Posted: Mon Oct 1 2001
Reporter Has Brain Hemorrhage Trying To Link Story To WTC Attacks

News reporter Christy Flake of the Channel 78 News team in Chicago Illinois was admitted to a hospital after suffering a brain hemorrhage brought on by over exertion of the parietal lobe, which is the part of the brain responsible for finding connections between a single bad event and everything else.

Ms. Flake was in the Channel 78 news room not long after interviewing Edith Drudge about an upcoming bake sale being held by their service organization to raise money for new equipment for a local park. Co-anchor Quip Bronson describes what happened next. "She was complaining loudly that the event was not to raise money for the NYC cleanup efforts, no one in the group lost anyone in the attack, the group was not Christian, not Muslim, and Edith herself had no opinions one way or the other about what America should do next.

"Then she put her head in her hands and started going through a number of angles on the story. She was getting very upset and I told her just to say that in spite of America preparing for war, a local group sets their sites on more immediate needs, but that wasn't good enough for her. Finally I noticed blood coming out her ears. That's when we called 911."

Christy is now listed in good condition and should return to work within the week. Doctors say that her parietal lobe was unharmed but there was significant damage to the centers of the brain responsible for developing a sense of proportion and for creativity.

The damage is not expected to effect her career.


--Philip Matanka