Chase Britton had a premature birth, and was legally blind. When he turned one year old, doctors performed an MRI on him to confirm their suspicions: That he had cerebral palsy.
Instead, physicians were rather astounded by their findings. Chase is missing two crucial parts of his brain, a saga that is described in a recent AOL story headlined “Boy Without A Cerebellum Baffles Doctors.”
As it turns out, Chase not only doesn’t have a cerebellum, the portion of the brain that governs motor skills, balance and emotion. He is also missing the pons, the part of the brain that governs breathing and sleeping.
Chase’s case has especially stymied doctors because there are ultrasound pictures of his brain when he was still in the womb, and those pictures show that at one point he had a cerebellum, according to AOL. Yet there is no evidence that Chase suffered a brain bleed or hemorrhage that would have lead to the cerebellum’s disappearance.
Despite his abnormal brain, Chase found a way to balance and sit up on his own, and to crawl. He is onto his next step, learning to walk. He even plays with an iPad, according to AOL.
Chase is now three years old, and his parents Heather and David Britton feel blessed to have him. And doctors still haven’t figured out how is able to do what he is doing.
