“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

My youngest brother sent me the most interesting story today. The book (and film I think) called “They Diving Bell and the Butterfly” by Jean-Dominique Bauby is a memoir about his life spent in locked-in syndrome. Locked-in syndrome is a medical condition caused by a stroke where your body is unable to move. Your mind is fine, but your basically paralyzed. Until today, I’ve never heard of it.

Bauby wrote the book by blinking. Letter by letter, his writing assistant would run through the alphabet and Bauby would blink when the letter he wanted was stated. “A, B,C --> blink --> A blink --> A, B blink would spell “Cab.” According to Wikipedia, it took around two minutes for each word and over two hundred thousand blinks.

Bauby’s effort and drive inspired me today. Next time you think you’re doing something hard, just remember that Bauby authored a book by blinking. That is truly amazing.