Any movie, every weekend: A father and son find light in the dark
Maclean’s video: Despite a ‘vegetative’ diagnosis, new science suggests Jeff Tremblay’s brain is awake.
Paul Tremblay with his son Jeff, 35, in Lloydminster, Alberta on Saturday, September 13, 2014. Jeff suffered a devastating brain injury after an assault 17 years ago and though his family could not be sure how much he understood, they have made it a tradition to go to the movies once a week. Recently Jeff was evaluated by neuroscientist Adrian Owen, who uses high tech brain scans to evaluate the brains of patients deemed vegetative while they watch a movie. Jeff’s brain activity was equivalent to the brain activity of healthy volunteers watching the same movie. Amber Bracken for Maclean’s Magazine
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Every weekend for over a decade, Paul Tremblay has taken his son Jeff, 35, to the movies. At the cinema in Lloydminster, Alta., they’ll see comedies, action movies, thrillers; sometimes they’ll go to an animated film, maybe the latest from Pixar, with Jeff’s brother Jason, Jason’s wife, and their two young sons.
“Jeff likes comedies,” Tremblay says, “almost any kind.”
All this time, Tremblay’s been operating partly on faith. While he’s convinced that Jeff occasionally responds to what’s happening up on the screen—“He’s got a real belly laugh,” he says—he can’t be sure how much his son actually takes in. When Jeff was 18, he suffered a devastating brain injury after an assault: A kick to the chest sent him into cardiac arrest, temporarily depriving his brain of oxygen. Since then, Jeff’s been unable to speak, move purposefully, or follow basic commands and cues; he requires round-the-clock care. Even so, week after week, Jeff’s dad keeps taking him to the movies.
Kate Lunau chronicles the family’s story in the wake of remarkable new science from Adrian Owen, a British neuroscientist based at Western University in London, Ont.:
Related reading: Light in the dark: What if vegetative patients are actually conscious?