The boy has a heart outside his body

When Ryan Marquiss was born with a heart outside his body, doctors thought the boy could not survive.

Boys Ryan Marquiss, in Pennsylvania (USA), has extremely rare ectopia cordis syndrome , causing his heart to grow only to the left and outside of the body. The incidence of this disease is 8/8 million people and 90% of cases live only about 3 days after birth.

From left to right: boy Ryan after surgery
and before surgery with the heart outside the body

Doctors first discovered Ryan had ectopia cordis syndrome since he was a 12-week-old fetus. They advised her mother, Leighann Marquiss, to give up the pregnancy, but she did not agree.

Ryan was born in the National Children's Hospital in Washington (USA) in February 2009, with the help of more than 30 experts. The boy's heart protrudes outside the body and is only covered by a thin layer of skin. Initially, doctors worried that Ryan Marquiss might die from an infected heart, but the boy was still alive miraculously. However, doctors said the boy needed surgery to open the heart to reconnect blood vessels.

When Ryan was 2 weeks old, the doctors had successful surgery to reconnect the blood vessels through the heart to the boy. For the next two years, Ryan continued to undergo 10 more surgeries so that the left half of his heart could take over the heart's function. They also implanted additional skin outside the heart to protect it from infection.

Doctors said Ryan needed a heart transplant surgery in the future if he wanted to maintain life. However, he is currently preparing for his third birthday and his health is still very good.

'My son also had to undergo a form of chest protection surgery. Ryan couldn't become an athlete, but we hope he can run and climb trees like other kids, ' his mother shared.