Recently, a 6-year-old girl with a rare neurological disease underwent a 10-hour surgery in California where half of her brain was amputated in hopes of curing her condition.
Brianna Bodley underwent a surgery called. Hemispherectomy Officials said the drug was administered on September 28 to treat a rare disease called Rasmussen’s encephalitis. GoFundMe page created by her motherCrystal Bodley.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Aaron Robison. Loma Linda University Medical Center Located in Loma Linda, California. “Just disconnect,” Robison told ABC 7. [the brain] It is enough to stop the disease completely and may be essentially curative. ”
According to her GoFundMe page, Brianna was diagnosed with epilepsy in August 2022 after suffering nighttime seizures and spending five days in the hospital.
In September 2022, she was hospitalized again, this time for eight days, and was diagnosed with Rasmussen’s encephalitis.
After several seizure medications didn’t work, Brianna was advised to undergo surgery.
Crystal Bodley said on the GoFundMe page that Brianna’s “entire left side of her body is turned off because half of her brain was severed.”
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What is Rasmussen’s encephalitis?
by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and StrokeRasmussen’s encephalitis is an extremely rare chronic inflammatory neurological disease that usually affects only half of the brain.
It most often occurs in children under the age of 10, but can also affect adolescents and adults.
According to NINDS, the disease is characterized by frequent and severe seizures, inflammation of the brain, mental deterioration, progressive loss of neurological function, including motor skills and language, and eventually paralysis on one side of the body.
The girl’s surgery, a hemispherotomy, involves removing half of the cortex, or outer layer, of the brain, which “mainly causes seizures that don’t respond to drugs because only half of the brain is damaged. It is used in children with “Rasmussen’s encephalitis”, according to NINDS.
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Brianna’s road to recovery
According to an Oct. 3 update by Crystal Bodley on the GoFundMe page, Brianna was moved out of the ICU and transferred to a regular ward at Children’s Hospital.
According to the latest information, Briana will then be transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation facility where she will learn how to walk and use her left arm and undergo speech therapy.
her mother crystal too instagram page This document chronicles Brianna’s journey and road to recovery.
The latest post from October 9th reads: “As she goes through the days of trying to learn how to walk again, she can only see to the left. She can only see in front of her and to the right. Every day, we see very little progress.” She is getting better. I’m making progress, but I still have a long way to go, with lots of physical, speech, and occupational therapy to do. ”
