Hardly anyone of us associates the name ‘Roald Dahl’ with medicine. However, once you’re done reading this, you’d be richer in terms of knowledge.
You must have observed that Roald Dahl’s characters are generally quite innovative. This is a reflection of the creator himself. Professor Tom Solomon, an English Neurologist uncovered the lesser known expertise of Roald Dahl in his book titled ‘Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Medicine’.
Not only was Dahl fascinated by the field of medicine, he had made considerable contribution to it. Dahl was intrigued by what doctors do and why they do it.
They say, necessity is the mother of invention. Fate led Roald Dahl and his family to suffer some terrible medical tragedies. Dahl nearly died when his fighter plane went down in the Second World War. His son sustained a severe brain injury after being struck by a New York taxi. His daughter died of a measles-related infection of the brain and his first wife Patricia suffered a brain haemorrhage and subsequent stroke.
Roald Dahl turned the tides against the adversaries by putting his brain to work. In 1965, Dahl’s wife, the Oscar-winning actor Patricia Neal, was left with half of her brain damaged, paralysed on her right side and unable to talk. Dahl didn’t accept the three hours therapy a day she was being offered.
He ignored professional advice and with the help of friends and neighbours he set up an intensive six-hours-a-day therapy regime for Patricia. She recovered well, eventually resuming her acting career, even getting another Oscar nomination.
The guide Dahl wrote with his neighbour, Valerie Eaton Griffith, eventually inspired The Stroke Association and the transformation of care for stroke sufferers.
His other great contribution to medicine was the Wade-Dahl-Till valve for treating Hydrocephalus (water on the brain). It helped over 5000 children around the world until it was replaced by a new design in recent years.
It was his research for the short story William and Mary which helped him come up with the design for the valve. An article on his creation, made with the help of neurosurgeon Kenneth Till and hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade, was published in The Lancet in March 1964.
Professor Tom Solomon adds these interesting insights to the facts:
Dahl liked to tell friends that his creativity began after ‘a big bang on the head’ when he crashed his Gloster Gladiator fighter in the desert in Libya in 1940. He did fracture his skill and have temporary blindness, but it didn’t cause sudden artistic output syndrome, a condition where brain damage ignites a spark in the arts that wasn’t there before. However, it is possible that it damaged his frontal lobe, which deals with inhibition, perhaps accounting for his frankness and ability to write things many other’s wouldn’t dare.
And then, we categorised Roald Dahl with every other contemporary writer. How ignorant were we?
