Norma Moreira was returning home from work when she received the phone call: Her 6-year-old son, Fernando, was hit by a car while crossing the street in their East Hartford neighborhood. The car had been going very fast. Fernando might not survive.
Fernando was raced to Connecticut Children’s, where the trauma, critical care, general surgery and neurosurgery teams worked together to stabilize him. His leg was broken, and one of his lungs was crushed. Most seriously, the impact had partially severed ligaments in his neck that attach his skull to his spine, a rare – and usually fatal – injury known as an internal decapitation.
The team attended to Fernando’s damaged lung and placed him under anesthesia. When he was stable, pediatric neurosurgeon Jonathan Martin, MD, FAANS, head of the Division of Neurosurgery, performed surgery to release the pressure on Fernando’s brain, removing half of his skull until the swelling subsided. Then the team waited and watched closely to see if he could recover enough for further treatment.
For the next three days, Fernando fought for his life.
