This story appeared in the July/August 2020 issue as "A Wildfire in the Brain." Subscribe to Discover magazine for more stories like this.
As soon as I read Aram’s email, my heart sank. My former undergraduate student wanted to discuss an emergency operation on his mother’s brain? Yikes.
Later that night, Aram and I spoke on the phone. He explained that less than a week earlier, his 56-year-old mother, Flora, was driving to work when her left hand went numb and dropped from the wheel. Nonetheless, she continued her rounds as a social worker, faithfully visiting clients.
