Publications
Partners
A six-year-old girl with a rare disease which caused her to have seizures every day is finally living a normal life after doctors switched off part of her brain.
Brianna Bodley from California has Rasmussen’s encephalitis, which causes chronic inflammation of the brain. The condition causes seizures and which can lead to permanent brain damage and motor skill deterioration. She was diagnosed in September 2022.
Up to now she's been treated with medication and surgery to remove part of the brain, but in September this year she underwent a 10-hour procedure known as a hemispherectomy, to disconnect the right-hand side of her brain.
Pediatric neurosurgeon Aaron Robison said this was the most effective method to treat Brianna.
“Just disconnecting it is enough to stop the disease completely and essentially, potentially cure it".
The left side of her brain is continuing to function as normal, and is taking over some of the functions the right-hand side had. There is a risk, however, that Brianna will lose some vision in her left eye as well as fine motor skills in her left hand.
“Brianna is still the same person, even after disconnecting half her brain,” Robison added.
READ MORE | This woman had a quarter of her brain removed but it hasn't stopped her from getting her PhD
The little girl is recovering well, her mom, Crystal, said. Crystal posted videos on social media of Brianna up and about, walking down stairs and playing games to help her vision and memory.
Brianna loved to dance and play and read, said her mom, but once the seizures started she was unable to do anything.
“Her leg would bend all the time and she would have trouble walking,” Crystal recalls.
“She was in constant pain due to non-stop seizures, and her leg would jerk all day long even when she’s sleeping,” she wrote on her GoFundMe page.
READ MORE | Johannesburg preschooler involved in freak playground accident finally back home
“Before the operation she would say she was scared, but I told her, ‘I know it’s scary, but you will be okay,” said Torie, Brianna's older sister.
Brianna will be undergoing intensive rehab until she can walk and move her arm again, she added.
“But she will never get back her fine motor skills in her left hand and her peripheral vision in her left eye,” she said.
“She has a very long road of recovery, but she's a strong and determined little girl. I know she will do great things and overcome all of this."
Sources: New York Post, People, Daily Mail, Insider, GoFundMe:Briannas Re Journey, ABC7, Cleveland Clinic
