Jill Rako is all too familiar with the discomforts of children's hospitals: Her 15-year-old son Daniel, born with spina bifida, the incomplete development of the spinal cord, has logged dozens of surgeries and stays at Nationwide Children's.

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Baby Noor was born with spina bifida, a birth defect in which the vertebrae do not form completely around the spinal cord.

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Another common problem for children with spina bifida is called hindbrain herniation in which part of the brain and brainstem slip into the spinal column.

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