Once again, reality surpasses fiction. When Rob, 50, and Shelly, 44, were told that their 12-week-old son would be born with a tremendous physical disability, doctors advised them to prepare for the worst.

Noah, as the couple’s baby is called, was born practically brainless. From the first x-rays, an abnormality of fetal development was detected due to a dysfunction between spina bifida and hydrocephalus. The result: a combination of these medical complications
had left him with only 2% brain function .

What is unusual is that despite this very significant deficit, Noah has continued to grow and learn, which has led to his being known as
a case of “child without a brain” whose physical and intellectual development is progressing amazingly.

What are spina bifida and hydrocephalus?

The
Hydrocephalus is another symptom of poor brain formation, which is directly dependent on spina bifida. This is an excess of cerebrospinal fluid inside the skull. Literally, hydrocephalus means “water on the brain.In Noah’s case, the pressure from this substance can cause the brain to not form properly because it has much less room to develop.

On the other hand, spina bifida is a genetic degeneration that affects the malformation of the spinal cord, the brain or even
meninges (the protective layer that covers the brain). It is a neural tube defect very common among babies , especially in Western countries, where some couples agree to conceive children at an advanced age.

Incredible as it may seem and despite the great advance and exponential development of science and research, medical experts
remain undetermined as to the exact causes of spina bifida . In other words, it is a mystery.

Extensive studies and research have been conducted to solve the problem, but no one knows what causes the complete closure of the neural tube to be interrupted, resulting in the malformations already mentioned.Only a few scientists have pointed out some environmental, nutritional or even genetic factors to give a solid approximation. The mother’s diet during pregnancy, the environment or genetic inheritance can play a crucial role in the malformation of the baby’s brain.

Why is Noah extraordinary?

“We started to organize and prepare the burial while I was pregnant,” says the mother. The doctors gave her not months or years, but days of life directly after the birth, and on several occasions they recommended an abortion.

Tests and X-rays showed that
in Noah’s skull there was an excess of liquid , above the amount of normal grey matter. To be a little more graphic, the size of the baby’s skull was no larger than a grapefruit.

However, the parents went ahead and believed in their son. Even though the doctors did not give him more than three weeks to live,
Noah is on his way to turning 5 years old , going from a brain capacity of 2 to 70 percent.

Not only is he able to walk, start talking or play , but also his development follows a more than favourable course, destined to become another child within humanity. To this day, Noah’s case continues to be a miracle and is the object of study for health professionals, of university theses and other research.

Other cases like Noah’s

Although it’s a rare occurrence, Noah is not the only high-profile case.
Michelle Mack, around 40 years old, was born with half a brain . The most curious thing is that her anomaly was not detected until she turned 27, having led a very normal life and being a university graduate.

More surreal and incredible is another case detected in the UK. An anonymous student at the University of Sheffield went to the doctor for a strong
headache. The doctor noted that her head was a little above normal size for her age. He decided to investigate further and took an X-ray.The result was surprising: he had so much fluid in his head that it had erased practically the entire brain. But here comes the most extraordinary thing. The student in question is a gifted person, with an IQ of around 140 and a degree in mathematics with honours.

How do you explain the case of the child without a brain?

Of course, statistics say that mortality among people with an abnormally underdeveloped brain is much higher than average, and babies born with these kinds of serious neurodevelopmental problems often die before they reach adolescence. So… how do you explain Noah’s case? How could he survive with barely a brain? The answer is
something known as brain plasticity .

This phenomenon consists of our brain’s ability to physically adapt to situations, developing in a way that allows it to survive. Here the key is not so much in the number of neurons, but in how these are organized between them. Thus, plasticity can be understood as a kind of computer program that learns in real time
to deal with entirely new problems for which it has not been technically programmed (in this case, a combination of diseases). Sound familiar? It is the same principle as intelligence, but on a neurological level.

Thus, Noah’s case is another example of the extent to which the human body is able to use its resources to keep itself afloat, even when the means available are less than expected, and how it “builds” a healthy organism from there.