Member-only story

Making Halves Whole Again

Neurotech@Berkeley
5 min readApr 4, 2021

--

Source: Unsplash

Skulls full of electricity

We’re not always aware of it, but there is a 3-pound sack of flesh sitting in our heads, responsible for every thought and action, all of the time. Those 3 pounds are full of activity — neurons firing electrical impulses from end to end, helping everything from our conscious thoughts and unconscious reflexes manifest.

You might not think about it, but you’re awfully lucky to have those 3 pounds in there. There’s a lot we know brains can do, but still so much more that we don’t yet know about. Damage to even small chunks weighing close to half a gram could have devastating consequences.

Now imagine you had only half a brain…

Such is the case of Christina Paravecchia. In 1996, Paravecchia underwent a medical procedure known as a hemispherectomy to remove the entire right hemisphere of her brain. Paravecchia suffered from a condition that caused her to have around 150 seizures a day, incapacitating her nearly completely. To treat her condition, Dr. Ben Carson removed her right brain, leaving her with only half the organ we hold so dear.

They said she would never be able to walk, drive, or work a normal job. She was fated to live an unsatisfactory life. She was 8 years old at the time.

--

--

Neurotech@Berkeley
Neurotech@Berkeley

Written by Neurotech@Berkeley

We write on psychology, ethics, neuroscience, and the newest in neural engineering. @UC Berkeley

No responses yet