Baby born without skin celebrates his 1st birthday

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Ja'bari Gray, the baby boy who was born with a still-undiagnosed skin disorder, missing most of the skin on his body from the neck down, celebrated his 1st birthday on New Year's Day.

Pictured alongside his family in a Baby Shark-themed birthday party, Ja'bari continues to defy the odds.

The boy was finally released from the hospital in November 2019, 11 months after he was born. He is home despite an earlier prognosis by doctors that he would not survive.

"At three months of age, we were looking to plan a funeral," said his mother Priscilla Maldonado when she brought her son home.

Baby born without skin goes home after 11 months in hospital

"We expected to bring him home, you know, months ago. You know, when he was born, we expected to take him home and that didn't happen," Maldonado said.

She told our sister station ABC13 in Houston that Ja'bari's medical condition was not caught during pregnancy and never spotted on ultrasounds.

SEE ALSO: Texas baby born without skin opens eyes for first time after biggest surgery yet

"It's like a happy moment because we never got to see his eyes from the day he was born," said his mom Priscilla.

A skin transplant in May also meant a first. A lab in Boston, which normally treats burn patients, grew sheets of skin from Ja'bari's own cells. The skin graft was successful, but two other surgeries to open his eyes were not.

The baby, whose name means brave one, kept fighting. Maldonado said she received handwritten letters from dozens of pen pals after they became inspired by Ja'bari's story.

"Like, they gave him no chance, like, at all, and for him to jump that whole hurdle, they were amazed. So I'm going to let them know today that he came home," she said.