Waukesha Baby Doing Well After Being Born With Exposed Brain

Baby Dominic Pio Gundrum has had a long road of tribulation since his birth merely year ago when he was born with an exposed brain.

Waukesha Appellate Judge and former state legislator Mark Gundrum and his wife Mary received the tragic news 20 weeks into the pregnancy that the fetus had an encephalocele, a rare disorder in which part of the brain was exposed, covered in skin, outside the head, reported Boston Globe. The brain was growing down into the roof of the mouth and protruding onto the face.

The couple, who have seven other children, were told the baby might not make it to birth and if he did, he might die a few hours later, according to the Boston Globe story.

"Doctors had to do what they have to do, and we were reminded of our option to abort Dominic, and we told them right away that was not a consideration.  This was our baby, and we were going to love him however God made him for us," Mark Gundrum told 620 WTMJ's Charlie Sykes.

Nearly a year later Dominic Pio Gundrum is doing "wonderfully", said his mother in a blog that is tracking the baby's progress.

Dominic Pio Gundrum was only four months old when the couple flew to Boston to meet with a top-notch medical team at Boston Children’s Hospital where a groundbreaking surgery helped the baby.

Dr. John Meara, who had previously performed a encephalocele surgery, also diagnosed the baby with “exquisitely rare” condition called Tessier facial cleft, in which the two halves of his head and face never came together, reported Boston Globe.

The doctor told the parents this only happens every 5 or 10 years in North America.

The team of doctors performed a seven-hour operation to remove the encephalocele, close the skull, repair the Tessier cleft, and bring the baby’s facial features together, reported Boston Globe.

Now at home in Waukesha the family of 10 is settling in and praying for the best.

“He is a miracle baby and it’s for so many people praying for the little guy, I have no doubt about it,” said Mark Gundrum in Fox6Now interview.