ATIVESITE | Jaxyn’s Journey | Cincinnati Children’s

When Michaela was 20 weeks pregnant, she learned her baby had myelomeningocele, a severe type of spina bifida.

“I was not expecting to be told he had spina bifida,” said Michaela Kelly, Jaxyn’s mom. “I was confused and lost at the moment.”

Michaela and her baby were good candidates for surgery at Cincinnati Children’s. This would mean a delicate operation to close the whole in Jaxyn’s spine, performed in utero.

“We know that we have a window to offer the surgery in the mid-gestation, usually the surgery is between 22 and 26 weeks,” said Jose L. Piero, MD, PhD, Endoscopic Fetal Surgery Director. “The goal of the prenatal surgery is just to stop that process. In most of the times, we have good preservation of the legs and the foot movement and we have the time to revert the Chiari malformation and to stop the hydrocephalus.”

“I would say 31 weeks and they had told me on the ultrasound that it was reversed. And I was just like, ‘What?! What are you telling me?!’ Michaela said. “And that’s just like amazing to me. I was just like, something’s already helped him and he’s not even here yet. When we went to the NICU and I got to hold him for the first time and just see how he was okay. And just knowing that his surgery was done and he was in my arms and now it was just, it felt amazing. When he started putting weight on his legs and walking, it was just along the couches and stuff like that. Once he started realizing how fast his feet could move, he just went for it.”

“When you see these babies two to three to four years after, I think it’s incredible,” said Dr. Piero.

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