Lisa Genova’s Left Neglected examines the shock of a substantial brain injury on a woman whose mind never stops running. Sarah Nickerson suffers from hemispatial neglect syndrome, which resulted from a severe car accident. Throughout this analysis, I will consider how Sarah’s life after her injury differs from her past, identify the major themes presented by Genova that coincide with Sarah’s trauma, and reflect on how Sarah’s account of brain injury changed my understanding of brain function, injury, and recovery. Initially, I will explore Sarah’s life before and after her injury. Prior to her accident, Sarah Nickerson had a polished life. She received a top-notch education from Harvard University and married her husband, Bob Nickerson. …show more content…
Together, they have three children and live in upscale Welmont, Massachusetts. Sarah and Bob’s income affords their family a vacation home in Cortland, Vermont; however, work comprised most of their lives. In fact, Sarah often found herself scheduling time to spend with her children and her husband to coincide with her work as the vice president of a consulting firm. Preceding her injury, Sarah was crisp and refined in every aspect of her life, including her mannerisms, clothing, and career. Following her accident, Sarah’s lifestyle took a dramatic turn. Her life entered complete rehabilitation in which she had to adjust to her left side neglect. She no longer possesses full autonomy, and requires assistance for simple tasks, such as dressing herself and brushing her teeth. Due to deficits from her syndrome, Sarah can no longer fulfill her role at the consulting firm. Instead, Sarah must evaluate what the important aspects of her life are, such as the family and lifestyle she neglected before her diagnosis. After spending time at her vacation home in Vermont, Sarah elects to accept a job at a winter sports equipment firm that designs skis and snowboards for handicapped individuals; Sarah elected to use the snowboarding equipment herself, demonstrating acceptance of her diagnosis for the first time in the book. Notably, Genova includes major themes relating to brain function, injury, and recovery.
The main difference between Sarah’s life before and after the accident involved normality; therefore, one of the brain’s main functions may be to ensure that life is as normal as possible. As shown in Sarah’s life before the accident, people usually do not have to think about performing seemingly simple tasks, such as reading the newspaper. In Sarah’s post-accident case, however, she could not recognize the words on a left side of a book that she was reading to her daughter. Due to damage from the injury, a once simple task for Sarah is now a challenge. Another major theme identified in the book related to brain function is that the brain is involved in a variety of tasks, such as motor movements and coordination, sensory information, and learning. This is evident in Sarah’s life before and after her injury. For example, due to Sarah’s left neglect, she could not recognize the position of her left side of her body for walking, and she also could not see the left side of her body. For brain injury, Genova indicated that damage to structures of the brain affects function. Since Sarah’s left side of her body was affected, her right hemisphere was damaged (i.e., the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice-versa). The brain bleed Sarah experienced must have affected certain structures in the right hemisphere, but the brain is capable of healing. Presumably, this is …show more content…
why Sarah was able to see, but she was not able to recognize the left side of her body without effort. Due to the structure-function relationship, damage to the brain affects tasks many people take for granted, such as those that involve coordination between the left and right side of the body. As far as brain recovery, Genova incorporated a few themes. In Sarah’s case, as in many other cases, recognition of brain deficits after injury is key to recovery. The individual experiencing the change along with the team around the patient must accept what has happened and attempt to merge normality with the new reality. Often, this involves rehabilitation; in Sarah’s rehabilitation, this included physical and occupational therapy in order to regain control of daily responsibilities. Another theme that Genova reiterated is that recovery involves reevaluation of one’s life. In Sarah’s life, this reevaluation included strengthening her relationship with her mother, spending more time with her children, and changing her lifestyle (career and living) to make herself happy. In consideration of the major themes, Sarah’s account of her trauma affected my ideas about and understanding of brain function, traumatic brain injury, and recovery from brain injury.
