The future is bright for a happy little girl with the rare privilege of celebrating two birthdays a year.
A year after officially arriving into the world, a little girl who was “born” twice is now thriving, thanks to modern medicine.
Last year, surgeons removed Lynlee Hope from her mother's womb at 23 weeks after a sonogram revealed the unborn child had a massive tumor at the base of her spine.
“It almost looks like there's a whole other head,” mom Margaret Boemer told Inside Edition.
The enormous tumor was still growing and doctors gave the then-expectant mom a grim diagnosis that the baby might not make it due to the size of the tumor.
The tumor, known as a sacrococcygeal teratoma, was diverting blood from the fetus, raising the risk of heart failure.
It was such a crisis that surgeons couldn’t wait and had to perform the surgery straight away.
The baby's chances were 50/50 when the team at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston carried out the five-hour life or death operation.
The baby was outside the mom's body for a full 20 minutes and weighted just 1 pound 3 ounces as the tumor was removed. The fetus was then gently tucked back into the womb.
Three months later, Lynlee was born by cesarean section, weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces.
Now, more than a year later, the toddler is thriving and her mother is noting how intelligent her daughter is.
“She loves to run and walk, which is a miracle itself,” Boemer said. “She is an amazing joy.”
The future is bright for a happy little girl who gets to celebrate two birthdays a year.
“She can do whatever she puts her mind to,” Boemer added. “The sky's the limit.”
