BALTIMORE (AP) -- A teenager who had half of her brain removed in hopes of stopping a deadly neurological disease has been released from Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
Amber Ramirez, 15, was transferred Thursday to Mount Washington Pediatrics Hospital in Baltimore where she will begin physical and speech therapy to recover some of the functions she lost when surgeons removed the left half of her brain on July 13.Amber can stand with assistance and walk with a brace on her right leg. She's not yet talking but is expected to do so soon, said her surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Carson.
"Our goal for Amber is to have her be able to walk independently and be able to speak normally," Carson said.
The teenager underwent a nine-hour operation to remove the side of her brain being ravaged by Rasmussen's syndrome, which eats away at brain tissue, causing severe seizures.
She will be able to return to her home in Lincoln, Neb., in two or three weeks where she will continue rehabilitation on an outpatient basis, Carson said.