Fortean Times – September 2019

FT383 27

now back in Abu Dhabi with
herfamily. She is wheelchair-
bound, but isable to hold a
conversation,reciteverses
from theKoran and tell people
when she is in pain.People who
doregain consciousness after
several years often have severe
disabilities causedbybrain
damage. Anextreme case of this
kindwas that ofTerryWallis, an
American who entered a near-
vegetative state after his truck
careered off a bridge in 1984,
when hewas 19. Heregained
awareness after 19years. Itwas
thought he had beenable tore-
growbrain tissue. Ms Abdulla’s
recoveryappears to beeven
more striking because her
brain hadwastedaway over the
years.Independent (online), 22
April; BBC News, 23 April;Times,
D.Telegraph, 24 April 2019.

THE LYNX EFFECT
Kacper Krauze, 13, got into
trouble while paddling with
friends in the River Eden
in Cumbria on 26February.
Unable toswim, hewas
submerged in the freezing
waterfor 25 minutes before
medics dragged him out and
restarted his heart, but he
remained in a coma andwas
taken to hospital. His mother
Wioletta, 43, ofAppleby,
Cumbria, and her taxi driver
husband Marek, spent hours
talking to him and playing

music at Newcastle’sFreeman

Hospital.“Anurse suggested I

bring in some of his toiletries to

wash him with,” said his mother.

“As soon as I sprayed theLynx

he opened hiseyes immediately.

Hemust have remembered his

favourite smell.” It was 7 March.

Kacper had been in a comafor

nine days. At the time of the

newsreport, he still struggled

with his speech and using his

right hand, but had otherwise

made a fullrecovery.Metro, Sun,

28 May 2019.

GROWING A BRAIN

When NoahWall from

Abbeytown in Cumbriawas

born in 2012 with just two per

cent of his brain, hewas not

expected to survive. His brain

hadfailed togrowafter he

developed spina bifida, and

hydrocephalus in thewomb

• and hadrarechromosome
  abnormalities – but scans taken
  when hewas three showed,
  astonishingly, the brain had
  grown to 80 per cent capacity.
  Now, after justweeks of brain
  training therapy inAustralia,
  the six-year-old, whowas told
  hewould need a wheelchairfor
  life, has begun to sit unaided
  and move his legs. NeuroPhysics
  Therapy involves encouraging
  the right and left sides of the
  brain to communicate in new
  ways to ‘open up’ the nervous
  system.Fired up neurons then

bypass the damaged spinal

cord to get messages to limbs.

Noah can now write and hold a

conversation. His parents hope

that he will soon take hisfi rst

steps.D.Mail, Newsweek 21Feb

2019.

BLOODY MIRACLE

Frankie Morrisonwas born with

just 35ml (two tablespoonsful)

of blood in her body, seven

times less thanaverage. Her

mother Maria, 32, from Hull,

had been rushed into hospital

for an emergency C-section

after the babystopped moving,

having passed toomuch blood

back through the umbilical cord

just before birth. Her lungs

were full ofwater and shewas

notexpected to survive, but

she soonrallied andwas taken

home after threeweeks. Ayear

later, she had only a slightly

weakened immune system.Sun,

17 Oct 2016.

SEMI-IDENTICAL TWINS

Doctors have documented

theworld’s second known

case of “semi-identical”

twins – neither identical nor

fraternal, but somewhere in

between.The fi rst casewas in

the US in 2007,reported inThe

Journal of Human Genetics. The

phenomenon isextremelyrare;

such embryos seldom survive.

Prof NicholasFisk, who led

the team that caredfor the

mother and twins at the Royal

Brisbane andWomen’s Hospital,

Australia, in 2014, said the

discovery was made through a

routine pregnancy scan.

The fi rst-time mother

was 28 at the time and had

conceived naturally. The case

was written up inThe New

EnglandJournal of Medicine.

“The mother’s ultrasound at six

weeks showed a single placenta

and positioning of amniotic

sacs that indicated shewas

expecting identical twins,”

said ProfFisk. “However, an

ultrasound at 14weeks showed

the twinswere male and

female, which is not possible

for identical twins... Broadly,

they areabout threefourths

identical. It’s almost asrareas

hens’ teeth.”

In the case of semi-identical,

or sesquizygotic, twins, the

egg is thought to have been

fertilised simultaneouslyby

two sperm before it divided.

If one egg is fertilisedbytwo

sperm, itresults in three sets

of chromosomes,rather than

the standard two – one from the

mother and two from thefather.

And, according toresearchers,

three sets ofchromosomes are

“typically incompatible with

life and embryos do not usually

survive”. The identity of the

twins has not beenrevealed.

BBC News, 27Feb; Guardian, 28

Feb 2019.

PHO

TO

S:

CA

TERS NEWS

STRANGEDAYS

ABOVE LEFT:NoahWall, whose brain failed to develop,was notexpected to live.ABOVE RIGHT: The scan on the leftwas made when Noahwas born, showing only two per
cent brain function; the scan on the right, made when hewas three, shows that his brain mass had grown to almost 80 per cent capacity.