Surgeons at a Brisbane hospital have managed to reattach the head of a toddler to his spine after he was internally decapitated in a car crash. Sixteen-month-old toddler Jaxon Taylor was travelling in the car with his mother and nine-year-old sister when they collided with another car at a speed of 110kph (70mph). The force of the crash tore the toddler's head from his neck internally, but incredibly he survived his injuries.

"It is a miracle," said Jaxon's mother Rylea. "The second I pulled him out, I knew that he, I knew that his neck was broken," she added.

Jaxon was airlifted to a Brisbane hospital where a team of surgeons, headed by Dr Geoff Askin, performed the six-hour surgery to reattach the head to the spine.

Jaxon Taylor
Jaxon with his mother, Rylea Taylor Reuters

"A lot of children wouldn't survive that injury in the first place and if they did, and they were resuscitated, they may never move or breathe again," said Dr Askin.

"They've taken two broken kids and put them all back together, so we're very, very thankful," added the toddler's father Andrew Taylor.

Doctors said Jaxon will have to wear a brace over his head for eight weeks to help the tissues and nerves connecting his head to his spine to heal.

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