Boy Born with 2 Percent of Brain Defies Odds, Learns to Count and Surf

In this file image, a picture of a human brain taken by a positron emission tomography scanner, also called PET scan, is seen on a screen at the Regional and University Hospital Center of Brest, western France Jan. 9, 2019. (Fred TANNEAU / AFP/Getty Images)

A boy who was born with only 2 percent of his brain has not only survived against all odds, but gone on to learn to speak, count, and even do a little surfing, as his brain miraculously grew to 80 percent of normal size.

Six-year-old Noah Wall was diagnosed with spina bifida and hydrocephaly when he was growing in his mother’s womb.

At the time, British doctors told his parents he would only have “half a brain.” Five times they offered to terminate her pregnancy. Five times they refused.

When he was born, doctors found that only 2 percent of his skull cavity was filled with his brain—which had either been squashed down or had not grown.

They told his parents was likely Noah would be so severely disabled he wouldn’t be able to see, hear, talk, or eat.

By the age of 2, he was sitting up straight, singing, and playing computer games at his home in Cumbria in the north of England.

By the age of 3, a scan revealed his brain had grown to 80 percent, baffling the medical community.

Noah has continued to go from strength to strength. Appearing alongside his parents on “Good Morning” on Feb. 21, it was revealed that although Noah can’t walk yet, he has been surfing and has learned to count. His next aim—along with learning to walk—is to ski.

Noah’s father Rob Hall told “Good Morning' that being older parents—the couple has two grown-up children—helped them to resist the warnings from the medics and continue with the pregnancy.

“I think possibly if younger people were offered that choice, they may have felt pressured into taking it,” he said.

Whether the dramatic scans of Noah’s empty skull were due to a squashed up brain or an undeveloped brain, his father said it was a still a “miracle” that he had come as far as he had.

“Even if his brain had been so squashed up, he'd be severely mentally disabled because of all that damage and look at him—he’s as bright as a button,”  he said.

Noah has been enrolled in a  “neurophysics” programme in Australia, which is a mixture of physiotherapy and cognitive exercises.

“It’s all to do with the brain’s ability to heal or correct the body’s nervous system,” his father said.

Two years ago, his parents made the decision to send Noah to a local mainstream school.

“I didn’t want Noah to go to a special school,” his mother Shelly told the Cumberland Star. “I didn’t want him missing out on mainstream education, and all the experiences that come with it.”

“Noah is really excited—he’s got his pencils, his books, his reading bag, and lunch bag.

“He’s even got his PE kit and says he wants to be able to play football one day. I was planning his funeral while I was pregnant—I could never have imagined this incredible day would come,” his mother said.

Noah’s appearance on British prime time morning TV wasn’t his first media appearance. He also has an active social media presence, where his miraculous story is used to raise awareness of the plight of children with spina bifida, and to inspire others. He is described as a “disabled model.”