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Boy born with no eyes, nose, or upper jaw, survives life changing surgery

The doctors who were present during his delivery revealed they did not expect Yahya, who has no bone between his forehead and brain, to live long after birth

Yahya Jabaly

Yahya Jabaly, born in Morocco was developed improperly in the womb resulting in no eyes or upper jaw, and a hole where his nose should have been positioned.

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The lovely boy is unable to speak due to the deformities caused by complications that led to the bones in his face not fusing together in the womb.

The doctors who were present during his delivery revealed they did not expect Yahya, who has no bone between his forehead and brain, to live long after birth.

“We don’t know what causes it. It’s sporadic, it’s not genetic and most kids would not survive pregnancy. But some do'.

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Yahya was stigmatised in the village and kept indoors by his parents. Yahya parents struggled for years until a good Samaritan, Fatima Bakara, a Morocco-born Melbourne resident decided to help.

Bakara spent months trying to find a surgeon who could reconstruct Yahya’s face. Bakara connected with Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital doctor Tony Holmes in 2014, and the surgeon spent months preparing and making models of the boy’s skull so he could perform the high-risk surgery. “I believe that it’s the right of everybody to look human and this kid doesn’t look human,” Holmes said.

The surgery, which could have potentially killed the toddler, involved separating his brain from his deformed skull. It took 10 hours longer than they anticipated, and he lost half his body’s blood.

Though he was still bandaged up after the surgery, his mother and Bakara were able to see how different he already looked. Two weeks after the surgery, Yahya was doing better than expected, and he could even smile.

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