last night in my abnormal psychology class we watched a late 90's 20/20 clip about a young girl, Brandi Binder, who was born quite healthy, but at around age 4-5 developed something called rasmussen's encephalitis. in short, her right brain was causing her to have uncontrollable seizures, and so, by age 6, she had the entire right half of her brain removed. the recovery that followed is a medical and life miracle. brandi not only lived through the procedure, but she excelled at things that doctors swore she would never do again: walk, talk, read, excel at math, or do anything creative, since the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and is responsible for the more creative aspects that we develop. what doctors found was that at such a young age, the brain is still rapidly developing, constantly creating new networks and pathways. turns out her left brain was starting to pick up some of the pieces that the right brain was supposed to be doing. the story was so moving that i was eager to find out where brandi is now, and what i found is incredible. brandi, now 29, has since spoken at numerous events and has created wonderful works of art. here are a few of those pieces:
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