Surgery helps boy born with cyst covering his nose celebrate first birthday with a smile

Being born with a rare condition triggering physical deformities can make life an ordeal for a child. But luckily many of these disorders can be treated to enable young ones to live the best years of their life without it being a daily struggle.

Zakary Riegel was born with a disease which caused his brain tissue to grow outside his face creating a balloon like cyst that covered his eyes and the nose. But he is now celebrating his first birthday with a smile thanks to a surgery that successfully removed the large mass.

Zakary spent his first four months at a children’s hospital before the life changing brain surgery which enabled his mother to see his face. Now he is able to stand and crawl despite a higher risk of disorders and seizures.

While the mother was told that her child would be born with a cyst on the cheek, the mass between the eyes was worse than anticipated. The pouch made of brain matter and tissue is caused when the neural tube forming the brain and spinal cord fails to close by the fourth week of pregnancy.

Zakary was kept in neonatal intensive care for five months since the cyst caused hindrance to his breathing.