John Mellencamp had his head cut off when he was six weeks old

John Mellencamp has detailed the startling surgical procedure that saved his life as a baby

Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp has detailed the startling surgical procedure that saved his life as an infant. 

Mellencamp, who was born with spina bifida – a condition where the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord are not properly connected, leaving the spinal cord exposed – underwent the pioneering operation not long after he was born in 1951. 

“I had my head cut off when I was six weeks old,” Mellencamp tells Esquire. “There were three other kids who had that same operation that day. The other kids died, and I lived. One girl made it for a while, and I used to see her at basketball games. She was paralysed from the neck down. She died when she was about, I don’t know, thirteen.”