Florida baby born with part of his brain exposed now flourishing: 'A lot of scary moments'

ORLANDO, Fla. - To look at 3-year-old Daxton – and all his smiles – you'd never know he's a walking and talking miracle.

That's because little Daxton was born with the largest cranial defect his doctors had ever seen. A large portion of his skull was missing, which meant a part of his brain was exposed.

Nicole Hadjadj, Daxton's mom, said their doctors were shocked when he was born – and that the delivery room suddenly went quiet. 

Hadjadj was surprised too because her pregnancy had been relatively normal, she said.

Daxton was quickly transported to AdventHealth for Children in Orlando where he was under the care of pediatric surgeon Dr. Raj Sawh-Martinez.

"A little bit of fear and panic for him, to be quite honest. There's a really critical structure in all our brains called the saggital sinus. It's a very large venous lake, it's right in the middle, and for him, two thirds of that was completely exposed," Dr. Sawh-Martinez said.

"The first year and a half there were a lot of scary moments. You know, we didn't know if he hit it on something, or hit it on a corner, could you herniate the brain or the dura?" Daxton's mom said.

Little Daxton has other health complications, too, so it was several weeks before doctors could start looking at options to treat him.

Dr. Raj did extensive research and found a mere 37 cases like Daxton’s around the world.

Dr. Raj and his medical team decided the nutrient-rich placenta tissue that surrounded Daxton in the womb might be the trick to his healing.

"We were hoping to be able to stimulate Daxton's own stem cells and his own body to be able to create a covering of that area, a very sophisticated scar that would hopefully have enough bone in growth or at least coverage so that he could survive the early days," he said.

For six months, Nicole slept with Daxton on her chest to ensure his delicate brain was protected. Doctors monitored the growth of the tissue and bone protecting his brain and marveled at his progress.

"A lot of us weren't so sure if he would make it or not, including his family who's been absolutely amazing this entire journey, to now, seeing a beautiful, normal child that we have all expectations for him to be completely fine, just like you and I," Dr. Sawh-Martinez said.

Mom said she picked out Daxton's name before he was born. She later learned it means "overcomer of great obstacles" – a perfect description of his journey so far.

"I did not know we would be faced with such great obstacles so early on, but we were, and he pulled through, just like his name says," she said.