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5 Patients that Suffered a Brain Injury or Trauma
William N. Palma
University of Belize

Belmopan, Belize
(501) 822-3680

5 patients that suffered a Brain Injury

The brain produces our every thought, action, memory, feeling and experience of the world. This jelly-like figure of tissue, weighing in at around 3 pounds, contains an amazing one hundred billion nerve cells, or neurons (Philips, 2006). Its same complexity and uniqueness makes the brain tremendously delicate. Dr. Roger Landry relates that your clever brain produces nearly 10,000 new cells every day and the fact that the brain can be enhanced just as any muscle, improving memory and cognitive ability, regardless of age (2014). A trauma or injury on any part of the brain assures a conspicuous change on the individual because it is the brain that directs the human activities. Throughout history, various individuals damaged this significant organ whereby drastic changes on personality behaviors and even death became the result.
Phineas Gage is one of the most famous and documented cases of severe brain injury. Gage and his crew were working on the Rutland and Burlington Railroad near Cavendish in Vermont. Gage was organizing for an explosion by compacting a bore with explosive powder using a tamping iron. According to the Neuroscience writer, Mo Constandi, “While he was doing this, a spark from the tamping iron exploded the powder, causing the iron to be propelled at high speed straight through Gage’s skull” (2006). Wade and Travis reveal that, “the iron rod enter beneath his left eye and exited through his head, destroying much of his prefrontal cortex” (2008). Related to Gage case, Teddy Poh discloses that “As a general rule, the prefrontal cortex is well known for its function in executive control. This encompasses a wide spectrum of processes that include attention, working memory,

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