Jean-do

Paralyzed and cannot speak or move. What would you do? Locked-In Syndrome I recently read an amazing book: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by Jean-Dominic Bauby. It is very moving indeed. Bauby was the Editor-In-Chief at Elle, the fashion  magazine in Paris, France. He was witty, rich, sought after by women, worldly and handsome. He had it all. Then, at the age of 42, he had a devastating brain stem stroke which left him totally paralyzed, unable to speak and move, yet fully conscious. We call this “locked-in syndrome”; the person is there, fully aware, but is unable to move and can’t communicate normally. [here’s the film trailer from YouTube]: It is a quite horrifying end for anyone but especially for Bauby, an intellectual and a socialite. There was just one saving grace. Fate left him with the ability to blink his left eye. Pretty soon he was using this to communicate. He gained a kind of a life.

Paralyzed and cannot speak or move. What would you do? Locked-In Syndrome I recently read an amazing book: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by Jean-Dominic Bauby. It is very moving indeed. Bauby was the Editor-In-Chief at Elle, the fashion  magazine in Paris, France. He was witty, rich, sought after by women, worldly and handsome. He had it all. Then, at the age of 42, he had a devastating brain stem stroke which left him totally paralyzed, unable to speak and move, yet fully conscious. We call this “locked-in syndrome”; the person is there, fully aware, but is unable to move and can’t communicate normally. [here’s the film trailer from YouTube]: It is a quite horrifying end for anyone but especially for Bauby, an intellectual and a socialite. There was just one saving grace. Fate left him with the ability to blink his left eye. Pretty soon he was using this to communicate. He gained a kind of a life.