Aug 22, 2008

Health - Brain rewiring turns an engineer to an artist

LONDON: A cerebral haemorrhage turned out to be a blessing in disguise for a British engineer, whose brain was "rewired" to turn him into an artist after the stroke.

Ken Walters, resident of Ormskirk, Lancashire, suffered multiple spine fractures and massive internal injuries when he was crushed against a wall by a fork lift truck when a driver lost control. Two life-threatening heart attacks further deepened his gloom.

The cerebral haemorrhage, however, "rewired" part of his brain and spawned an artistic flair he never previously possessed.

"Although I didn't realise it at the time, having a stroke was the biggest blessing in disguise I ever could have wished for," Walters said.

"I have amazed myself by the turnaround to be honest but I'm loving every minute of it. Now I wouldn't change my life for anything," he was quoted as saying by the Mail online.

Doctors convinced the abstract musings were the result of a "rewiring" of the brain encouraged Walters to develop his new found hobby, the report said.

"My doctor told me following a stroke your brain usually rewires itself to avoid the damaged bits and often leads to discovering hidden talents," Walters said.

The former engineer soon become an expert in digital imagery and created his own software. In October last year computer giant EA games was so impressed with a gallery of computerised creatures he had dreamed up they commissioned him to design 100 digital dinosaurs for a new educational game called Spore.

According to the report, Walters has already netted 30,000 pounds from his back bedroom creativity.

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