The theory of the unchanging brain decreed that people who were born with brain or mental limitations, or who sustained brain damage, would be limited or damaged for life. Scientists who wondered if the healthy brain might be improved or preserved through activity or mental exercise were told not to waste their time. A neurological nihilism -- a sense that treatment for many brain problems was ineffective or even unwarranted -- had taken hold, and it spread through our culture, even stunting our overall view of human nature. Since the brain could not change, human nature, which emerges from it, seemed necessarily fixed and unalterable as well.
Neuro is for "neuron", the nerve cells in our brains and nervous systems. Plastic is for "changeable, malleable, modifiable". At first many of the scientists didn't dare use the word "neuroplasticity" in their publications, and their peers belittled them for promoting a fanciful notion. Yet they persisted, slowly overturning the doctrine of the unchanging brain. They showed that children are not always stuck with the mental abilities they are born with; that the damaged brain can often reorganize itself so that when one part fails, another can often substitute; that if brain cells die, they can at times be replaced; that many "circuits and even basic reflexes that we think are hardwired are not. One of these scientists even showed that thinking, learning, and acting can turn our genes on or off, thus shaping our brain anatomy and our behaviour -- surely one of the most extraordinary discoveries of the twentieth century.
Norman Doidge, M.D. - The Brain that changes Itself (Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science)

At Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, neurosurgeons examined eight-year-old Bella Arcand's brain. They had operated on the child, cutting her brain into two; the right hemisphere cut off from its complex matrix of blood vessels and rendered inoperable, useless. They did this hoping to cure her of the rare neurological disease that had afflicted the little girl since she was diagnosed in 2011 with Rasmussen's encephalitis.

That condition made her life an absolute misery, causing epileptic seizures, cognitive deficits. Little Bella was experiencing seizures up to 50 to 60 times each day following that diagnosis, and the treatment she was receiving that proved incapable of any substantial help in controlling the effects of the condition. The medication she was taking seemed useless.  So it was decided to undertake what is called a hemispherectomy.

This radical surgical procedure on the brain was first conducted by American neurosurgeon Walter Dandy in 1923 in the treatment of an aggressive malignant brain tumour. Hemispherectomies conducted on children was initiated in the 1980s by neurosurgeon Ben Carson at The Johns Hopkins Hospital located in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bella Arcand. Photo from Facebook.

 

Experience had demonstrated that the brains of the young are extremely 'plastic' with an ability to rewire themselves, more easily than adults.  Children emerge from such surgery with intact personalities, going on typically to live normal lives, post rehabilitation.  Occupational therapy and regular rehabilitation is aiding little Bella to regain movement on the left side of her body; her brain has proven capable of taking over the responsibilities once delegated to the right hemisphere.

The "functional hemispherectomy" which she had undergone left the disabled portion of her brain remaining within her skull. As opposed to an "anatomical hemispherectomy" where the affected portion of the brain is removed, and fluids would fill up the resulting empty space. "That's been the most amazing part of all this, is learning what our brains are capable of. Particularly hers", her mother, Bev Lafond from Saskatoon, said.

"I was scared of personality change, I was scared of blood loss, I was scared of infections afterwards. I was scared of death. When you're dealing with everyday seizures and trying to do anything, I wasn't able to see very far past our day-to-day. I was scared to look at surgery."  After surgery Bella's first words to her mother -- "mom, ow".

The single mother of two young girls has been informed by the doctors that she should have no concerns respecting long-term health effects. Her child is being weaned off the medication, and behaviour that seems out of character - impulsivity - will vanish, with the drugs withdrawn. Ms Lafond believes her daughter will be able to walk 5 metres by May 5, when she hopes to return with her to their home in Saskatoon.