A child born with a huge hole in her skull with her brain exposed has survived against all odds thrown her way.
Michaela Miller, 9 months, suffers from cutis aplasia
A little baby has survived after she was born with a hole the size of an avocado in her skull showing a clear view of her brain.
Dailymail reports that Michaela Miller, nine months, suffers from cutis aplasia - a condition where a section of her skin is missing at birth. Her mother Christie Puyk, 27, and father Keith Miller, 26, noticed her skull hadn't formed properly moments after she was born on Christmas Day last year. So, doctors rallied round and moved her to the special care unit and put a dressing on her head, monitoring her progress closely.
In a short space of time, she underwent three operations to cover the hole in her skull - but still has a golf ball-sized gap underneath her skin.
Now, she wears a helmet full-time to protect her head from any bugs - which could be deadly.
Mr Miller, from Melbourne, Australia, said: 'The hole was 10cm by 4cm and it was the size of an avocado. I originally thought it was afterbirth.
'But when the doctors wiped her head, I realised I was looking through a porthole at a bird's-eye view of her brain.
'When we saw her it was like someone had cut out an oval shape from her head and you could see her brain.
'All that was between the brain and the fresh air was membrane. We were shocked, scared and confused.
'There was nothing bulging out, there was just no skull at the top of her head, but skin had formed over it.'
The remaining hole in her skull is around two centimetres by three centimetres – about the size of a golf ball.
Doctors have said that if the hole on her head is still there by the time she turns two, they will have to perform another operation. Michaela now wears a helmet full-time to protect her head.