Modern World 18

1 Andrew Engel was completely confused.  Just days into his first year at an American university, he was sitting in a sociology class, listening to other students engaged in a discussion.  He had no idea what they were talking about.  It was a foreign feeling as he had always been a good student and had graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA. 

2 The rest of his day progressed in the following way: He got lost on his way to the cafeteria.  Back at his dormitory, he greeted his roommate with a “Hi, how’s it going?” all the while thinking, “What on earth is his name again?” He was acting like a person with Alzheimer’s disease, but he was only 17. 

3 Andrew’s mother sent him to the doctor.  A brain scan made it clear: Andrew had a brain tumor.  The size of a walnut, it was pressing on the part of the brain that makes new memories and could be fatal if left untreated. 

4 Doctors removed part of the tumor and treated the rest with radiation.  The cancer was gone.  But he was told he’d probably never return to school.  He had an above-average verbal IQ of 120, but his memory recall score was 68, close to that of a developmentally disabled person.  “Even as they told me this, I knew I wanted to try to go back to school,” Andrew says.  “I wanted to try my best to recover my memory.”

5 Andrew began by sitting in on an English class at a nearby community college.  Eventually he discovered that reading things at least five times increased his chance of retaining information.  In class, he wrote detailed notes, and a note taker provided what he missed.  He reread his notes several times a day, then typed up both the notes and the textbook material.  He studied 12 hours a day, seven days a week, breaking only for class, meals or exercise. 

6 When he took the class for credit the next semester, he got an A.  “I was pleased,” he says, “but unsure how I’d do in my other classes.”  He entered the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, taking just one or two courses a semester toward a degree in health science. 

7 Andrew stuck with his program, and in May 2007, at age 29, more than a decade after he began, he got a standing ovation as he graduated with a 4.0 GPA.