The parents of a 2-month-old Cambodian girl are now trying to raise money for the treatment of their daughter who is missing part of her skull and brain.
Ah Neath was born in February in the remote Tbong Khmum Province with the top of her head sunken in and part of her skull protruding out at the back.
Doctors in Cambodia believe that she suffers from a condition called anencephaly, a rare birth defect which causes abnormal development of the brain and skull during pregnancy.
Ah Neath's mother, Srey, and father, Heang, have now sold their home in the hopes that they will be able to pay for the baby's medical care.
The baby has been given oxygen in the hospital for two months to regulate her breathing, but she has since been discharged.
The family is still holding out hope, even though doctors have been unable to treat the condition. Her mother is now asking for donations, fearing that the baby will die without immediate medical treatment. The family is hoping to take the baby to a hospital in the capital city Phnom Penh.
"I knew there was something very wrong with my baby when she was born. I have cried for days and asked people to donate money," said Srey, according to the Daily Mail.
"We are poor and have sold our home and land to try to save my daughter. She is healthy, but her head does not have all of the skull. We are facing hardship and struggling to raise her to survive on the planet. Our only hope is that doctors may be able to help, or a foreign doctor may help," she added.
Anencephaly, which is sometimes referred to as "open skull," has no known cure and medical experts have cautioned that babies suffering from the condition die shortly after being born.
According to News-Medical.net, the condition is caused by abnormalities in the neural tube, which forms the brain and skull as well as the backbone and spinal cord of the baby.
Anencephaly occurs when the neural tube fails to close and the brain and bones do not form during the initial weeks of pregnancy.
The defect affects about one in 5,000 babies each year. Babies with the condition are often blind and deaf. While some babies with anencephaly may survive for a few hours or even days after birth, many are stillborn.
