Brave Daire, 6, has his entire face broken, rebuilt and held together with a metal frame after his head doubled in size

Daire Flanagan (left), from Belfast, was born with Apert Syndrome - where the plates of his skull fused too quickly in the womb. 


It means his brain does not have the space to grow normally inside the skull, leading to an enlarged forehead, wide eyes and sunken features. Doctors doubted he would survive when he was born and he has since undergone 20 operations to ease his breathing difficulties. But after undergoing life-saving surgery which involved breaking his facial bones and pulling them back together with a metal frame (right and inset), he is now flourishing. Surgeons had to pull the middle part of his face forward by two centimetres to enable him to breathe naturally.