A 3-year-old Indian girl whose head grew three times the normal size is alive and making progress after a long and risky medical journey.
Roona Begum cannot yet walk because her head is so heavy, the result of a life-threatening medical condition known as hydrocephalus, or "water on the brain," the Daily Mirror reported. After multiple surgeries and 105 days in a New Delhi hospital, surgeons were able to drain the excess fluid from Roona's head.
Doctors who treated Roona last year did not think she would survive. But after a medical examination this week doctors were delighted to see she is making strides.
"I see a lot of improvement, which I didn't expect," Dr. Sandeep Vaishya, the neurosurgeon who performed Roona's latest checkup, told the newspaper. "She has started laughing, she makes a lot of sounds and she occasionally speaks a few words."
Roona was born with hydrocephalus, which can cause damage to the brain and mental disorders. At one point the circumference of her head was 37 inches. The parents said others even suggested they put their daughter up for adoption.
Now, her head has been reduced to 23 inches thanks to the procedures she underwent from May to June 2013. Doctors performed the surgery free of charge due to the amount of support from sympathizers worldwide.
"She has survived," Fatima Khatun, Roona's mother, told the Daily Mirror. "She can hold her head straight and she can move her head from side to side on her own. She responds to other kids and she will smile if other kids call out her name."
Vaishya said the next step is to perform a surgery to drain more fluids from Roona's head. Her father, Abdul Rahman said he will only agree to it if they can assure him she will be "a normal kid."
"But if they cannot give us that assurance, then we don't need it. We would much rather let her be as she is."
