A miraculous recovery

Five years ago, Xavier Cunningham arrived at The University of Kansas Hospital in the middle of the night with a rotisserie barbecue skewer jutting from his cheek. The 10-year-old was not in pain; he was wide awake and he could communicate, which was a miracle.

The injury occurred when Xavier attempted to flee a swarm of yellow jackets. He and his friends had jumped from a tree house and Xavier fell face-first on the meat skewer the boys had found earlier and stuck in the ground.

Xavier, who made a complete recovery, is now in high school, plays in the marching band and hopes to one day become an actor. He recently recalled his harrowing experience and the care he received in Cambridge Tower A. There, more than 100 providers and staff from multiple specialties, such as neurosurgery, otolaryngology and head and neck surgery, came together to plan the best course of action.

“People ask how I was able to remain so calm while the doctors came up with a plan to remove it, but I felt very comforted by all the doctors and my family around me,” Xavier says. “I guess it was just a natural inner calm that came over me.”

Neurosurgeon Koji Ebersole, MD, director of endovascular neurosurgery, who was part of Xavier’s care team, described the lengthy skewer as “strong, heavy and sturdy,” and said it was immediately adjacent to the major arteries of Xavier’s neck, which supply the brain.

“We were ready for the worst, but it turned out for the best,” says Dr. Ebersole, who vividly recalls Xavier’s case and his calm demeanor. During Xavier’s stay in Cambridge Tower A, he was treated using the biplane technology in the Kevin Westrope and Jason Holmes Interventional Radiology Suite, and he received care from our physicians, nurses and staff in the Jack and Cheryl Lockton Intensive Care Patient Unit.