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A Houston, Texas baby born without skin has received a skin transplant, which means his mother can finally hug and kiss him, almost a year after his birth.
Ja'bari Gray was born January 1st, 37 weeks into his mother Priscilla Maldonado's pregnancy. When she we went in for an ultrasound, doctors saw that the baby wasn't gaining weight, and his heartbeat had dropped, prompting an emergency C-section. When Ja'bari was born, doctors realized he was born without skin, his eyelids were sealed shut, and his arms and legs weren't separated from his body.
Maldonado told ABC 13 Houston that only two other babies have been born with Ja'bari's condition, and neither of them survived.
He literally from the neck down, from the front and back nothing, there was no skin and even parts of his legs, he had no skin, she said . If it wasnt his purpose to be here, he would have been gone from birth or even before birth, so he does have a purpose in this world and we never know what it is until the future.
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Using skin grown in a Boston lab, Ja'bari received a skin transplant at Texas Childrens Hospital. He's the youngest person ever to receive the surgery. Until now, he needed breathing assistance and constant doses of pain medication to survive.
Since the skin transplant, he is able to receive skin-to-skin contact for the first time. "Now you can kiss him, touch him, do all that stuff," Maldonado said. "He got to wear his first set of clothes now, so he's getting there."
His name, Ja'Bari, means "fighter and warrior," and was given to him by his grandfather before anyone knew how much of a fighter he would become.