A few years ago, Erceg, 47, suffered a traumatic brain injury and now she is a gifted artist and poet. She enjoys spending time puzzling over mathematical equations. She can “see” sounds and “hear” colors when she listens to music, although she is extremely sensitive to light.
She remembers nothing about her prior life. She doesn’t even recognize her own mother.
Erceg’s condition is so incredibly rare that it took numerous scientific studies and brain scans to diagnose her with what is called “savant syndrome.”
It was then I had true insight for the first time into Leigh. She wasn't asking me what my personal beliefs are. She really didn't know what Christmas is, and had been silently harboring the question, afraid to ask, since waking in the hospital. Her attorney had reached out to me to tell her remarkable story.
ReplyDeleteFollowing her injury, Leigh was suddenly compelled to recite and write poetry, generate equations, paint and dance, not to mention get manicures and pedicures for the first time. So I knew she was a special person. But it hadn't dawned on me until that moment that she is also a bright and shiny NEW person.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-seaberg/cathedrals-still-unknown-_b_6369366.html
About Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel:
ReplyDeleteThe remarkable story of an ordinary man who was transformed when a traumatic injury left him with an extraordinary gift
No one sees the world as Jason Padgett does. Water pours from the faucet in crystalline patterns, numbers call to mind distinct geometric shapes, and intricate fractal patterns emerge from the movement of tree branches, revealing the intrinsic mathematical designs hidden in the objects around us.
Yet Padgett wasn’t born this way. Twelve years ago, he had never made it past pre-algebra. But a violent mugging forever altered the way his brain works, giving him unique gifts. His ability to understand math and physics skyrocketed, and he developed the astonishing ability to draw the complex geometric shapes he saw everywhere. His stunning, mathematically precise artwork illustrates his intuitive understanding of complex mathematics.
The first documented case of acquired savant syndrome with mathematical synesthesia, Padgett is a medical marvel. Struck by Genius recounts how he overcame huge setbacks and embraced his new mind. Along the way he fell in love, found joy in numbers, and spent plenty of time having his head examined.
http://www.amazon.com/Struck-Genius-Injury-Mathematical-Marvel/dp/0544045602/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1431839354&sr=1-1&keywords=struck+by+genius