Toddler Siblings With Blades Stuck In Skulls Survive After Heads Being Stabbed

A mentally ill mother stabbed her two infants in their heads with a knife and a pair of scissors in Florida on April 24, which resulted in them having severe head trauma. While the 20-month-old Juan Pedro Nino-Brown took the brunt of the kitchen knife, 8 months old Guillermo Timoteo Nino-Brown, was pierced through the ear.

Both of them were rushed to a hospital with blades still stuck in their skulls and the injuries extended from one side of the brain to the other, risking major arteries.

Dr. Narlin Beaty, endovascular neurosurgeon at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) said "You don’t see injuries like this that survive transport to the hospital very frequently.”

The pair of scissors that pierced through Guillermo Timoteo’s ears, moved the artery that supplies blood to the spinal cord and brain stem, out of place. However, Juan Pedro’s case was more complicated as the knife cut the boy’s external and internal carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain, neck and face. Juan Pedro was in coma and hovering near death while his younger brother was awake and alert.

"I have done endovascular work on a child before but never in a traumatic setting like this,” Beaty said.

Beaty and his team entered through legs and up into the brain in the case of both the boys and used small medical coils and balloons to protect vessels and arteries from getting destroyed as the blades were pulled out, CBS-affiliated television station KIRO7 reported.

"With every movement of the object we could watch it under live imaging," Beaty said. "Maybe 20 years ago, maybe 10 years ago, you’d have seen these injuries and you’d have thought to yourself, ‘These can’t be helped.”

Guillermo Timoteo was the first one to be operated and he made it through on the same night. His brother was next and their grandmother Gail Brown feared the worst due to the complications.

The knife came out with little bleeding however, and there was no damage to the endangered artery. "It was like the moment of truth — whether he was going to live or die," Beaty said. “And I don’t think anybody knew. We had done everything medically possible.”

That night, over 50 medical professionals from various departments in the hospital tended to the kids and several others stayed long past their shifts to sit by their bedsides.

“It was a miracle that these kids lived. Even with the best care they didn’t have to survive. And so, definitely, medicine played a role. And I feel like there was a higher power that was there to help,” Beaty said. "I think something magical happened that day. This is one of the days that you’re reminded why you do this."

Post the surgery, the siblings stayed at the hospital for a week before being transported to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, Florida, for further treatment. The siblings now travel to visit the hospital every five weeks for check-up.

Juan Pedro celebrated his second birthday Saturday while Guillermo Timoteo will celebrate his on Aug. 10.