A discourse of resilience and brain plasticity

The phenomenon of the recovery of Johnny Famechon: A discourse of resilience and brain plasticity

Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Central Queensland University, March 2016. Principal Supervisor: Professor Ken Purnell, Associate Supervisor: Professor Kevin Ronan

Abstract

This qualitative research provides detailed insights into the lived experiences of the recovery of a single subject, that of former World Boxing Champion, John Famechon. John suffered an incapacitating brain injury in August 1991 when a car, estimated to be travelling at 100 kilometres per hour, hit John as he was crossing a road near Warwick Farm in Sydney.

Since retiring from boxing in 1970 John had, until the car accident, a very successful career actively engaged in all manner of social, media, sports and business events as reported in the media of the day. John was a popular sports star and celebrity who often commanded large audiences; as observed by Frank Quill, a highly regarded sports journalist and close friend of John during this time. Upon discharge from hospital in October 1992, John was under the full-time care of his then fiancée, now wife, Glenys. At that time John was, as Glenys and the media of the time described his condition, as if he had been “poured” into a wheelchair, unable to walk, talk, or feed himself. The doctors and the other medical experts at that time advised that this would now be John’s life and his discharge condition was as good as he would ever get: severely incapacitated, often bed-ridden, unable to fend for himself, and wheelchair bound for the remainder of his life. However, owing to an unanticipated innovative rehabilitation process, that is not the case today nor has it been since March 1994.

The methodological approach in this research used phenomenology to obtain rich data for analysis. The examination of the facts extends knowledge by scrutinising John’s lived experience of recovery. In the process, this dissertation provides an increased understanding of a new therapeutic technique employed, and a clearer knowing from contemporary literature of the neurological processes involved in acquired brain injury recovery. This study brings together a wide range of research reported in the literature dealing with brain anatomy, brain functioning, neurophysiological processes, and neuroplasticity insights involved in brain injury repair. It also extends knowledge of brain damage restoration involving complex, dynamic and seamless neurological cascading processes: it is what I now refer to as the neurofluidity of brain function and healing involved in recovery from brain trauma. This examination, then, has the potential to inform practices and to assist others in recuperation from acquired brain injuries.

A number of significant contributors to John’s neurological recovery were identified in this investigation. The interrogation of the literature indicated that inherent neural repair processes and neurophysiological renewal started at the moment that the brain damage occurred in August 1991. These natural internal processes were further supported by subsequent external medical and rehabilitative interventions. Unfortunately, as the data have shown, these had little or no effect on improving John’s severely incapacitated condition; and by November 1993 John’s physical disposition began to deteriorate noticeably and alarmingly: “We were very concerned at that time because we saw that John was regressing quite dramatically, and we actually began to think that John was never going to recover” (G. Famechon, personal communication, August 20, 2014).

Then, in December 1993, John started an unforeseen new therapy involving what are referred to as “hard goals” and “stretch goals,” involving highly challenging complex movements and intense cognitive work that focussed on extending what John could do physically and mentally. As a result, from late 1993 John’s presenting incapacitated condition changed over the ensuing weeks and months. In March 1994 John walked for the first time since the accident. Soon after that he was running. As documented in this thesis, those who knew John and his condition were amazed at the healing and significant improvements from his formerly incapacitated state – much of which was achieved by late 1994.

The treatment continued on a weekly basis until late 1997. The research reported here provides a phenomenological account of the lived experience of recovery through the eyes of John, Glenys and close friends who were with John through these times from World Champion, the accident, the new therapy, to today. They provide powerful, insightful eyewitness accounts of the lived experiences of recovery involving neurofluidity and the ongoing homeostatic healing that continues to this day, where even now subtle, less obvious improvements continue.

The examination of the literature and phenomenological data indicates the reason that John’s condition changed from incapacitated to recovering was due to changes in John’s neurological and neuromuscular condition that appear to have mainly stemmed from late 1993, when the new therapy commenced. These neurophysiological changes were complex, rich, thick, strong, fast and eventually cumulatively powerful enough to change John’s presenting condition from incapacitated to where John, from March 1994, was not only able to walk, talk and feed himself, but now also able to present a holistic mind and body (hólos) condition of ongoing homeostatic ambulatory recovery, which continues to this day. As an example, John presented to a large, mainly medical audience at an international conference in Sydney in 2011, The Mind and its Potential,where he received a standing ovation that is available to view on YouTube. As Glenys Famechon stated in 2014:

"Our lives are pretty much quite normal … A very near to normal life is how I take it. We, when we go out, sometimes we have to take the wheelchair if we’re in an airport and you’ve got to go for a long, long way, but John walks with the cane, he converses with people … I’m just so confident that John can have a conversation with somebody, and it’s really nice, whereas before it was two words, and then nothing else clicked in … We have a very big social life … "(G. Famechon & J. Famechon, meeting, June 30, 2014; G. Famechon & J. Famechon, L. Jones, focus group meeting, July 2, 2014).

The findings of this research will be useful to consider by those affected by an acquired brain injury, including the person, their family, friends, and health practitioners. The learning of John and the teaching involved also have very clear implications for learning and teaching in general.