biology and behavior
An Introduction to the Brain
IN THE LINE OF FIRE
It was November 9th, 2004, and U.S. Marine Brandon Burns was surrounded on all sides by gunfire. The enemy was everywhere, in the buildings, streets, and alleyways of Fallujah.
“I was in the deepest part of the city [and] there was chaos,” remembers Brandon. At age 19, Brandon was on the front lines in the Iraq War, fighting in the battle of Fallujah. “I was on top of the Humvee automatic grenade launcher shooting round after round,” Brandon remembers. Suddenly, there was darkness. A bullet from an enemy sniper impaled Brandon’s helmet, pierced his skull, and ricocheted through the back left side of his brain. Bleeding and unconscious, Brandon was rushed from Fallujah to Baghdad. Medics had to resuscitate him on five separate occasions during that ambulance ride. Brandon explains, “Five times I died.”
After arriving in Baghdad, Brandon was transferred to a hospital in Germany. Doctors concluded that some parts of his brain were no longer viable. “They removed part of my skull and dug out the injured part of my brain,” and now, Brandon says, “one third of my brain is gone.”
Note: Quotations attributed to Brandon Burns and Christina Santhouse are personal communications.
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