Posted on 09/12/2014 6:25:50 AM PDT by Red Badger
DON'T mind the gap. A woman has reached the age of 24 without anyone realising she was missing a large part of her brain. The case highlights just how adaptable the organ is.
The discovery was made when the woman was admitted to the Chinese PLA General Hospital of Jinan Military Area Command in Shandong Province complaining of dizziness and nausea. She told doctors she'd had problems walking steadily for most of her life, and her mother reported that she hadn't walked until she was 7 and that her speech only became intelligible at the age of 6.
Doctors did a CAT scan and immediately identified the source of the problem her entire cerebellum was missing (see scan, below left). The space where it should be was empty of tissue. Instead it was filled with cerebrospinal fluid, which cushions the brain and provides defence against disease.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
-— it took 7 years for her cerebrum to rewire itself and take over the functions normally handled by the cerebellum. This business is truly amazing. -—
The miracle of evolution.
/s
Already has. Perhaps you've heard of Senator Boxer ...?
In China?
My favorite story was from one of the early homeschooling pioneers --- was it Ray Moore? -- who told of a little baby girl born missing most of her brain. Docs said she wouldn't live, so the parents might as well leave her in the hospital and say goodbye, but the parents, homeschoolers, decided to take her home.
Their older children had small, regular care-giving tasks to do with the baby, feeding, stimulation, giving her baths, just carrying her around a lot. She survived but for several years never seemed to respond. Her facial expression never showed comprehension or attention or interest, and her muscle tone was terrible: at about 3 or 4 all they could do was to prop her up in a sitting position. But they always talked to her, sang for her, read to her.
One day at the usual reading time, she was propped sitting on the floor, with her back to the couch, but the sister who was supposed to be reading to her was delayed half an hour. When the sister came back, she found the "unresponsive" brain-damaged little girl had crawled over to the bookcase, pulled the correct book off the shelf, and actually had managed to open it to the correct page.
Later medical investigation revealed that she never spoke or even appeared to comprehend anything because she had almost no control over the muscles of her face.
The family started on a program of exercising her face muscles and general strength-building routines---
I don't know, last thing I heard (this was years ago) she was reading, writing, laughing, and ice-skating.
Expectations have fallen ever lower in that area to avoid disappointment and frustration.
Thanks for the ping. What a wonderful story.
I had this problem once .....but I take “Cerebellum-Like -New’’
I feel like a new man
Thanks ... that too is quite remarkable.
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