[imagesource:unsplash]

Doctors in California have ‘switched off’ half of a 6-year-old girl’s brain to stop a devastating disease from killing her. According to the surgeons, this will still allow her to be the “same person” and lead a normal life.

Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE), a persistent inflammation of the brain that can cause lifelong brain damage and motor ability degradation, was causing Brianna Bodley to experience daily seizures. However, a 10-hour surgery may have been the key to beating RE.

Pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Aaron Robison of Loma Linda University Health believes that shutting off half of her brain was more effective than removing a portion of it, as was once the practice. “Just disconnecting it is enough to stop the disease completely and essentially, potentially, cure it,” he said to the station.

After receiving the crippling diagnosis last year, Brianna—who frequently read, danced, and sang—began to suffer on a daily basis. The girl’s mother Crystal Bodley stated, “Her leg would bend up all the time and she would have trouble walking.”

Doctors decided to switch off the non-functioning part of her brain by going through the brain’s natural opening called the Sylvian fissure, Robison said. The left side is still functioning and is now taking over the duties the right side used to have.

Doctors said the girl might lose some peripheral vision and some fine motor skills in her left hand, but physical therapy will help get her back to being a typical 6-year-old.

“Brianna will still be the same person, even after disconnecting half her brain.”

The family has been documenting Brianna’s road to recovery since her surgery went smoothly near the end of September. Last week, the little girl was awake all day for the first time since the surgery.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Crystal Bodley (@briannasrejourney)

“Happy to have my baby back and awake. Still working on balance and learning to walk. Finding things to the left is hard for her. She won’t know anything is there unless she is told. Her pain is under control almost gone,” her mother posted recently.

This is groundbreaking stuff leading to this girl having a shot at a full life.

[source:nypost]