“I was told to prepare myself for missing limbs, her nose to be on her forehead and that she might not even have eyes,” Mccusker revealed. “But Karlie had none of those deformities and was born with all of the correct facial features and limbs.”

In addition to encephalocele, the 17-month-old was born with cerebral palsy; an abnormal brain structure, called holoprosencephaly; a missing chromosome, known as 22 deletion syndrome; and microcephaly, which has caused the toddler’s head to be smaller than normal.

Because Karlie’s health problems are unusual, it’s not known how they will affect her later in life.

“We’ve been told by doctors that Karlie is a miracle to be alive and she really is,” Mccusker said.

“She has proven everyone wrong and even after her major operation in December 2016 she was only in hospital for 48 hours before coming home.”

“Although no one expected her to progress as her brain doesn’t have the normal three structures, so far she is on par with other children her age,” Karlie’s mom continued.

“The only thing she is delayed with is her walking, but she can stand if I told her hand so I don’t think we’ll need to wait much longer.”

Karlie’s parents credit her survival to the skill of Dr. Mano Shanmuganathan, a neurosurgeon at Belfast’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

“We are so thankful to Dr. Mano that he never gave up on our daughter,” Mccusker said. “His surgery saved her life and given us a future with Karlie.”

We would like to take this opportunity to wish Karlie and her family all the best. Her miraculous survival is a testament to the fact that there is always hope, even in the bleakest of circumstances.

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