Prior to reading this book, I understood that brain structure and function are related; however, I did not realize how damage to the brain could have such widespread, yet restrained, effects. Sarah’s ability to use the entire left side of her body in movement and sensation was greatly compromised by a brain bleed and damage to the right side of her brain, meaning that different structures must have been affected by the damage; however, Sarah is still able to use the left side of her body if she recognizes it is there and concentrates on using it. With brain injury, I did not realize the extent to which injuries differ. Injuries can occur in different scenarios, such as a car accident, and impact all aspects of life, depending on the severity. The difference between whether an injury hinders or disables a person from performing a function lies in where the damage is done and how tremendous the impact is. Sarah’s injury did not disable her from a task such as seeing, but it did hinder her ability to see anything on or surrounding the left side of her body without concentration. In addition, I was unaware of the existence of hemispatial neglect syndrome. It is an interesting concept because although Sarah still had to ability to see and use the left side of her body with concentration, seeing
and using posed a challenge due to her left neglect. Near the end of the book, Sarah’s occupational therapist mentions that a new patient with hemispatial neglect syndrome has entered the rehabilitation center. What would the differences between the two patients be, and what would be similar? Is there a right neglect versus a left neglect? Because injuries differ, I know understand that the recovery process from brain damage is unique for each patient. Specific therapies may be required for one patient and not for another. One underlying theme that I did recognize is that a team of support is required for recovery, especially pertaining to family and friends. Furthermore, patients seem to reevaluate their lives during recovery and make efforts to change their lifestyles following recovery. Upon reflection of the entire book, I came to a variety of conclusions. Sarah’s diagnosis of hemispatial neglect syndrome, specifically left neglect, may symbolize the part of her life she neglected for years. As indicated previously, the right hemisphere of the brain controls the left side of the body and the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body. It is commonly thought that the right hemisphere deals with free thought and art-related exploration, while the left hemisphere deals with intellect and using knowledge to perform tasks (Left and Right Hemispheres). For years, due to her job, Sarah focused more on using her left hemisphere than her right hemisphere; however, Sarah damaged her right hemisphere in the crash. I believe that she did not accept her injury at first because she did not recognize a difference in her thinking, meaning she was used to thinking at a scholarly level 24/7 for her job. In order to regain function on the left side of her body, Sarah needed to regain and embrace the functions of her right hemisphere through different tasks, such as completing creative workbook pages, drawing and painting, and even learning how to operate a handicapped snowboard. Sarah did not realize what she was missing out on until she lost something she had never used before. Individuals adapting to hemispatial neglect may require more influence from support around them, such as family or friends. Ironically, most of Sarah’s support came from her mother, who she did not have a close relationship with prior to her accident. Recovering from hemispatial neglect syndrome, or any brain injury, involves exhausting physical and emotional processes. Sarah practically lost half of her surroundings, which impacted how she performed her daily tasks. Often, Sarah would only perform the task on the right side, such as when doing her makeup. Her support system, such as her family, not only had to adjust to the one-sidedness performance of everything; they also had to be ready to step into care and supervision roles. I think that bringing Sarah’s family back together was an underlying positive consequence of her hemispatial neglect syndrome. Such a diagnosis makes patients realize what they have forgotten in their past lives. Moreover, patients with traumatic brain injuries may realize that although they are restricted in certain tasks, they still have the opportunity to turn their lives around in terms of focusing on what is important, as demonstrated tirelessly throughout the book. Although Sarah’s life differs greatly from her past, she appears happy at the end of the book. She has had the opportunity to realize and embrace what is truly important in life, such as becoming closer to her mother before her death. Genova incorporated a variety of themes related to brain function, injury, and recovery that framed Sarah’s entire accident, diagnosis, and rehabilitation period, which helped me develop a larger understanding of hemispatial neglect syndrome.
Based upon previous knowledge of brain function, what results from the testing were consistent with a brain injury?
The symptoms of a right-hemisphere stroke are very much similar like the symptoms Mr. Fix-it is experiencing. For example, both suggest that functions on the left side of the body are completely neglected; therefore, the left visual section of the body does not respond effectively to stimuli due to the neglect. Damage to the right occipital lobe is very likely. The patient may have experienced some damage to areas 18 and 19 of the occipital lobe. “Damage to these association areas resulted in the patient’s failure to recognize items even when they have been seen before”, such as Mr. Fix-it’s deficiency to recognize geometric shapes (Carlson, 2010). Moreover, the patient could have also experience damage in the frontal lobe, specifically on area 8, in which it could have r...
In conclusion, “Left Neglected” truly helps one understand the importance of the brain and the massive effects that injuring it can have. An injury itself is life threatening, a recovery may not even occur. Huge life adjustments may need to be made. The brain is the life force for any living animal, and it is important to realize that further understanding the areas of the brain and how they are interconnected in forming the reality in which every human being can see can only help solve problems for people like Sarah Nickerson. For the time being, the first step we can take is prevention and maybe driving a little slower to work when we are on the freeway.
In the novel Missing Sarah by Maggie deVries she writes and illustrates a sad tribute to the memory of her sister, Sarah. The author Maggie deVries makes a clear connection between Sarah's adoption by her family and Sarah's incredibly sad life. Adoption of children from another background, heritage and race into white families sometimes doesn't go well, despite the best efforts of the family. Sarah deVries was one of at least 21 women who could only be identified by DNA found on a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, BC. The women were all sex workers or prostitutes who were killed, and the cause of their vanishing was not investigated promptly possibly because they were engaged in selling sex to survive. Even the choice of whether to refer to these women as 'prostitutes' or 'sex
"How Tatiana De Rosnay Turned French History Into ‘Sarah’s Key’." Speakeasy RSS. N.p., 14 July 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Hemineglect also known as unilateral spatial neglect, hemispatial neglect, hemi-inattention, hemisensory, parietal neglect or spatial neglect (Kerkhoff, 2000), is a condition in which patients are unable to attend and respond to the contralesional side of space (Dijkerman, Webling, ter Wal, Groet, & van Zandvoort, 2003). Hemineglect is characterized by the lack of spatial awareness, most commonly on the left hemispace (Parton & Malhotra & Husain, 2004). The most common form of hemineglect, is that of patients who have right hemisphere lesions commonly found to damage the ‘where’ pathway, most commonly after a stroke. These kinds of patients tend to neglect the left hand side of space (Driver & Mattingley, 1998). Although it is not restricted to right hemispheric lesions in the ‘where visual pathway’, it is more predominant and tends to be harder to rehabilitate back to full recovery (Parton; Malhotra; Husain, 2004). Hemineglect does not just present itself visually, but also through other senses such as motor neglect, auditory neglect, representational neglect and also personal neglect (Plummer, Morris, & Dunai, 2003). Hemineglect is not a result of loss of sensory disorder. It is not uncommon to receive left hemisphere lesions or trauma and gain hemineglect. It does seem however that it is easier to treat and rehabilitate patients to a full recovery if this damage has occurred, compared to right hemisphere damage.
