite was made, a child dies in under 15 minutes from the attack. All it takes is 0.16mg/kg of this little dude’s venom for someone to die.

9. Six-Eyed Sand Spider

And last but not least, here’s the sand spider who’s bite causes blood to coagulate inside your vessels leading to death. Luckily, the live in remote areas and face-to-spider encounters are rare.

Smartest Parrots In The World:

Meet Some Of The Smartest Parrots In The World – They’re Awesome!

Generally, when we call someone a bird brain, we do it to kind of insult them, but here are some of the world’s smartest parrots who will amaze you, and even make you think twice before you use their names to compare someone’s intelligence to that of a bird. Alex for example is the smartest bird in the world, he has the wits of a 5 year-old child, and for a bird-brain, that’s pretty amazing! He can count objects, tell textures apart and let’s not forget his astonishing capacity to reproduce all sorts of sounds. What more can the world’s smartest parrots do? Let’s have a look.

Alex, The Smartest Parrot In The World!

This little amazing creature is one of the smartest birds to have ever been studied, if not the smartest of all. He is an Alex the parrot, which is actually one of the smartest breeds. So what makes this bird so special? Well… he can talk. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking of correcting me and say no silly, he mimics human speech, but think again, various tests have proven that this little critter actually takes time and thinks his answers through, instead of just opening his mouth and imitating.

Alex was born in 1977 and for 23 years he was in the care of animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg who conducted numerous tests and trainings with him in order to establish how smart he really is.

Tests have shown that he is a mathematical genius being able to add numbers correctly or distinguish textures and materials apart. Alex is able to recognize quantities up to six, he could tell apart seven colors and even distinguish 5 shapes of objects.

Dr Irene Pepperberg never claimed that Alex could use speech just like humans do, but she was firmly convinced that the world’s smartest parrot uses a two-way communication code.

Are you prepared to be even more amazed? Alex was also able to understand the concepts of “bigger”, “smaller”, “same”, and “different” and also the meanings of “under” and “above”.

In case he doesn’t like what’s going on, Alex simply says: “wanna go back!”. He has some very amazing speech capabilities, so check them out in the video below and be amazed…

Sadly, this amazing birdy passed away prematurely in 2007 at the age of 30, when the average lifespan of his African Grays is around 60 years. Even before his death he proved his intelligence once again with his famous last words: Alex’s last words to Pepperberg were: “You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.” a heart warming declaration of love from a bird to his human companion.

The research facility has another 3 birds, but they’re far from Alex’s native intelligence.

Let’s now meet Kea, another member of the select club of smartest parrots in the world:

Kea: One Of The Smartest Parrots In The World:

Here’s a documentary of Kea’s accomplishments:

And Below, we have Einstein, the Bird who’s almost as smart as Alex.

This bird may not be able to add numbers (not yet) but she has a vocabulary of more than 200 words and sounds, and can perform nearly half on a cue from her trainer, Stephanie White.

Einstein has already been part of many television shows and she is famous for her ability to recreate various sounds. She can imitate skunks, humans, spaceships and more…

Have a look:

Man Gets A New Face Through Amazing Transplant:

Richard Norris Gets Full Face Transplant

You most certainly had a time when you wished you had a new face, well Richard Norris, a 37 year old man got a new face through a complicated transplant which took the team of surgeons 36 hours to complete. Due to an unfortunate gun accident, Norris lost all of his face, and since then he had lived under a mask for 15 years, until the amazing surgery that gave him his life back.

Generally, gunshot victims who actually survive the shoot, suffer loss of vision and smell, but amazingly, after extensive tests just days after the accident, Richard discovered that he can still see and smell.

After the incident, this impressive man found the strength to carry on with his life, but unfortunately, today’s society doesn’t deal kindly with people who have a extraordinary appearance, so Richard Norris could not do things we take for granted, like shopping for food or clothes due to the stigma he had to live with. For 15 years he avoided eating in public places, he could not have a full time job, and he always needed assistance.

Of course, he also needed numerous life saving interventions, but the one that gave him his life back was performed in March 2012, when he received a total face transplant.

