Woman born with no brain turns 20 in medical ‘miracle’ — told she’d never make it to 5
Alex Simpson of Omaha, Nebraska, recently celebrated her 20th birthday, which is a milestone that even doctors thought was never possible to reach.
She was born with a rare neurological condition known as hydranencephaly, and much of her brain's cerebral hemispheres failed to develop, and she retains only a small fraction of the cerebellum.
When Alex was just a few months old, medical professionals told her parents that she was unlikely to live past age four. Despite the grim prognosis, she has lived far beyond expectations. Her family views her survival as nothing less than a medical miracle.
While Alex cannot see or hear in the conventional sense, her family believes she is aware of emotional and physical cues.
For instance, her younger brother explained that if someo...
