Maggie Meier is an example of how a sport can be completely engrained in a person.
During a coma lasting two and a half months, Meier was able to shoot a beach ball into a makeshift hoop for minutes at a time before returning to a comatose state.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Dr. William Graf, Meier’s neurologist, told The Daily. “The act of shooting a basketball must have been ingrained as one of Maggie’s basic instincts — her basketball shooting motion came back to her even before she was able to stand up or walk again.”
Meier had suffered from a type of meningitis that caused swelling in her brain, putting her in the hospital for 100 days. A recovered Meier says she has no memories of shooting hoops in the hospital.
“Coming back to normal, I hear stories like that, like shooting the beach ball,” she said. “I played basketball my whole life, since third grade. I had the knowledge of playing and knowing what was going on in a game.”
Meier had to relearn how to walk, speak and read. Eventually, she ended up playing basketball again, joining her school’s varsity squad.
Image: j9sk9s/Creative Commons