The surgery involved a team of 150 surgeons, nurses and medical staff, it lasted 72 hours in which the amazing surgeons also harvested and transplanted a heart, both lungs, the liver and a kidney from the same anonymous donor, to other patients.

Richard Norris, got the teeth, upper and lower jaw, part of the tongue and the entire facial tissue from the scalp to the base of the neck. Just one week after the transplant, the patient was able to brush his teeth, and regain feeling on the skin. Six days after the surgery, he could already move his tongue and open and close his eyes and the recovery was much faster than who anyone expected.

After the surgery Dr Eduardo Rodriguez, head of the transplant team, declared that

“He’s actually looking in the mirror, shaving and brushing his teeth, which we never even expected. He put the mirror down and thanked me and hugged me”

Have a look at the video below to see how the surgery went and what the doctors had to say.

Norris’ face transplant seems to be the most successful to date, and there have been only 22 previous patients to have benefited from such a surgery.

Let’s have a look at some of the other patients who underwent face transplants:

1. Isabelle Dinoire, for example, was the world’s first person to receive a face transplant after her dog mauled her in May 2005. The lady passed out from an overdose of sleeping pills and her Labrador chewed off her face in an attempt to save her from her suicidal act. Dinoire’s injuries affected her nose, lips, chin, and cheeks.

The first surgery took place in 2005 when A triangle of face tissue, including the nose and mouth, was taken from a brain-dead female donor and grafted onto the patient.
After the transplant, the lady declared that:

“At first I’d been scared to look. I thought it would be bruised and ugly, but it was marvellous. I couldn’t believe it.”

2. Connie Culp

Connie Culp is the first ever United States patient to receive a face transplant, performed at the Cleveland Clinic in December 2008. Connie was mutilated by her husband who tried to kill her with a gun and then kill himself. The gun wound destroyed the woman’s nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth and an eye. Luckily, the woman survived but was severely mutilated.

After the transplant, she could talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. She sometimes has a speech impediment, but with exercises, she regained her vocal abilities.

The Woman Who Sees Everything Upside Down:

Bojana Danilovic views everything upside down because of a rare brain condition called "spatial orientation phenomenon."

Danilovic has to read papers from the bottom up and uses an upside down computer screen.

"It may look incredible to other people but to me it's completely normal," Danilovic told Express.co.uk. "I was born that way. It's just the way I see the world."

The economics graduate, who lives in Uzice, Serbia, watches one TV balanced on its top while the rest of the family watches another.

"They say my eyes see the images the right way up but my brain changes them," explained Danilovic. "But they don't really seem to know exactly how it happens, just that it does and where it happens in my brain. They told me they've seen the case histories of some people who write the way I see, but never someone quite like me."

13-year-old Saves Buss Full Of Kids After Driver Faints:

13-year-old Takes The Wheel Of A school Bus After Driver Faints

The quick reflexes of a 13-year-old boy saved the lives of 17 children who were on a school bus with him. The driver passed out while he was driving unwillingly leaving the kids prone to a life threatening accident.
Luckily, amongst the scared children, there was also seventh grader Jeremy Wuitschick who kept his cool in this extreme situation and took over the bus steering wheel, drove the bus on to the side of the road and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Wanna know what happened next? Let’s find out.

When the brave teenager saw that the bus driver was in distress, gasping for air and loosing control of the school buss, Jeremy jumped off his chair and immediately took action, thus saving the lives of his colleagues.

After stopping the bus, Jeremy and Johnny Wood, another teenage passenger on the bus who was certified to give first aid, both started to perform CPR on the bus driver. The other children dialed 911 and an ambulance quickly came and drove the bus driver to the hospital, in a very severe shape due to a heart condition. Sadly, the driver died one day later.

Here’s what the 13-year-old hero who saved the children from this extreme situation had to say:

“I knew something was wrong, It was pretty scary. I was just acting on instinct. It was all happening really quickly. I looked up, and saw a church in the bus’s path. I’m a Christian so I don’t want to hit a church”

Below you can watch a few more images, and the surveillance recording which shows how Jeremy Wuitschick saved the day in an extreme situation.