What started as a routine athletic injury for Megan King ended in one of the rarest and most dangerous spinal conditions a person can survive: internal decapitation. Her case, which required emergency surgery and full spinal fusion from skull to pelvis, didn’t begin with a catastrophic accident. It began with a simple fall. But an underlying condition—hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS)—turned an ordinary injury into a life-altering medical crisis.
Her experience is more than a medical anomaly. It’s a warning about how easily serious conditions can be missed, especially when symptoms are dismissed as minor or exaggerated. Many people live with chronic joint pain, frequent dislocations, or long recovery times without ever being evaluated for underlying disorders like hEDS. In King’s case, delayed diagnosis came at a high physical cost. For others, earlier awareness could prevent years of damage.
A Routine Movement with Catastrophic Consequences
What started as an ordinary athletic moment turned into a medical crisis for Megan King. At just 15, during what should have been a harmless leap to catch a soccer ball, she landed awkwardly—causing injuries far beyond a typical sports mishap. She damaged her ankle and spine and tore the muscles off both of her shoulder blades.
Over time, her condition deteriorated. After a year on crutches and multiple surgeries, King’s spine became increasingly unstable. Things escalated dramatically when doctors attempted to remove a Halo brace from her skull—a device used to immobilize the neck. During that procedure, her skull became dangerously detached from her spine, a condition known as internal decapitation. “I flew my chair back to keep gravity from decapitating me,” King told the Daily Mail. Her neurosurgeon had to physically hold her skull in place with his hands.
She was rushed into emergency surgery. The only option to stabilize her spine and prevent further neurological damage was to fuse her head and spine—a complex procedure that ultimately saved her life but came at the cost of mobility. Today, she is fused from skull to pelvis, rendering her spine completely immobile.
Despite the physical limitations, King emphasizes that she has not given up on living her life. “I’m literally a human statue,” she told Daily Mail, “but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped living.”
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The Hidden Risk Factor: Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS)
For a long time, doctors couldn’t explain why Megan King’s injuries continued to escalate despite surgeries, physical therapy, and immobilization. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) that the full picture came into focus. hEDS is a hereditary connective tissue disorder that compromises the body’s ability to produce strong, stable collagen—a key protein that supports joints, ligaments, and other connective structures. Without it, the body becomes unusually prone to joint hypermobility, dislocations, chronic pain, and poor healing.
In people with hEDS, injuries that would normally be manageable can trigger a chain reaction of complications. That’s exactly what happened to King. The initial fall in high school damaged her joints and muscles, but it was her body’s inability to heal and stabilize itself that led to further spinal instability. Over time, her neck became so unstable that her skull was at risk of detaching from her spine—a rare and often fatal condition known as internal decapitation. This extreme progression wouldn’t typically occur in someone without an underlying connective tissue disorder.
hEDS is often misdiagnosed or overlooked, especially in younger patients who may simply be described as “double-jointed” or flexible. But the consequences of missing the diagnosis can be severe. In King’s case, years of unexplained pain and repeated surgeries could have been better managed—or even partially prevented—had her condition been identified earlier. Her story highlights how essential it is for both patients and clinicians to recognize when hypermobility and chronic joint problems might be a sign of something more serious.
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When Stabilization Becomes Survival: The Role of Spinal Fusion
Once Megan King’s condition reached the point of internal decapitation, there were no longer any non-invasive options left. Her skull had become dangerously unstable on her spine, and even the act of sitting upright risked severing her spinal cord. Emergency surgery was the only way forward. Neurosurgeons performed a complex spinal fusion procedure—an operation designed to permanently connect two or more vertebrae to prevent any movement between them.
In King’s case, this wasn’t limited to one segment of the spine. Surgeons had to fuse her entire spinal column, from the base of her skull to her pelvis. This level of fusion is rare and usually reserved for extreme cases where spinal instability is life-threatening. The procedure involves using rods, screws, and bone grafts to create a single, solid structure. It eliminates all flexibility in the fused sections, but it also removes the risk of further spinal collapse or neurological damage.
The scale of the operation is hard to overstate. King underwent a total of 37 surgeries—many of them aimed at stabilizing or reinforcing parts of her spine that had failed due to the connective tissue disorder. Fusing the entire spine effectively turned her torso into a fixed structure. She can no longer bend, twist, or turn her neck. “I’m literally a human statue,” she told the Daily Mail. Yet despite the physical limitations, the procedure gave her what no prior intervention could: long-term safety and relief from the constant threat of paralysis or death.
Spinal fusion, especially at this level, is often seen as a last resort. But in certain cases, it’s the only option left to preserve life and function. For King, it meant trading mobility for stability—and survival.
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What You Should Know: Recognizing the Signs and Taking Action
Megan King’s experience underscores a larger issue in everyday healthcare: the tendency to dismiss recurring joint pain, frequent sprains, or unusual flexibility as minor or irrelevant, especially in young people. Many individuals with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) live for years—sometimes decades—without a diagnosis. That’s not because the signs aren’t there. It’s because the signs often seem harmless or are normalized. Being “double-jointed,” frequently twisting ankles, having chronic back or neck pain, or struggling with joint dislocations during routine movements are all potential indicators. Yet these symptoms are often brushed off as quirks of flexibility or growing pains, particularly in children and teens.
If you or someone you know experiences ongoing joint instability, it’s important to take those symptoms seriously. Keep a record of injuries, pain episodes, and how often they happen. This documentation can be vital when talking to a healthcare provider. When discussing these issues with a doctor, use specific language: describe how often joints dislocate, whether pain interferes with daily life, and whether healing from injuries takes longer than expected. If a provider dismisses these concerns without further investigation, consider seeking a second opinion—ideally from a rheumatologist, geneticist, or a specialist familiar with connective tissue disorders.
It’s also worth noting that hEDS doesn’t just affect joints. People with the condition often report fatigue, digestive issues, poor wound healing, and even problems with blood pressure regulation. Recognizing these as possible parts of a broader pattern—rather than isolated complaints—can help move a diagnosis forward. While there’s no cure for hEDS, getting an accurate diagnosis opens the door to better management. This might include physical therapy tailored to joint stability, pain management strategies that actually work, and most importantly, avoiding treatments or procedures that could cause harm in a structurally compromised body.
In short, if you’re repeatedly told that “nothing is wrong” but you know something doesn’t feel right, don’t ignore it. Early recognition and informed medical care can prevent the kind of complications Megan King endured—and in some cases, it can make the difference between living with manageable symptoms and facing a lifelong disability.
The Bigger Message: Awareness Can Change—and Save—Lives
Megan King’s story is extreme, but it’s not isolated. Her case highlights what can happen when a serious medical condition goes unrecognized for too long. While most people with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome won’t experience internal decapitation, many do live with chronic pain, instability, and frequent injuries that are too often dismissed as minor or exaggerated. And because hEDS isn’t visible on an X-ray or standard blood test, it often gets overlooked unless patients push for further evaluation.
That’s why awareness matters—not just among doctors, but also among patients, parents, teachers, coaches, and anyone who plays a role in recognizing persistent health issues. If someone is repeatedly injured or lives with unexplained pain and fatigue, they deserve to be taken seriously. In King’s case, earlier recognition of hEDS could have spared her years of invasive surgeries and irreversible spinal damage.
For readers, the takeaway is simple but important: listen to your body, track persistent symptoms, and don’t settle for vague answers when the problem continues. Push for referrals if needed. Advocate for yourself or your child. These conditions may be rare, but the signs are often there—if you know what to look for and refuse to let them be ignored.
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