The Superglue Saved Baby Alfie's Brain

Pulse

oi-Staff

By Super

Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 13:44

Alfie Dale, dogged the death and is living hail and hearty, 9 months after his birth. He has beaten the odds to survive after doctors used Superglue to stick down an artery on his brain.

Baby Alfie Dale was born with a rare condition called Vein of Galen malformation, which is a life threatening swell in the brain. The tiny tot had to be rushed to an operation to prevent a fatal blood rush, which could have stopped his heart.

Surgeon reveal that it was an intricate operation, which involved threading a catheter the width of a human hair from his groin, through his heart to his brain.

This operation had been performed only on four other babies but they were at least 36 months old. It was the first time such an operation is being done on a baby who is a week old.

"It really is a miracle that Alfie is here. We didn't hold out much hope but he's such a little fighter. He defied all the odds," says his mom Alyssa. Alfie's twin Charlie thankfully was unaffected.

After Galen malformation was diagnosed, the baby was rushed for an operation. The surgeons, slid the catheter through to his brain and then sent tiny globules of medical superglue along it to seal off the artery.

Five months later Alfie underwent the second operation, but is now nine months old and home in Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, with Alyssa, shop manager husband Jon, 32, and brother Charlie.

"The twins are doing wonderfully and Alfie shouldn't need more treatment as the operation was a success. It seems hard to believe that superglue saved our son," says a relieved Alyssa.

Surgeon confirm that Alfie will not face any problem and will continue to live a normal life.