Tragedy strikes at every hour of the day, no matter where in the world a person lives. The true test of a person’s humanity is how they handle the tragedy. All over the country, people are hit with life changing catastrophes and feel hopeless. Taking their feelings out on others around them who are just trying to help, their pain translates into the bad traits of humanity such as selfishness, conceitedness and unreliability. Others though, work through their struggles and show the world how strong they can really be. People in terrible situations can also be mature, self-confident and sympathetic. It all really depends on the individual going through the tragedy. Many authors also play on this fact when they write their novels. For example, in Tatiana De Rosnay’s novel Sarah’s Key, De Rosnay’s characters go through some very powerful and personal struggles. Some characters put their best foot forward but others close up and only look out for themselves. Although people go through horrible personal tragedies, some people bring out the best traits in human nature and some bring out the worst.
Everyone has heard the horror stories of brain injuries and the great damages they cause. There are fundraisers and foundation set up to help the people who struggle from such injuries. However, there are patients who suffer from very similar symptoms that don’t receive the same attention and help. These patients are the ones that suffer from mental illnesses. People don’t see mental illnesses as being as severe as brain injuries. In the book Descartes’ Error, the author Antonio Damasio believes people with brain injuries get more help and attention than patient with mental illnesses because the their damages can be seen from the outside. It is obvious to see something is wrong with them, whereas the mental illnesses patients’ damages only
The concussion was what had caused her short-term memory loss, and she had to relearn how to do almost everything that people do on a daily basis, such as talking, spelling and writing, just to name a few. As an art teacher, it was devastating for her not being able to simply use her hands. She even had to attend physical therapy and learn exercises to strengthen her brain again.
The cerebrum mainly controls the person’s language ability and the left prefrontal cortex is mainly responsible for self-control and decision making (Weiten, 2014), and also personality traits and organization of emotional reactions (Prefrontal Cortex, 2015). Gage only acquired damage to these parts of his brain. Other daily functions such as movement and his basic living processes were unharmed. The damage done to his prefrontal cortex somewhat resembled a lobotomy procedure. A lobotomy is a procedure that severs the connections between the lobes of the frontal lobe of the brain (Lewis, 2013). The tampering iron practically performed a lobotomy on Gage’s frontal lobe when it diagonally pierced his left
Jennifer is a 9 year old child who was injured while riding her bicycle. She was hit by a car and suffered several broken bones and traumatic brain injury. While her bones healed, she suffered bruising to her brain. This bruising also caused swelling and damage to her brain. When Jennifer was released from the hospital, she has difficulties speaking, walking, and completing tasks that used to come easily to her.
The effects of trauma on the functioning of the brain is an expanding subject of research and treatment. Trauma can change the chemistry of the brain and disrupt normal human functioning. Information in this section has been taken from the works of Judith Lewis Hermann, MD, Robert Scaer,
A tampering rod through the head is how 25-year-old Phineas Gage became the most notable case of Traumatic Brain injury of the 19th century. With more than 1.7 million people each year who sustain an injury, why does this one case become so interesting? The reason behind this is the result of the injury. When Gage had the tampering rod penetrate his skull it completely changed his personality. From a once mild mannered individual to a foul mouth and persistent person, Gage became interesting cases in history. Gage starts us off with our topic of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) because in the US there are around 50,000 deaths, 270,000 hospitalizations, and 1.36 million who are treated and released to go home (Alzheimers Organization, 2014). A TBI is defined when an external mechanical force causes brain dysfunction.
She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her
The brain is an incredibly complex organ, but also vulnerable to damage from outside forces. “Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death, especially in young adults, and a major cause of disability” (Mayer, 2005, p. 483). Accidents can result in forces that jar the skull, causing the brain to strike the skull walls causing bruising or hemorrhaging. In some cases, swelling can lead to herniation in the brain and restricted blood flow that can lead to cognitive impairment. In more severe cases, the result is either a vegetative state or death. Two scales used to measure the severity of TBI are the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), which measures from 3 being comatose to 15 indicating minor trauma based on eye, verbal, and motor responses, and the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), whose last number indicates severity from 1, which indicates minor injury, to 6, indicating certain death. Violence, car accidents, work accidents, and sports injuries are well known causes of TBI.