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Surgeon removes rod from toddler's brain

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., July 26 (UPI) -- Doctors say a North Carolina toddler is a "little miracle" after surviving an unprecedented operation to remove a metal rod accidentally lodged in his brain.

A neurosurgeon at University of North Carolina Hospital, Chapel Hill, removed an L-shaped part from a pressure washer embedded in 17-month-old Jessiah Jackson's head, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported Monday.

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A little more than a week ago Jessiah was playing outside on a deck where his grandparents, who are his legal guardians, were remodeling to make a new play area when he climbed onto a chair next to a pressure washer.

The chair fell over, throwing Jessiah backward and piercing a hook on the pressure washer's hose crank through his skull, the Observer said.

"I look away for a split second, and he was standing up in that chair, and the chair was going back. I couldn't do anything," said Carlton Jones, Jessiah's uncle.

Both the child's aunt and uncle who were with him are certified nursing assistants and they kept him still until an ambulance arrived. But the local Wilmington hospital told the family the injury was too dangerous for them to treat, the newspaper said.

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Jessiah was sedated and medically paralyzed to keep the rod from moving and potentially killing him. He then was airlifted to UNC where neurosurgeon Anand Germanwala performed the 2-hour operation to extract the rod.

Hours later, Jessiah was up and running around. The rod punctured the left occipital lobe responsible for vision on the right side and although there appears to be no damage, further tests are planned.

"We're calling him the miracle baby," Carlton Jones said.

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