Second Time Around

Carolyn Bigham graduated from Central High School in Charlotte, N.C. last year, just before her 19th birthday, and went to work in the flower department of a local store. Last month Carolyn had survived a grave illness and was just finishing grammar school again.

One day she had a headache, fever and nausea, and became delirious. The next day she went to the hospital, unconscious, with a severe case of meningitis--an inflammation of the inner covering of the brain and spinal cord. A dozen doctors joined in treating her, used many of the newest "miracle drugs," eventually pulled her through.

First Word. But when Carolyn Bigham regained consciousness, she hardly knew who she was. She recognized her mother & father (a postman) and some of her six brothers & sisters, but could not speak their names. Even after she was sent home, five weeks passed before she uttered a word: "Water." Said her mother: "That was the most welcome sound I ever heard."

The meningococcus had passed from the brain covering into the brain itself. Some memory cells may have been destroyed; certainly many were damaged, especially in Carolyn's speech center. When her doctor, William Ranson, asked her how old she was, she answered, "Fourteen." She later explained: "I'd mean to say one thing but say something else, even though I knew I was saying it wrong."

As her health and speech improved, it became clear that she had forgotten virtually all she had ever learned. Her memory was either destroyed or inaccessible.

First Grade. Last winter Carolyn went back to the beginning. Her family got her a special teacher. Carolyn learned the alphabet again, then learned to count up to 31 by reading the calendar. After two weeks her teacher jumped her to second grade. A few weeks later, in fourth grade, Carolyn wrote: "I like to sew. I like to go uptown. I want to go to the Bonclarken Conference [of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church]. I like to ride a bicycle." By the beginning of summer, Carolyn had sailed successfully through eight grades.

Dr. Ranson believes her memory might have returned without special teaching. But he has no doubt that this greatly speeded the process and, more important, kept her from withdrawing timidly into herself. Carolyn has been back at work, part-time, and she has recalled the names of flowers, though she still has occasional difficulty in bringing out the right name. This week, far from being timidly withdrawn, Choir Singer Carolyn Bigham is going to her church's Bonclarken Conference, just as she hoped to do in the fourth grade.

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