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Megan King, diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, survived near internal decapitation and 37 surgeries. Despite her immobility, she continues to adapt and recently bowled strikes.
Megan King suffered a serious injury when she was a 16-year-old teenager but her rehabilitation was impacted due to hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS). (IMAGE: Cover Images/X)
An Illinois woman who was once inches away from being ‘internally decapitated’ has shared her extraordinary story of survival and strength after two decades of living through pain and as she learns to adapt to her new body.
Megan King, while speaking to the Daily Mail, narrated that she was a 16-year-old teenager when she jumped for a ball in gym class in 2005 and came crashing down. She twisted her ankle but that was not the only injury she suffered. She tore the muscles off both shoulder blades and damaged her spine and instead of recovering her body went through relentless deterioration.
Over the next few years, her joints weakened, muscles began tearing and pain became her everyday companion. She went through 22 surgeries on her shoulders and upper back alone. Doctors could not explain why her body refused to heal.
In 2015, a full decade after the fall, doctors diagnosed her with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), a rare genetic condition that weakens connective tissue and causes joint instability. A year later, her neck dislocated, and she had to wear a Halo brace — a metal frame screwed into her skull to immobilise her neck.
A year later the unthinkable happened when the device was being removed. Her skull nearly detached from her spine due to atlanto-occipital dislocation, or internal decapitation. These incidents are fatal in over 90% of cases, the newspaper said in its report.
“My neurosurgeon had to physically hold my skull in place,” King was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
“I couldn’t stand up. My right side was shaking uncontrollably. I tilted the chair back to stop gravity from killing me.”
She was rushed into emergency surgery, where doctors fused her skull to her spine. The doctors later fused her entire spine down to her pelvis. Today, she cannot bend, twist, or move her head in any direction.
“I’m literally a human statue,” she said. “My spine doesn’t move at all. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped living.”
Now 35 and having survived 37 surgeries, King is slowly learning what her “new” body can still do. Recently, on a whim, she joined friends for a bowling night.
“I didn’t plan to play. But something inside me said, ‘Why not try?’” she said.
She bowled a strike. Then two more. “My friends screamed and clapped like wild. They weren’t just cheering the strike. They were cheering everything I’ve survived.”
“I’m adapting,” she said. “And I’m always surprised by what I can still accomplish.”
- Location :
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
