Mum's joy as brain dead son makes miracle recovery despite advice to turn off life support THREE times

Doctors feared he wouldn't make it - but now a "brain dead" boy can laugh, cry and communicate again thanks to a "miracle" recovery.

Three times medics advised Taylor Reid's devastated mum Cheryl to turn off his life support.

He had just a 2% chance of survival, she was told, after a motorbike smash in a field in Ballysillan, northern Belfast, nearly two years ago in May 2016.

The prize-winning biker was 10 at the time, but had been racing most weekends since the age of five, reports Belfast Live.

When Cheryl got to the hospital, doctors told her it was unlikely her son would "make it through the night".

Taylor was just 10 when he was in a serious motorbike crash that fractured his skull (Image: Belfast Live)

His mum Cheryl was told he had a 2% chance of survival and medics feared he wouldn't make it through the night (Image: Belfast Live)

“The second day we definitely thought he was away as his body started to swell," she said.

The mum said she has no doubt Taylor would have been killed outright had he not been wearing a neck brace when he was knocked off his bike near their home.

But the force of the crash still sent his helmet flying from his head, leaving him unresponsive or able to breath on his own because of the impact.

She said the former Ballysillan PS pupil spent the next three weeks in intensive care at The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and a further nine months on its Paul ward.

“He had multiple fractures in his skull and every part of his head was injured,” Cheryl explained.

Doctors told Cheryl to switch off his life support three times (Image: Belfast Live)

“They told me his brain had completely died and there was nothing they could do.

“When the accident first happened consultants asked, ‘Cheryl, do you think he realises who you are?’, and I was like, ‘No’.”

But despite her "wee boy's" bleak outlook, the mum-of-three said she and her husband David never gave up.

Heavily pregnant Cheryl, David and Taylor's little sister Brooke were never far from his side during nine long months in hospital.

Now 12-year-old Taylor is even reacting to his baby brother Cole, who was born just three weeks after his accident and visited him every day.

And a delighted Cheryl puts it all down to his rehabilitation work with a private doctor he has seen every week for the past year in Belfast.

The family kept fighting and following sessions with a private doctor, Taylor is making a "miracle" recovery (Image: Belfast Live)

The 31-year-old added: “Doctor Goshi (at the Craniaa Neuro Rehab Centre) has just literally retrained his whole brain - he’s a miracle worker.

“At the start there was no response whatsoever, but now when I bring him every Tuesday, his eyes are wide open and he’s smiling - all the things they told me he would never be able to do again.

“He responds and knows every single word you are saying to him now.

“They wanted me to register him blind, but I knew in my gut that he wasn’t and the speech therapist said last week they think he’s seeing everything and is starting to spell through his eyes now.

"He says ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and is spelling out pictures and has complete understanding.

“It’s just been persevering with the treatment and the therapy and it’s really starting to pay off.”

Cheryl said the private two-hour weekly treatments have been expensive, but worth every penny just to see her son laugh again.

He can laugh, cry and communicate again with his beloved family, who visit every day (Image: Belfast Live)

“That was like giving me a million pounds because they told me he would never be able to do that,” she added.

“They told me his emotions were gone and that he would never feel pain.

"Basically that his body was breathing, but he was gone.

“Now he’s crying and about five months ago he started smiling, and he’s laughing too.

“We are getting wee bits of him back and you can see his personality now, but it’s definitely down to Dr Goshi.

"I am so glad I have stuck with it. He’s amazing, that man.

“Taylor didn’t know what planet he was on, but since he started treating him, he’s a different wee boy.

"With the help of Dr Goshi he is trying to walk. It’s unbelievable.”

But the family, who relocated to Glengormley into a better house for Taylor's needs, are not stopping there.

Cheryl added: “I do believe he will bring him on further.

"We’re now talking about going to India for stem cell therapy.”

MIRROR.CO.UK