In what is being dubbed a miracle, doctors in Israel performed an extraordinarily unusual and complicated surgery on a 12-year-old boy where they reattached his head to his neck. A car hit the boy while riding his bicycle, and he suffered an internal decapitation. According to a report in The Times of Israel, the boy’s skull detached from the top vertebrae of his spine after being hit by the vehicle. The condition is scientifically known as a bilateral Atlanta occipital joint dislocation, which is rare in children. The surgery was carried out in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center-Ein Kerem in June but was only publicly announced this week. Doctors there said that Suleiman Hassan was rushed to the trauma unit after being hit, and the ligaments holding the rear base of the skull were severely damaged. This resulted in the head becoming disconnected from the base of the neck, and the boy was initially expected to survive only 50-50.

However, the team of surgeons managed to reattach the boy’s head with help from internal traction and spinal implants. The surgery took several hours and required much precision. The doctors also used fresh plates and fixations to secure the damaged area. Even though his head was almost completely detached from his neck, Hassan has no neurological deficits or sensory or motor dysfunction and is functioning normally now, doctors say.

Dr. Ohad Einav, who led the surgery, explained that this is one of the most complex injuries they have ever had. He added that the operation would not have been possible without the quick decision-making of his colleagues and the use of cutting-edge equipment. Einav says the fact that the child survived this traumatic injury without any complications is a sign of good luck but that their expertise helped him avoid permanent brain damage.

The boy’s father has not left his bedside throughout the recovery process and has expressed gratitude to the doctors for saving his son. “What saved him were professionalism, technology, and fast decision-making by the trauma and orthopedics teams,” the father told TPS news agency. The boy is still discharged home with a cervical splint and will have to be monitored by the doctors. He is not allowed to perform strenuous activities for the time being. He will be back in the hospital next week for further examinations.