UChicago Medicine surgeons perform 'miraculous' reattachment of 2-year-old's severed spinal cord
With monitors quietly beeping and multiple tubes going into his small body, Oliver Staub lay in a hospital bed as his parents tearfully started saying goodbye.
On April 17, an armored car going 70 mph slammed into the family’s minivan during their vacation in Mexico. Everyone in the car was injured, but no one more than Oliver.
The impact disconnected the 2-year-old's head from his spine, resulting in a transection of his spinal cord.
Doctors offered a grim prognosis. They told Oliver’s parents, Laura and Stefan Staub, that their son’s neck was broken, he was a quadriplegic, brain dead and would die in a matter of days.
But following a surreal turn of events—which included support from German soccer star Toni Kroos, viral Instagram posts and traveling more than 2,000 miles for two risky spinal cord surgeries at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital—Oliver is now talking, laughing, smiling, moving his fingers and toes and starting to breathe on his own.
“To see someone survive an injury like this? Nothing like this has ever been reported in neurosurgery or spinal cord injuries,” said Mohamad Bydon, chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at UChicago Medicine, who performed Oliver’s surgeries in July with a multidisciplinary team of surgeons.
“We didn’t think he’d ever be able to move, and now he’s moving all four limbs,” added Bydon, the UChicago health system leader for neurological surgery. “This is a unique and special case. It's beyond our wildest expectations.”
'We have a reason to fight'
As family members gathered at the Mexico City hospital to say goodbye, something incredible happened: Oliver began to show signs of recovery.
His eyes would follow his parents when they were in the room. The Staubs raised the issue with his doctors, who ultimately determined that their son did, in fact, have brain function. They kept his life-sustaining ventilator on.
“It was at that moment that I thought, ‘We have a reason to fight,’” said Laura Staub, who shared the family’s story. “My son was there.”
When doctors could do nothing more for Oliver, they trained his parents on how to care for him and operate his ventilator. Wearing a neck collar and vest to stabilize his head—which, internally, was not connected to his body—the boy was moved to his grandparents’ home eight hours away, near the city of Morelia, Mexico.
With help from a daily nurse visit, he survived for two months without moving and once having an incident of cardiac arrest. Bydon finds this astounding, given how unlikely it is that someone with an unstable, transected spine could survive at all, much less under the care of his parents.
“If Oliver’s parents and caretakers had made one wrong move in those two months, it could have resulted in death,” Bydon said.
A journey to Chicago
The Staubs researched treatments for severe spinal cord injuries, hoping to provide a better life for their son. They contacted top spinal cord specialists around the world, including Bydon, whose groundbreaking stem cell therapy research impressed them.
They were repeatedly told that surgery, and the travel involved, would be too risky. But Bydon saw hope, in part because Oliver had survived this long.
“You should never count out a 2-year-old. They can surprise you,” Bydon said. “But it would require a complex multidisciplinary team, which is where the University of Chicago could help.”
The surgery needed to be done as soon and safely as possible, Bydon told them.
But travel to the United States for the surgery would be difficult and expensive. The Staubs received aid from family, friends and charities, but were still far short of what they needed.
Global outreach and support
A friend encouraged the couple to write to the Toni Kroos Foundation, the soccer player’s charity that helps seriously ill children. The Staubs knew it was a long shot.
Two days later, the phone rang at midnight. It was foundation director Claudia Bartz. She’d seen Oliver’s journey on Instagram and was so moved by his story, she decided the foundation would cover the cost of Oliver’s surgery and transport to Chicago.
“We cried and cried. We couldn’t believe it,” Staub said, adding that they only posted on Instagram to keep their friends and family updated on Oliver. “None of this would have been possible without Toni Kroos.”
Oliver soon became a top-trending news story in Germany and their Instagram account blew up, going from a few hundred followers to more than 100,000. Strangers across the world continue to hold fundraisers and prayer vigils, sending the family encouraging messages and donations for his medical expenses.
“We would gladly trade all of this to go back to our normal life,” said Staub, who still has large scars on her head from the accident. “What I’m seeing here? It’s miraculous. We call it ‘The Oliver Effect.’ This is bigger than us.”
‘Harrowing’ surgery, major recovery
When Oliver arrived at Comer Children’s in July via medical jet, Bydon performed the first surgery, an occipital cervical fusion, with a team of UChicago Medicine surgeons.
This surgery for a 2-year-old is risky, not only because of how long it is, but also because a toddler cannot tolerate blood loss.
The surgery involved reconstructing Oliver’s spine, repairing his spinal cord and stabilizing the back of his head to his cervical spine using titanium rods and screws.
The second surgery, two days later, stabilized the front of his spinal cord and repaired a spinal cord herniation.
“Those first few days after the surgeries were harrowing,” Bydon said. “His heart stopped at one point and he had swelling in the brain.”
But about five days later, Oliver was making progress and smiled for the first time since the accident. One month later, he was able to grab his mom’s hand, push someone away and recognize the sensation that he needs to urinate. Most impressively, Bydon said, he can now take breaths on his own.
“We know the spine is communicating with the brain and body again,” Bydon said.
"It’s miraculous. We call it ‘The Oliver Effect.’ This is bigger than us.”
—Laura Staub
Moving forward with family
Oliver was discharged from Comer Children’s on Aug. 15. The family will permanently move from Germany to Mexico, near Laura’s family, and now have hope for the future.
Oliver will have regular physical therapy and take medications for inflammation. In about six months, he’ll be able to remove his neck brace, Bydon said.
The Staubs plan to return to Comer Children’s next spring, when Bydon may be able to use novel stem cell therapy clinical trials to improve Oliver’s physical functions, pending special approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Staub said her family will always be grateful to Bydon and UChicago Medicine.
“He didn’t promise us a miracle,” she said, “but he delivered one.”
