Michelle Mack of Virginia stunned the medical community with her rapid personality and academic growth, inspite of being born with only half a brain. Ms. Mack has not only grown her sense of awareness, but has also graduated from high school and has an amazing memory, when it comes to dates and events.

At the age of 27, Michelle Mack’s doctors had deduced that, the lack of the left part of the brain had essentially compelled the right side functioning part of her brain to compensate and thus given her the ability to read, write and understand. Michelle lost the functionality in her left brain, during a pre-birth stroke and her childhood days had been a time of utter confusion and dismay. Michelle says,

“It was very hard for me. It was very hard for me growing up. No one knew the truth about my brain.”

According to Carol Mack (Michelle’s Mother),

“There wasn’t a group to turn to. Michelle didn’t have cerebral palsy, I knew that. She didn’t have Down’s syndrome, I knew that. I had no place to turn.”

However, about ten years ago, during a medical examination at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Jordan Grafman, who is the chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section at the institute, found the reason behind Michelle’s problems. According to Dr. Grafman,

“We were surprised to see the extent of the lesion in her brain, which basically took away the left side of her brain. There’s some very deep structures remaining, but the surface of her brain, the cortex is 95 percent gone and some of the deeper structures, structures that control movement, are missing. These are all structures that are important for movement, behavior, cognition.”

Even with the slow but encouraging recovery, Michelle Mack still faces loads of hurdles when trying to lead a day to day normal life. She is now 37 years old and liver with her parents and is employed as a data entry operator for her local church. In an interview Michelle Mack said,

“I wanted to do this so people like producers, photographers and security guards and police officers learn about people like me. That I’m normal but have special needs, and that there are a lot people like me, so that they could be more understanding.”

Via CNN.