Medical Marvels: Changing a baby's life

ByJohn Antalek and Joe Tesauro WABC logo
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Medical Marvels: Jacob's Jaw
Medical Marvels 8/19

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Eyewitness News is taking you inside Manhattan's New York-Presbyterian Hospital for a look at some extraordinary stories that we call Medical Marvels. It's a digital series exclusive to 7online.

Jacob Downer was born with an extremely small jaw and a cleft palate. From his first moment of life he struggled to breathe. He was diagnosed with Pierre Robin sequence, and so the decision was made to begin changing Jacob's life when he was just days old.

Dr. Jay Neugarten performed Jacob's surgery to fix his jaw when he was 17 days old.

Dr. Vikash Modi repaired his cleft palate at 10 months of age allowing him to eat and develop speech normally.

Jacob was treated at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Komansky Center for Children's Health.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital is the primary venue for the ABC series NY Med, which airs Thursday night at 10:00 p.m. on Channel 7.

The hospital is one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive hospitals, with some 2,600 beds. In 2013, there were more than 2 million inpatient and outpatient visits to the hospital, including close to 15,000 deliveries and more than 310,000 emergency department visits. More than 6,500 affiliated physicians and 20,000 employees provide state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory, and preventive care in all areas of medicine at six campuses.

To learn more, please visit:

  • nyp.org
  • Craniofacial Program at the Komansky Center for Children's Health at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
  • Komansky Center for Children's Health at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell