To give him the best chance of a safe delivery, on October 7, 2025, a team of physicians, nurses and specialists from Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital came together inside the same surgical room to perform a rare and highly complex procedure that would give Jay'ce a chance at life.
Known as an EXIT procedure, short for Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment, the specialized technique allows physicians to partially deliver a baby while maintaining the oxygen he remained connected on placental support via the umbilical, giving the medical team additional time to address a life-threatening airway obstruction before completing the birth.
Fewer than 100 EXIT procedures are performed in the United States each year, and only about 50 centers nationwide are equipped to perform them.
Huddled inside an operating room that day, physicians began with a partial cesarean section, carefully delivering Jay'ce while he remained attached to his mother Julie through the umbilical cord. This connection continued to provide oxygen while specialists worked to establish a secure airway. The team intubated Jay'ce before the umbilical cord was cut and the delivery was completed.
Behind those critical moments was an extraordinary level of coordination involving specialists from Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Pediatric ENT Surgery, Pediatric General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, NICU, Anesthesiology, Nursing, Respiratory Therapy, Operating Room, Imaging and Support Services. An ECMO team remained on standby in case additional lifesaving support was needed.
Every member of the team had a specific role, and every moment mattered. The procedure required precise timing, preparation and coordination to protect both mother and baby.
Physicians were able to successfully remove Jay'ce's tumor a month later.
"This extraordinary case is not only an example of how we are better together with an extensive multidisciplinary collaboration, but also a reflection of Memorial Healthcare System's partnerships and impact beyond Broward County," said pediatric general surgeon Moiz Mustafa, MD, Co-Medical Director of the Fetal Medicine Program at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital.
One year later, the operating room reunion became a birthday celebration.
On October 7, 2026, Jay'ce and his mother returned to celebrate his first birthday alongside members of the medical team who helped bring him safely into the world.
The reunion brought the story full circle. The caregivers who once gathered around an operating table to carry out a complex, high-stakes procedure now gathered around Jay'ce and his family to help him blow out his first birthday candle.
For Julie the celebration carried a meaning far beyond a first birthday.
"It was a tough battle from the moment I was first told that my baby wasn't going to make it. Being 18 and going through my first pregnancy, it hit me harder than I could have imagined," she Jay'ce's mother, Julie. "I'm just so blessed to be able to look at my baby. He's here, he's strong, he fought everything,"
SOURCE Memorial Healthcare System
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