“…on the morning of December 10 1996 I woke up to discover that I had a brain disorder of my own. A blood vessel exploded in the left half of my brain. And in the course of four hours I watched my brain completely deteriorate in its ability to process all information. On the morning of the hemorrhage I could not walk, talk, read, write or recall any of my life. I essentially became an infant in a woman's body.”
On that morning brain researcher and neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor suffered a hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain. Twelve years later she was on the stage of the TED conference providing us with the powerful story of her experience as she - a brain researcher - meticulously observed herself going through it.
In spite of the fact her brain functions were slipping away one by one due to the massive stroke, she remembered every moment. From waking up with pain, to floating between right and left brain functions and the brain “chatter”; from her paralysis to her inability to communicate – and to the moment when she felt her spirit surrender.
Watch her talk (or read the transcript). Hear her tell us in a lighthearted, yet deeply moving way about how our brains define us and how they also connect us to the world and to one another.
This is a story so powerful you will remember it long after you hear it – and you will want to share it.
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