Meaghann Muncy's hemimegalencephaly, a rare condition in which one half of the brain develops larger than the other, can be helped by removing the offending part.

        After the operation to remove the right side of her brain, called a hemispherectomy, her brain should transfer its speech function to the remaining hemisphere. Her personality, memory and even her sense of humor should be retained, but there could be a partial loss of vision.

        Often patients learn to read, talk and do many things that other children do. The surgery leaves limbs on the opposite side paralyzed or weakened.

        Fortunately, the operation doesn't reduce a child's intellect. In fact, sometimes intellect improves after the seizures stop.

        Surgery is a radical procedure that can take up to 12 hours and brings the risks of infection, bleeding and death. Surgeons leave intact the vital thalamus, brain stem and basal ganglia.

        Recovering patients usually leave the hospital in two weeks. They are able to walk with only a limp and move the elbow and shoulder on the side that's left paralyzed.

        The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore pioneered the surgery in the 1920s. The operation was doubly dangerous then because of infections.

        In 1968, the hospital reintroduced the operation, and since then, has performed more than 125. Nowadays, the hospital's pediatric neurosurgeons, Dr. Benjamin S. Carson and Dr. Anthony Avellino, do about 10 hemispherectomies a year, said Wendy S. Mullins, a spokeswoman for the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

        Its physicians have refined the surgical techniques, which leave more brain tissue in place than was left 80-some years ago.

        Although the operation brings obvious risks, so does doing nothing, said Sandy Muncy, Meaghann's mother.

        Meaghann's potentially life-threatening seizures could worsen. Her condition has declined in the last several years.

        “She doesn't even laugh,” Mrs. Muncy said.

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