In 1986, a five-month-old baby named Brent Hammergren, then a resident of Evendale, was suffering the same brain malformation as Memphis Hart.

        He became the first patient at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to get a hemispherectomy, or half-brain removal surgery, and one of the first in the United States to get the operation for this condition.

Brent Hammergren works at Blue Ash Recreation Center's concession stand. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Now 16, Brent is living in Symmes Township and doing volunteer work in Blue Ash.

        Brent has several disabilities, but he is very much alive and seizure-free.

        Brent walks and runs with a slight limp from his weakened left side. His left arm has limited movement and his left hand doesn't work. His peripheral vision is limited.

        A student at Sycamore High School, Brent reads at about a fourth-grade level, talks with an even wider vocabulary, and has “an incredible sense of humor,” says his mother, Kim Hammergren.

        This summer, Brent has been doing volunteer work three days a week at the Blue Ash Recreation Center's concession stand, filling cups with soda, serving popcorn and handling other jobs. He also plays basketball for a Special Olympics team.

        His favorite part of the job: “Free food!”

        All of this is a far cry from the press conference held when Brent was a baby.

        Before the surgery, performed by the same physician who did Memphis' operation, Dr. Kerry Crone, Brent's seizures left him nearly comatose. A pediatrician feared that Brent was blind and deaf because his responses to light and sound were so poor.

        But four days after surgery, Mrs. Hammergren noticed dramatic changes.

        “He fixed his eyes on me for the very first time. It was so cool!” she said.

        Soon after, Brent's case made front-page news in The Cincinnati Enquirer and attracted attention in medical circles worldwide.

        “It wasn't until a month and a half post-op, when we had that media release, that I fully realized how much of a risk we faced and what the odds were,” Mrs. Hammergren said.

        Even now, people are stunned when they meet Brent and learn about his medical history.

        “It's like they're in awe. They sit and watch him and they can't believe it,” she said.

        Brent's message to Memphis: “Good luck!”

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