The Woman With A Hole In Her Brain

A women in her 20s was discovered to be missing her entire cerebellum. Prior to finding out that her cerebellum was missing, she had experienced dizziness and nausea, and had trouble learning to walk and talk. I thought this was really interesting because she was disabled her entire life with one of the most well known and important parts of the brain and yet she was not affected too severely and could still carry out normal everyday life. The cerebellum's primary job is to control voluntary actions of the body, and problems with the cerebellum can lead to severe mental disabilities. Therefore, the fact that this woman could survive quite normally without her entire cerebellum was very fascinating to me.

My part of the brain is the medulla oblongata. It is a continuation of the spinal chord within the skull and is a cone shaped nerve mass. It is responsible for autonomic actions such as digestion, breathing, and heart rate. Without the medulla oblongata, it would be impossible to survive without life support since other parts of the brain cannot take over and voluntarily produce a heart beat or digest food. The medulla Oblongata is definitely one of the most important parts of the brain, and one would definitely not want to be without it!