A 2-month-old Baby Girl Born with Half Her Skull Missing

A 2-month-old Cambodian girl was born with part of her skull missing. Doctors believe that the girl has anencephaly, a neural tube defect (NTD) where a portion of the baby’s brain and skull will be missing.

A 2-month-old girl was born with part of her skull missing and was left fighting for her life in the hospital. She was born in February in a remote village in eastern Cambodia.

Baby Ah Neath was born with a severe crater in the front of her head, and also part of her skull jutted out at the back of her head.

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A structural birth defect means that a specific body part is missing or mal-formed during the embryonic development.

‘Anencephaly, a severe congenital disability is a type of neural tube defect, where the baby is born without a part of the brain and skull.’

Srey, the mother of the baby said: “I knew there was something very wrong with my baby when she was born."

Doctors said that the girl’s deformed skull was caused by anencephaly, which is a neural tube defect (NTD) where a portion of the baby’s brain and skull would be missing.

However, there is no known cure for anencephaly, and most of the babies born die early soon after their birth.

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Neural tube defects are abnormalities that affect the brain, spine and spinal column of the developing embryo and appear during the first month of pregnancy.

“We are facing hardship and struggling to raise her to survive on the planet. Our only hope is that doctors may be able to help, or a foreign doctor may help,” said Ah Neath’s parents.

Ah Neath was in the hospital for two months and was kept on regular oxygen to regulate her breathing.

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She has been discharged and is living now with family in the Ponhea Kraek District.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that anencephaly is a severe congenital disability, where the baby is born without parts of the brain and skull and is a type of neural tube defect.

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Ah Neath’s parents Srey and Heang had to sell their home to cover the mounting medical expenses.

The family is desperately crowdfunding to take Ah Neath to a hospital in the capital city Phnom Penh, hoping that the doctors would be able to help.

Source-Medindia