Jessiah Jackson, the 17-month-old "miracle baby" who survived having a metal rod embedded 2 inches into his brain, was discharged from UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill on Wednesday with an excellent prognosis and no signs of brain damage or infection, doctors say.
Family members say the toddler, full of smiles and energy, appears back to normal.
"He's the Jessiah from before the accident," the boy's uncle, Carlton Redd, said.
Baby Jessiah became known as a "little miracle" this week when neurosurgeon Anand Germanwala removed an L-shaped metal hook from a pressure washer that had ripped through his skull and lodged in his brain.
Jessiah was playing outside at home in Wilmington when he climbed onto a chair next to the family's pressure washer. He dropped his sippy cup, and when he reached for it, the chair toppled and threw him backward right onto a hook on the machine's hose crank.
Before operating, Germanwala told the family to pray. The metal had missed critical blood vessels by a hair, and the risks during surgery included excessive bleeding, stroke or blindness.
"I'm very spiritual. They're very spiritual," he later said. "Prayers provide me with inner peace and the family with a sense of hope."
The only complication that could develop is brain infection, Germanwala said Wednesday. Though tests have come back negative, family members have been trained to look for signs, and Jessiah is scheduled to return to UNC in several weeks for a checkup.
"If he jumps that final hurdle, the prognosis is perfect," Germanwala said.
Though Jessiah has no memory of what happened, his family plans to tell him when he's older. They saved the metal hook that was lodged in his head and intend to hang it in their home. "One day, he will look back and see how God blessed him," Redd said.
To celebrate the recovery, Jessiah's grandfather, Joseph Jones, plans to buy the little boy a four-wheeler. According to the family, when grandpa whispered his idea to the napping toddler, Jessiah immediately woke up and tried to talk.
"He deserves it after all this," Redd said. "But, oh yeah - he's going to wear a helmet."
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Jessiah Jackson, his grandparents and neurosurgeon Anand Germanwala will appear Tuesday on ABC News' 'Good Morning America.'
