A Kansas boy is recovering after doctors successfully removed a 10-inch knife that was embedded in his head.
Eli Gregg tripped while playing outside last week, falling and impaling himself on the knife. His mother, Jimmy Russell, heard his scream but did not realize the severity of the situation until Gregg opened the door.
“It was blood and he had a piece of metal in his face,” Russell said in a video released by the University of Kansas Health System, where Gregg was treated.
The blade was lodged under Gregg’s left eye. The knife pierced through his skull, and the point lodged just under his brain, nudging up to the carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain.
“The sharp side of the blade is essentially on that vessel right as it’s entering the brain,” Koji Ebersole, the doctor who oversaw the operation, said.
“It could not have had a pound more force on it and him survive that event,” Ebersole said. “I don’t think he would have survived it.”
The procedure to remove the blade went smoothly and Gregg was released from the hospital Monday.
“It’s amazing,” Russell said. “He says he is going to stay away from sharp objects.”
