Bentley Yoder was born with the odds stacked against him– born with a brain outside his skull. Bentley’s parents, Sierra and Dustin were told by doctors that discovered Bentley’s rare condition called cranium bifidum, that Bentley was simply ‘incompatible with life.’

Bentley’s parents refused to quit on him though, and decided to go through with the pregnancy, ‘just to see him before saying goodbye.’ To everyone’s surprise Bentley came kicking and screaming into this world on time, on October 31, 2015. He went on to develop normally, save for the critical parts of his brain on top his head, and left nearly all doctors at a mere loss for words over how this could be so.

Fast forward four months, and Bentley’s parents were actively seeking out the nation’s foremost leading authorities on the brain surgery front, with hopes to find a team capable of performing the surgery necessary to relocate parts of Bentley’s brain back inside his skull.

They found Dr. John Meara at Boston Children’s Hospital, who planned and practiced the pending procedure using 3D-printed models. On May 24th the surgery commenced, and finished with success six hours later.

A month after the surgery Bentley shows all signs of being just fine, but only time will tell whether things like his vision were impaired for the long run.