By Madhuri Dey
Dec. 19, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A baby born without his brain, celebrated his first birthday this week. Nicholas Coke, son of Sheena Coke, was born last year, a few days to go for Christmas, in Pueblo in Colorado. He suffers from Anencephaly, an extremely rare form of genetic disease, in which a baby is born without the whole or part of its brain, with only the brain stem intact.

Nicholas Coke, though he will never know it, has become a landmark in medical history. Generally, such babies that are born without some part or all of their brains, are able to survive only a few hours. There is no such surgery yet that can transplant a brain in the child. Yet, Nicholas has managed to make it through a whole year, and so far, he has lived an apparently healthy life, given his condition. In all this year, he has lived without any aid at all of tubes or doctors.

Sheena Coke, his mother, has thrown a party to celebrate the life force of this miracle child. She comments that Nicholas Coke cannot sit up, blink, suck, hear, see or crawl, in fact, he cannot function in any way at all. However, she marvels at the wonder that is her son. Recently, she insists, Nicholas Coke even laughed. She admits that it is painful to know that some day, she would have to bid goodbye to him, because there is no saying how long the little miracle will persist to live. As for now, Sheena Coke is happy with the fact that her son has lived for so long.