3D printed skull gives 7-year-old boy new lease of life two years after tragic fall
- Teddy Ward lost the left half of his skull falling down a cliff in 2014
- He has spent two years wearing a helmet to protect his brain
- It meant he could never go to friends’ parties, play dates or sleepovers
- Now, the Children’s Hospital of LA has made him a 3D-printed skull
- Since his operation to receive it this year, Teddy’s free to act like other kids
Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com
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A seven-year-old boy who lost half his skull in a fall has been given a new lease of life thanks to a 3D printed skull.
Teddy Ward was just five when he slipped and fell down a cliff in Topanga Canyon, near Los Angeles.
The impact crushed his head, shattering all of the bone on his left side.
After surgery to replace the skull was unsuccessful, he was sent home with a helmet, ordered to wear it 24 hours a day.
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New lease of life: Teddy Ward, seven, pictured after surgery to receive his 3D printed skull
Long journey: Half his skull was crushed in a fall two years ago (pictured in hospital afterwards, left). When surgery could not repair the damage, he was sent home with a helmet (right)
Now that Teddy is back to normal – running around, dabbing (pictured), sliding and screaming – his mother Lisa Ward (pictured with Teddy and Dr Mark Urata) is ecstatic
It meant Teddy – described by his mother as a ‘rambunctious kid’ – could not go to friends parties for fear of getting on a bounce house, and his friends parents could not bear the risk of hurting him during a sleepover.
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But now he is running around like any of child, thanks to a newly-designed skull that almost perfectly mimics the original.
It was created by doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles after years of research to find a solution for Teddy.
The final product, surgically implanted earlier this year, was made from a material called PolyEtherEtherKetone (or, PEEK).
Uniquely, it bears all the physical hallmarks of real skull material.
‘This was a remarkable defect,’ his doctor, Dr Mark Urata, told CBS Los Angeles.
‘It was close to 50 percent of his skull that was gone.’
This is an x-ray that shows the devastating impact Teddy’s fall had on his head
The final product, molded by Dr Urata (pictured), was made from a material called PolyEtherEtherKetone. Uniquely, it bears all the physical hallmarks of real skull material
Now that Teddy is back to normal – running around, dabbing, sliding and screaming – his mother Lisa Ward is ecstatic.
‘No parent wanted the responsibly of a child without a skull,’ she told CBS.
‘I put the word out, literally a few days ago, that Teddy is available for sleepovers!’
On a serious note she added: ‘We are the lucky ones. And we know it. And we’re thankful.’
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