Little girl miraculously survives after a chopstick impaled her skull and lodged itself in her brain
The toddler tripped and fell while carrying bowl of food and chopsticks in Shaanxi Province, China
A LITTLE girl has miraculously survived after having her skull impaled by a chopstick in a freak accident.
The unnamed toddler was just 0.03 inches from death after the utensil became lodged in her brain.
The accident occurred when the child, aged three, tripped and fell while holding a bowl of food and a pair of chopsticks in China.
She was found crying with one of them stuck in the roof of her mouth.
Docs revealed how the girl’s panicking family members played a big part in ensuring her survival after they decided not to touch or remove the 10.83-inch chopstick.
Instead they rushed her straight to the Xi’an Children’s Hospital where she was sent for scans.
Shi Hangyu, chief neurosurgeon at the facility in Xi’an, capital of North-western China’s Shaanxi Province, told her family she could have died or been completely paralysed if the chopstick had moved just 1mm (0.03 inches) to either side.
Related stories
As it stood, the stick was 5.12 inches inside her oral cavity and 1.57 inches inside her brain.
A team of surgeons led by Shi operated on the tot and successfully removed the chopstick about 11 hours after she sustained the shocking injury.
The little girl is now recovering in hospital.
Incredibly, she is not expected to suffer any long-term effects.
And doctors claimed the case wasn’t even that rare.
Shi revealed he sees about 20 similar cases every year involving kids, most of whom are nursery school age.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368