An Illinois woman with a rare medical condition almost died when her skull began sliding off her spine.
Back in 2016, Megan King, now 35, was having a Halo brace removed that she had worn since dislocating her neck, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported earlier this month. The Halo brace is a medieval-looking contraption that holds the neck in place with pins inserted into the outer skull.
As the doctor removed the cumbersome brace, King’s head nearly detached from her spinal cord.
“I flew my chair back to keep gravity from decapitating me. My neurosurgeon had to hold my skull in place with his hands. I couldn’t stand. My right side was shaking uncontrollably,” King said.
Doctors worked for hours to reattach King’s skull.
“It was a horror show. I woke up unable to move my head at all,” King said.
After a total of 37 surgeries, King could no longer move her head in any direction after doctors fused her entire spine together to prevent further damage.
But King’s troubles had begun decades before, when she was 16 years old.
In 2005, King was in gym class when she jumped to catch a soccer ball.
Had you been in her position and almost been decapitated, would you have sued?
When she fell, she damaged her right ankle and spine, and tore the muscle off both of her shoulder blades.
She spent the following year on crutches, but her condition worsened.
Her joints weakened. Her muscles tore. Her shoulders ached more than ever.
Over the next decade, King underwent 22 surgeries as doctors remained perplexed.
It wasn’t until 2015 that she was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehler’s-Danlos syndrome.
A rare condition, hEDS is a connective tissue disorder that causes joint hypermobility, joint instability, and chronic pain, according to The Ehlers-Danlos Society.
One year after she was diagnosed, King dislocated her neck, which eventually led to her needing the Halo brace mentioned earlier.
King has a YouTube channel chronicling her journey with hEDS.
In one video, she talked about her faith in God after a miracle she experienced in 2017.
Some time after King was nearly decapitated, she walked into the hospital after experiencing neck pain.
An X-ray revealed something startling to doctors.
The vertebrae just below her head was detached and angled forward. Once again, nothing was holding her head from simply falling off.
“I was diagnosed with dangerous life-threatening instability,” King said.
“Every single doctor, physical therapist, nurse, chiropractor, or other medical professional that sees this cannot believe that, not only did I walk into the ER that day, but they can’t believe that I’m alive and I’m not paralyzed shoulders down,” she added.
King was put back into a Halo brace, but she continued to carry the X-ray photo inside her pocket.
“It was my reminder that I was here for a reason. There is a purpose for all of this. Miracles do happen. This is a miracle right here,” King said, holding up the X-ray image.
“My pastor at church recently said in one of his messages that our relationships with God can grow deeper when we go through challenges. I am not here to preach at you. For me, and my beliefs, my relationship has grown, because I’ve seen the impossible become possible.”
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