There is a fascinating medical story on the ABC NEWS website:
Clinging to Life: Doctors Reattach Teen’s Head After Car Wreck
Several months ago, 18 year old Marcos Parra’s car was hit by a drunk driver and his skull was ripped from the cervical spine, technically detaching his head from his neck. He was rushed to the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix AZ and came under the care of Dr. Curtis Dickman. Dr. Dickman had been testing a technique on human cadavers to treat an injury this rare. With the patient’s permission, two teams of surgeons reattached the first vertebrae to the base of the skull with delicate screws and patched it together with a piece of Parra’s pelvis.
Parra spent months in halo-brace, but is now able to move about and even play basketball. In a time when the nightly news seems to be full of despair and fear, I am moved to pass on this amazing story to remind all of us that we are capable of glorious healing. Also, give yourself an extra point if you caught the pun in my headline to this piece.