Oceane's miracle

Baby Oceane underwent a complicated operation to remove a "second head" resulting from a birth defect. She's now living life to the full.

One-year-old Oceane had an encephalocele – a rare neural tube defect characterized by a sac-like protrusion of neural tissue through an opening in the skull. A small gap, only 1.4cm wide, was the root of her problems. It allowed cerebrospinal fluid to escape from her brain and collect in the ballooning skin in the back of her neck, which formed the disturbing "second head". 



Her mother, Philomen, took Oceane to a Mercy Ships medical screening in Cotonou, Benin in February last year. Upon evaluation, surgeons thought they could help her by removing the mass and placing a small tube in her brain called a shunt. The shunt would drain excessive fluid from her head into her abdomen. But the earliest surgical opening wasn’t until October. Philemon spent the next seven months at home waiting for Oceane's surgery.



During that time, Philomen faced great discouragement. As the bulge continued to swell, simple things like bathing Oceane began to scare Philomen. "When I gave her a bath, I never washed her head. I was scared the tumour would explode and the baby would die."

Others began to mock Philomen, saying, "Look at the horrible baby she has," whenever she went outside. "I never replied," she said. "I felt very ashamed and always stayed in the house". 



Despite the discouragements around her, Philomen never lost hope that Mercy Ships could help her baby.



Finally her October date arrived, and the medical staff peformed a CT Scan of the brain. The scan spawned further discussion amongst the medical staff on the risks versus the benefits of her surgery. But the medical team decided she could receive an operation and the following day, Oceane underwent surgery onboard the Africa Mercy.



Later in the recovery room, while the nurses listened to Oceane's lungs and connected a heart monitor to her tiny body, Philomen came to the bedside. When she realized the mass was gone, she was speechless. All she could do was stand by her bed and hold Oceane's hand. 



Three weeks after her surgery, the medical team checking Oceane in her final post-op appointment saw a smiling and laughing Oceane. Philomen greeted the team with an enthusiastic "merci, merci, merci beaucoup!".