He lies on his back as nurses tend to him. They gently wipe his chest, carefully avoiding the pumping organ.
The abnormality, Ectopia cordis, is a congenital malformation in which the heart is abnormally located either partially or totally outside the thorax.
The condition can cause the heart to be located anywhere from the neck to the lower abdomen, although in most cases it protrudes outside the chest through a split sternum.
Incredibly rare, the condition only effects eight in every one million births, with 90 per cent of these babies either stillborn or dying within the first three days - usually through infection, hypoxemia, or cardiac failure.
Although the exact cause is unknown, ectopia cordis is thought to be related to problems with the development of the baby`s lateral plate mesoderm in early pregnancy.
The development of the muscles that hold the baby`s organs in place fails, leading to them bursting through barely developed muscle and bone, and continuing to grow outside the skin.
There seems to be a marginally higher percentage of females with the malformation.
A slight bump or fall could kill sufferers instantly. Most children with the condition are treated with kid gloves, wrapped in cotton wool and told to refrain from unnecessary risks.
Infants are also at risk of developing widespread internal infections of the abdominal cavity.
The oldest known survivor of ‘ectopia cordis’ is Christopher Wall, born in Philadelphia in August 1975.
Only 50 known cases have reached the age of 12, with most dying just hours after birth.
