Miracle Surgery

Two-month-old baby 'happy and healthy' after miraculous surgery to remove neck tumour the size of her head

A two-month-old baby girl is recovering after doctors at a Florida children's hospital miraculously removed a benign two-and-a-half-pound tumour from her neck.

Peyton Marie Kirby was born on July 11 with a tumour caused by a lymph blood vessel malformation that had dangerously entwined with nerves and arteries.

Incredibly, the mass weighed a third of her eight-pound, 15-ounce body weight - approximately the size of her small head.

Brave: Peyton Marie Kirby, born on July 11, after doctors at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville were able to surgically remove a tumour from her neck

Little Peyton underwent a 14-hour surgery at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville on August 8.

Doctors said the surgery was complicated by the location of the mass, which was putting pressure on her heart.

According to a news release issued by the hospital, mother Tiffany Kirby gave birth via Caesarean section after an ultrasound at the 21st week of her pregnancy revealed the mass growing on the baby's neck.

An obstetrician identified the mass as a cystic hygroma. But despite its close proximity to the baby's heart, doctors determined after birth the infant needed to grow before it could be removed. 

Heartbreaking: Baby Peyton Kirby underwent a mammoth 14 hour surgery to remove a two-and-a-half pound benign tumour

Tense: Baby Peyton Kirby being prepared for surgery, which involved carefully removing the mass that had pressed down on her heart

Doctors Saswata Roy, a craniofacial surgeon at Wolfson and Nemours, and pediatric surgeon Nick Poulos were both involved in the case before Peyton was born.

Roy told the Jacksonville Times-Union Peyton was able to breathe on her own and spent the first weeks of her life in hospital before the surgery.

Angelic: Coming through the lengthy surgery with no immediate after-effects, Peyton will now go through physical therapy to restore muscle definition

Doctors said she is healthy, although she does have weakness on her right side caused by nerve and muscle damage. She is expected to undergo physical therapy to recover.

Doctors say minor surgeries should take care of baby Peyton's scar and the hollow look the surgery left on her neck.

Tiffany Kirby and her fiancé Andrew Dandurand said that Peyton is healthy and happy.

'She smiles all the time,' Tiffany Kirby said. 'She's a happy baby.'