A pediatric neurosurgeon was shocked during a surgery intervention to remove a tumor from the brain of a Colorado Springs infant. The surgeon discovered that the brain of the small child contained a tiny foot and other partially formed body parts.

"It would be a shock to even the most experienced pathologist cutting into a tumor to see this," Dr. Paul Grabb told KMGH.

Dr. Grabb said he couldn’t establish whether the miniature limbs were from a benign stem cell tumor (teramora) or the remnants of an identical twin. The surgery was carried out at Memorial Hospital for Children after an MRI showed 3-day old Sam Esquibel had a brain tumor.

While removing the growth, Dr. Grabb discovered that it contained a nearly perfect foot and the formation of another foot, a hand and a thigh. Dr. Grabb described what he saw as looking like a “breech delivery of a baby coming out of the brain” and labeled the case as “extremely unique, unusual, borderline unheard of," The Associated Press news agency reported.

Sam is alive and recovering well after the intervention, a Memorial Hospital for Children in Colorado Springs representative told the media. An interview with Sam’s parents, Tiffnie and Manuel Esquibel, and him is scheduled to air in January on ABC's "20/20."

Dr. Grabb said he can’t quite put his finger on it, but speculated that the growth may have been a type of congenital brain tumor or a case of "fetus in fetu" (fetal twins beginning to form within another).