Born with half a brain, woman living full life
For the past 18 years of her life, Michelle Mack lived pretty much as any normal girl would. She grew up, went to high school, and graduated right on schedule; however, much to the surprise of Michelle and her parents, doctors recently discovered that she had been missing half of her brain since birth. Michelle’s teenage years were often filled with frustration for her and her parents because even the simplest of tasks didn’t come as easy to her as other, but doctors had not yet discovered why. Then at the age of 27, an MRI revealed the secret that the right side of Mack’s brain had basically rewired itself to compensate for the function lost on the left side of the brain during a pre-birth stroke.
Many of the structures in the left side of the brain generally control movement, behavior, and cognition. While Michelle has some deep structures remaining on this side, 95% of the cortex is completely gone. Somehow, the right side of Michelle’s brain knew to take over the essential functions usually performed by the left side, such as speaking and reading. The only issue for Mack is that this rewiring did not necessarily work perfectly. For example, Michelle has fairly normal language abilities, but in order for the right brain to compensate for this left-brain activity, her visual-spatial processing is lacking. Visual-spatial processing should be done by the right brain so clearly she was cost some right-brain activities. This diagnosis also perfectly explains why Mack suffered from uncontrollable emotions for many years. Michelle Mack may always live with a few difficulties and special needs, but the fact that she is living a productive life with only half a brain is something to be admired.
I was drawn to this article after one of our SNBAL’s on neurophysiology. After seeing the MRI of the man who was impaled through the eye socket and suffered brain damage but still lived, I wondered if there were any others with the same story. Then I stumbled upon Michelle Mack. The fact that she has been able to live fairly normally for so many years with only half a brain is absolutely miraculous. It is so amazing how the human body is able to keep itself alive even with the most insurmountable odds.
Article : http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/woman.brain/index.html
Brittany Guth
VTPP 434-501
Many of the structures in the left side of the brain generally control movement, behavior, and cognition. While Michelle has some deep structures remaining on this side, 95% of the cortex is completely gone. Somehow, the right side of Michelle’s brain knew to take over the essential functions usually performed by the left side, such as speaking and reading. The only issue for Mack is that this rewiring did not necessarily work perfectly. For example, Michelle has fairly normal language abilities, but in order for the right brain to compensate for this left-brain activity, her visual-spatial processing is lacking. Visual-spatial processing should be done by the right brain so clearly she was cost some right-brain activities. This diagnosis also perfectly explains why Mack suffered from uncontrollable emotions for many years. Michelle Mack may always live with a few difficulties and special needs, but the fact that she is living a productive life with only half a brain is something to be admired.
I was drawn to this article after one of our SNBAL’s on neurophysiology. After seeing the MRI of the man who was impaled through the eye socket and suffered brain damage but still lived, I wondered if there were any others with the same story. Then I stumbled upon Michelle Mack. The fact that she has been able to live fairly normally for so many years with only half a brain is absolutely miraculous. It is so amazing how the human body is able to keep itself alive even with the most insurmountable odds.
Article : http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/woman.brain/index.html
Brittany Guth
VTPP 434-501
posted by Brittany Guth at 8:43 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home