Oct 13, 2009
Michelle Mack has turned medical thinking upside down.
The right side of Michelle Mack's brain rewired itself to take over functions controlled by the left.
Born with only half a brain, Mack can speak normally, graduated from high school and has an uncanny knack for dates.
At 27, doctors determined that the right side of her brain had essentially rewired itself to make up for function that was likely lost during pre-birth stroke. But her childhood and young adult years were fraught with frustration.
"It was very hard for me," Mack said. "It was very hard for me growing up. No one knew the truth about my brain."
Mack's parents, Carol and Wally, realized shortly after her birth that something was wrong.
"There wasn't a group to turn to," said Carol Mack. "Michelle didn't have cerebral palsy, I knew that. She didn't have Down's syndrome, I knew that. I had no place to turn."
Ten years ago, Dr. Jordan Grafman, chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section at the National Institutes of Health, finally diagnosed the problem. Watch how Mack's brain healed itself »
An MRI scan revealed she was missing nearly half of the left side of her brain. While it was clear Mack has some problems, Grafman said he and the family were shocked by the extent of the damage.
Read full article
Post Comment