In the documentary My Beautiful Broken Brain, we see the aftermath of a hemorrhagic stroke that affected Lotje, a 34-year-old woman. Before the stroke, Lotje was an intelligent, friendly person who was constantly writing and reading, both for her job as a producer and for leisure. After the stroke, she is barely able to do either and is very upset by this, but she works hard to regain these abilities. She also has trouble relating to people like she used to and feels like her friends don't fully understand what she is going through. I chose this movie because it was easily accessible on Netflix, and I thought it would be interesting to see how a stroke affects someone relatively young.
After watching this documentary, I have a better understanding of how much a stroke can change a person's life, especially someone in the middle of their life. One thing that stood out to me was a part where a doctor was testing Lotje's vision because she was not able to see very well to one side. We had recently learned about the visual system in Neurobiology and how the visual fields transmit information contralaterally. This was briefly explained to Lotje, and seeing this done with a patient helped me make more sense of what we had previously learned. I would highly recommend this documentary to anyone interested in strokes or how the nervous system works.
Robinson, S., & Sodderland, L. (Directors). (2014). My Beautiful Broken Brain [Motion picture].
United Kingdom: Netflix.
