Patient H69: The Story Of My Second Sight (bloomsbury Sigma)
by Vanessa Potter /
2017 / English / EPUB
2.1 MB Download
In 2012, Vanessa Potter, a married advertising film producer with
two young children, was stricken by Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum
Disorder (NMOSD), a rare illness that resulted in sudden
blindness and paralysis. She was hospitalized for two weeks. Over
the next five months at home, she regained mobility but
recovering her sight was more problematic. At first what she saw
was monochromatic. As color reappeared, she encountered
synesthesia (experiencing odd responses to stimuli, such as
hearing inanimate objects talk to her). While a multidisciplinary
team of neurobiologists, psychologists, immunologists, and
developmental biologists treated her, she blogged and kept
audio-diaries, using the pen-name Patient H69.
In 2012, Vanessa Potter, a married advertising film producer with
two young children, was stricken by Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum
Disorder (NMOSD), a rare illness that resulted in sudden
blindness and paralysis. She was hospitalized for two weeks. Over
the next five months at home, she regained mobility but
recovering her sight was more problematic. At first what she saw
was monochromatic. As color reappeared, she encountered
synesthesia (experiencing odd responses to stimuli, such as
hearing inanimate objects talk to her). While a multidisciplinary
team of neurobiologists, psychologists, immunologists, and
developmental biologists treated her, she blogged and kept
audio-diaries, using the pen-name Patient H69.
In her own words, Potter reveals the terror and torment of her
blindness. Supported by neuroscientists and Britain's National
Health Service, Potter became a science sleuth, uncovering some
of the innermost functions of the brain and our complex visual
system, while learning meditation and self-hypnosis to help
herself endure the ordeal and make a miraculous recovery.
In her own words, Potter reveals the terror and torment of her
blindness. Supported by neuroscientists and Britain's National
Health Service, Potter became a science sleuth, uncovering some
of the innermost functions of the brain and our complex visual
system, while learning meditation and self-hypnosis to help
herself endure the ordeal and make a miraculous recovery.
Her case offered scientists an important, and previously
inaccessible, window into the process of early visual
development, as her own optic nerves self-repaired and her brain
went into overdrive.
Her case offered scientists an important, and previously
inaccessible, window into the process of early visual
development, as her own optic nerves self-repaired and her brain
went into overdrive.Patient H69
Patient H69 is a gripping human
story, made all the more real by the unique response of one
patient and the science she uncovers.
is a gripping human
story, made all the more real by the unique response of one
patient and the science she uncovers.