ISU alum warns about brain health

One morning in December 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, an ISU alumna and Harvard graduate, woke up to find she was having a stroke. On that day, her life changed forever.

Taylor shared her story of struggles, recovery and lessons that she learned from the ordeal yesterday at the Vigo County Public Library.

The presentation was entitled, "How to Get Your Beautiful Brain to Do What You Want It to."

As a successful researcher in her field, and a director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Taylor's life seemed to be going according to plan.

However, that morning Taylor's life changed forever. At the age of 37, Taylor realized she was having a stroke. Although it took her hours to realize her brain was no longer functioning she knew something was wrong when her right arm went numb.

"When my right arm went completely paralyzed, I realized that I was having a stroke," Taylor said.

"My first thought was, 'wow this is cool!' How many scientists get to study their own brain like this?" "I was strangely calmthrough the crisis," Taylor said. "It was so quiet and everything was so blissful." Once the stroke was over, Taylor could not walk, read, write, talk or recall any of her life.

"I was an infant in a woman's body," she said. "One day, I was a Harvard doctor and the next, I had the mindset of an infant." Taylor had a long road ahead of her in order to recover. In the beginning stages of her recovery, she would sleep in 12-hour shifts, stay awake for 20 minutes to eat and use the restroom, then sleep another 12-hour shift.

"I literally had to rebuild my brain," Taylor said. "My mother and I used toddler-aged toys to help me relearn everything." However, over 10 years later, Taylor urges people to "get to know their mind" and learn the value of reality.

Taylor explained that the nervous system has one trillion cells that make it function. That's more than 16 times the number of people on Earth, she said. Taylor said people should respect and appreciate the complexity and greatness of their brains.

"I am the life-force power of 50 trillion geniuses," Taylor said. Taylor answered questions on the topic of our brainperceived reality such as "How do I know who I am?", "Where do I begin?" and "Where do I end?" "Have you ever wondered, when you're yelling at yourself, who's doing the yelling, and who are you yelling at?" Taylor asked.

The end of Taylor's presentation was met with a round of applause from the audience, and many attendees said afterwards they were impressed with her. "She's extraordinary, very articulate, and she has a gift with teaching and communication," said Bill Hughes, a retired ISU music faculty member. "I really like how she explained complex issues on an understandable and practical level."

"She made me think of things that I may have already noticed before in a brand new way," said Emily Morris, a senior geology major. Taylor will be awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award today. Taylor also has a book entitled "My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey."