Dani's Story

If you happened to watch Oprah last Thursday, then you have already seen this story. The episode was centered on the life of Dani, a girl found "living" alone in a room. In squalor and without interaction, Dani endured the most extreme neglect and survived.

I have not been able to find a link to the actual video, if anyone knows I will happily post it. This is the link to the story on Oprah's website and a link to the website of the family Dani now has.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081016-tows-danielle

In particular, several slides in the middle are from Dr. Bruce Perry and one shows the effect of neglect on the brain of a 3 year old child from an orphanage, compared to one of an average 3 year old. It is an MRI and it looks how I have always pictured Genea's brain might look. Like there is barbed wire in it, or similar to one of those old steel- wool dish pads.

http://danisstory.org/

I see Genea there, the similarities are striking. Of course the situations are vastly different, but the effect of extreme neglect, of unmet needs has comparable results.