Published: May 01, 2008 10:14 am            

Stroke survivor among 'World's 100 Most Influential People'

Jill Bolte Taylor hopes exposure spreads lessons of her stroke recovery

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Perhaps it’s fitting that Jill Bolte Taylor’s life will change by being named to the Time magazine list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People.



After all, Taylor thinks that distinction will help her change others’ lives.



“It’s essentially like the world saying, ‘Go tell the world your story, and we’ll give you the platform to do that,’” the Terre Haute native told the Tribune-Star. “It’s like a gift from heaven.”



Her experience seemed like anything but a divine gift on Dec. 10, 1996, when she was living in Boston and working at Harvard University. That’s when Taylor — a scientist and college instructor who specializes in the inner workings of the brain — suffered a potentially lethal stroke. In a four-hour span that morning, a hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of Taylor’s brain rapidly erased her ability to walk, talk, communicate and remember. But because of her expertise, Taylor understood what was happening.



Unlike the majority of people who suffer such a stroke, caused by a congenital malformation of the blood vessels, Taylor, now 48, recovered fully, though the rehabilitation process was long. Eventually, she resumed her work and now teaches neuroanatomy for the Bloomington Medical Sciences program at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She also studies brain cancer cases at the IU Midwest Proton Radiotheraphy Institute.



In the past, her forum for explaining the mysteries of the brain came through her travels as “The Singin’ Scientist,” carrying a guitar and a jar of preserved human brains. She also penned a book, “My Stroke of Insight.”



The Time exposure gives Taylor’s message, which focuses on the power of the brain. Taylor herself learned to tap into the abilities of the right hemisphere, which handles the present, the world around us and our connection to others. The left side, which had shut down for Taylor, controls methodical thought, the past and the future.



The stroke, she said, made her a more compassionate person. Others can do the same.



“The whole point is for us to learn that inner-peace circuitry more often,” Taylor said by telephone from her home in Bloomington, “and to transfer that peace into our lives and throughout the world.”



In March, Taylor caught worldwide attention with an 18-minute lecture at the cutting-edge TEDtalks conference in Monterey, Calif. That forum, featuring movie stars and innovative thinkers, combines technology, entertainment and design, hence the acronym, TED. When her speech hit the TED.com Web site, Taylor got global attention.



Now her book, published independently, is being sought by major publishers. She’s heard from Hollywood and Broadway writers interested in re-creating her life story. Then the science editor from Time contacted her about its 100 Most Influential People list.



“It was pretty shocking, pretty amazing,” Taylor said. “I dream big, but I never dream Time 100. There are 13,000 Jill Taylors in the United States, and I wasn’t convinced it was real until I saw my middle name [Bolte] in print.”



In April, Jill traveled to Chicago to tape a two-hour interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and that discussion will be aired on Winfrey's XM radio show "Soul Series," beginning May 12. It will run in four half-hour segments on consecutive Mondays, beginning at 9 a.m.



That interview session included Taylor meeting "Power of Now" author Eckhart Tolle.



"It was just a beautiful experience," Taylor said.



Later this month, Taylor will accept an invitation to meet with motivation speaker and self-help author Tony Robbins.



Taylor expects her life to get extraordinarily busy, thanks to her mention in Time.



"It gives me a voice to people who wouldn't otherwise be listening to what we know about the brain," she said, "and it helps people understand that when someone has a stroke experience, they don't become less, they just become different."





Mark Bennett writes for The Tribune Star in Terre Haute, Ind. Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com

        

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