Young Maura Leeb underwent delicate surgery to remove the left half of her brain when she was nine months old.
People magazine said that 16-year-old Maura Lieb from New Jersey, who had the left half of her brain removed as a child, has learned to walk, talk and even play tennis.
Lip underwent surgery to remove the left half of her brain at nine months old. Experts considered this procedure necessary due to a stroke she suffered in the womb. Because of this, the girl suffered severe convulsions, which could have been transmitted to the healthy part of the brain, which could lead to irreversible consequences.
Although the left half of the brain is responsible for a person's ability to walk and speak, healthy areas can take over its functions, which helped the girl live a full life. Not only was she able to learn to perform normal household tasks, she was able to play sports, learn to read books, and go to school.
Maura learned to walk at the age of two, but she was not able to speak in complete sentences until the age of six. Her mother remembers the difficulties her daughter went through to learn even the simplest things. For example, in order to improve the motor skills of the right hand, doctors had to completely deprive the left hand of movement by placing a splint on it.
At the age of 11, the girl started having seizures again and had to undergo another brain surgery. Doctors feared that Mora would lose some of her skills after the surgical intervention, but despite the bleak forecasts, Mora was able to recover quickly. She is now actively involved in scientific research to help neuroscientists better understand how the brain works. At the same time, she is constantly working on improving her speech and motor skills.