Few tales demonstrate the transformative power of modern medicine more than Megan King’s.
Megan’s life was forever altered when she sustained a terrible injury playing football at the age of 16.
The 35-year-old Illinois lady is talking about how she overcame a horrifying instance of internal decapitation due to a unique disease and an unusual accident, and how she managed to survive.
Internal decapitation, often referred to as atlanto-occipital dislocation in medical terminology, is a very hazardous injury in which the skull internally separates from the spine, even though complete decapitation is invariably deadly. According to Real Clear Science, its death rate is 70%.
Megan’s horror started when she ripped muscles from both shoulder blades and injured her ankle and back after falling while attempting to jump for the ball. She had 22 surgeries over the years, but physicians couldn’t figure out why her body wasn’t recovering.
She was ultimately identified in 2015 as having hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), a rare genetic disorder that impairs collagen synthesis and causes instability in the joints. While some hEDS sufferers are extremely flexible, Megan’s disease had the opposite effect, immobilizing her body.
Megan had emergency neck surgery as her condition deteriorated, and she was put in a halo brace, which was a stiff frame that screwed into her skull to hold her head in place. However, her skull separated from her spine when a doctor took off the brace too fast.
She told The Daily Mail, “I threw back my chair to avoid being beheaded by gravity.” My neurosurgeon had to use his hands to hold my head in place. I was unable to endure. My right side started trembling violently. The show was terrifying. I couldn’t move my head at all when I woke up.
Megan underwent fifteen additional procedures after the internal decapitation. Her entire spine, from skull to pelvis, is fused now, making it impossible for her to tilt or shift her head in any manner.
She claimed to be a human statue. “I have no movement in my spine. However, that does not imply that I have ceased to exist.
Despite the severe physical restrictions and the twenty years of recuperation, Megan has managed to recapture certain aspects of her former life. She had not been to a bowling alley since she was a teenager, but she recently triumphantly returned.
She revealed, “I bowled a strike on my very first try.” “My friends cheered wildly, clapped, and screamed.” They weren’t merely rejoicing over the strike. They were commemorating all of my victories.
Megan is now concentrating on adjusting to her “new body” and continuously learning what she can still do. “It’s not simple,” she acknowledged. “However, I’m constantly amazed at what I can still achieve.”
