"Miracle Baby" Survives Rod Through the Head

A little boy from Leland, N.C., is lucky to be alive today after falling on a power washer and having an L-shaped metal rod rammed into his brain.

A leisurely Saturday nearly turned deadly 10 days ago, when 17-month-old Jessiah Jackson fell from a chair at his home landing directly on the rod of a power washer.

The unbelievable result? The metal rod lodged three inches into his brain.

His uncle, Carlton Reed was with him at the time, luckily he had training as an EMT.

Reed said, "It scared me to death. I didn't know what to do. I just knew to keep his head still."

CBS News correspondent Whit Johnson reported the rod came within a hair's breadth of the child's torcula vein, nearly severing blood flow between the brain and heart.

Dr. Anand Germanwala, who treated Jessiah at The University of North Carolina Hospital, told CBS News, "This could not have been in a worse location."

He continued, "If there was any injury to that, that could have resulted in instant death. That could have resulted in a massive stroke. That could have resulted in a terrible outcome."

Doctors told Grandfather Joseph Jones that little Jessiah's chances were grim by the time he got to the care of neurosurgeons at The University of North Carolina Hospital.

Jones said, "He didn't sugarcoat anything. He said, 'Mr. Jones, more than likely, we pull the screw out of his head, he's going to bleed out and bleed to death,' so when he said that man i just lost it."

But just a day after surgery, Jessiah was already recovering as if nothing had ever happened.

Germanwala said, "I think we had a lot of help from above, and fortunately everything went well, so i think he is a miracle baby."

Jones added, "It's like God gave him a second chance."

Jessiah is set to return home later today.