Baby Boy Born With Giant Sack On His Face Gets A Life Changing Surgery. His Parents Can’s Stop Crying When They See Him

Most expectant mothers find ultrasound appointments both exciting and nerve-wracking. Valeka Riegel was no exception and unfortunately was left heartbroken when her routine ultrasound revealed the devastating truth.  She was told that her unborn baby had a rather unusual condition.

Valeka was determined to face the challenges and carry her baby to term and baby  Zakary was born healthy in all other aspects.

However, when his mom first saw him, she told Today, she couldn’t help but cry:
“Only a large protrusion and tiny little lips – no eyes, no nose, no eyelashes.” 

Zakary was born with a giant sack on his face, a rare condition knows as encephalocele. According to statistics from the CDC, one in 12,200 babies is born with some form of encephalocele each year.

At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 22 doctors, who had been monitoring Zakary’s prenatal development, took on the challenge to save him and to fix his condition and give him somewhat normal life.

After 4 months in the NUCI, Zakary was old enough to undergo the 9 hours transformation surgery.

Thankfully, the surgery was successful and when Valeka first saw Zakary without the sac:

“I just cried because I didn’t know he had such beautiful long eyelashes and big brown eyes. They were perfect on both sides.”

Watch the video below to see baby Zakary’s remarkable and heartwarming transformation!

h/t: today