N4L 082: "Patient H69" by Vanessa Potter

SUMMARY Patient H69: The Story of My Second Sight, Vanessa Potter’s memoir, captures her journey from light to dark and back again. Within 72 hours, Potter moves from keeping up the high-paced lifestyle of a freelance TV producer and mother of two small children to being blind and paralyzed in a hospital bed. Having suddenly contracted NMO (an extremely rare neurological disorder that affects the optic and spinal nerves), Potter becomes both deeply curious and fiercely determined to get better. So, enlisting a team of neuroscientists, she provides real-time data to help solve the mystery illness. KEY POINTS Sensory loss – the official term for what Potter experienced – completely disorients Potter to the point she didn’t know if she was up or down or where she was. She couldn’t feel where she was! The very information we live our lives by shuts down. Meditation is a reflex. Her visual sanctuary is a beautiful beach, which, by seeing in her mind, keeps her visual system alive. Our brain does the business of seeing. Creating audio recordings then later blogging her story in real time become therapeutic. Potter’s narration turns into critical scientific data. Deep curiosity propels her to seek medical answers. “Patient H69” becomes her pseudonym for her writing and blog. She “piggybacks” the vision of everyone who walked in the room to “see,” and her knowledge filled in the gaps. Her children’s touch is “medicine in a bottle” for Potter. Children naturally lavish touch and have an intuition about what to do when they walk in the room. Before being released from the hospital, Potter has to pass the “tea test” to make sure she has sufficient coping strategies at home. Humor is a resource—buying her time and helping her relax. Potter’s experience corroborates years of visual science—the inside of vision. Collaborates with Cambridge University scientists on EEG project to help others see how their mindful brainwaves convert into music and art. QUOTES FROM POTTER “I remember one time asking my husband, ‘This might sound like a crazy question, but am I still here?’” “Meditation was my lifeline because this was one of the most active things I could do—given I couldn’t move, I couldn’t feed myself—so the meditation was a very, very powerful resource to have inside my mind.” “I was so determined that we were going to see this through and that I was not going to be coming home [from hospital] until I was better.” “The U.K. has the most amazing NHS (medical system), but you have to fight for it.” “Physical closeness was not only a way of being physically close [to visitors] but also communicating with them…a soft warm hand holding my hand says a thousand words.” “We think we’re often helpless…[but] even in the worst situations, you have a choice…which leads to opportunity…I’ve learned to carve opportunity in the darkest place because then the rewards are so much more.” Don’t miss “Part 2: Diary of the Science” to learn how Potter now applies what she’s learned! BUY Patient H69: The Story of My Second Sight (Bloomsbury Sigma) RECOMMENDATION World Book Day, celebrated in the U.K. on the first Thursday in March. A nonprofit whose aim is to give every child and young person a book of their own. Find out how you can contribute to the cause as an author, illustrator, teacher, parent, or mentor. For weekly updates, join our email list! Follow us on social media! Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Check out our Website! Special thanks… Music Credit Sound Editing Credit