A baby who was born with a foot in his brain has been declared fit and healthy three months after shocking doctors with the "once in a lifetime finding in the operating room".
Manuel and Tiffinie Esquibel have called their son Sam a "miracle" after tests showed the tumour had not grown back.
"He is a miracle … I just love him so much," Ms Esquibel said on NBC's The Today Show.
"He's doing great, he's doing really good."
Soon after Sam's birth on October 1 last year, the Esquibel's were told their son had only a 50-50 chance of survival after an MRI showed a microscopic tumour on his brain.
Neurosurgeon Dr Paul Grabb and his team discovered the tumour contained a small, perfectly formed foot and a partially-formed second foot, hand and thigh.
The foot quite literally popped out of the tumor," Dr Grabb was quoted as saying by NBC News.
"A lot of us who have been in practice long enough like to think we've seen everything … well, we haven't."
"This would be a one in a lifetime finding in the operating room."
New photos of the operation show the blood vessels inside the tumour.
Doctors believe Sam most likely had a teratoma — a type of tumour that contains hair and body organs but rarely occurs in the brain.
Another less likely possibility is that the condition was fetus in fetu —l when a developing twin is engulfed by the other twin.
The only remaining sign of Sam's tumour is a scar on the right side of his head. He is also having physical therapy to improve the use of his neck.
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