What Does Immersing Yourself in a Book Do to Your Brain?
>  A student came to him, a beautiful 13-year-old girl, who said she wanted to be part of his theater group performing William Shakespeare’s plays. It would have been an ordinary request, save for the reality that the young girl had advanced cystic fibrosis and had been told she had only a brief time to live.<p>and then...<p>> She went on to become one Shakespearean heroine after another, each role performed with more emotional depth and strength than the one before. Years have now passed since she played Juliet. Against all expectations and medical prognoses, she has entered college, where she is pursuing a dual degree in medicine and theater, in which she will continue to “pass over” into one role after another.<p>> That young woman’s exceptional example is not so much about whether the mind and heart can overcome the limitations of the body...<p>I don't understand this. Is the writer implying that 'advanced cystic fibrosis' is a limitation of the body and not a real disease, and so she was able to 'beat it' by immersing herself in reading and drama?<p>The 2 statements - "she had only a brief time to live" and "Years have now passed since she played Juliet. Against all expectations and medical prognoses" completely contradict each other. Did she 'beat the disease' (which seems improbable) or was she misdiagnosed in the first place?