In the popular show Severance, people undergo brain surgery to split their memories between their work life and personal life, creating two distinct consciousnesses.
This procedure is completely fictional, but there is a very real condition that causes the brain to be ‘split’ at birth.
Sam Richard, 33, of Leesburg, Virginia was born with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC), which means the left side of his brain is disconnected from the right.
Richard is a content creator, a gifted Rubik’s cube solver and an official Rubik’s brand ambassador. He makes TikTok videos demonstrating his cube-solving skills and sharing his experience of living with ACC.
This brain condition affects one out of every 4,000 life births. Those with the disorder lack part or all of the corpus collosum — a bundle of more than 200 million nerve fibers that connects the left brain hemisphere to the right hemisphere.
Richard has complete ACC, which means he is missing this connective wiring altogether.
This doesn’t mean he has a split consciousness, like in the show Severance. But it does affect his cognitive function, motor skills and behavior.
‘I have a delayed reaction time, low muscle tone, slow learning development — because my hemispheres cannot communicate, it makes all things much more of a challenge,’ he explained in a TikTok video.
Sam Richard, 33, of Leesburg, Virginia was born with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC), which means the left side of his brain is disconnected from the right
Richard describes the corpus callosum as the ‘superhighway of the brain.’
Its primary function is to integrate and transfer information from both brain hemispheres, and this facilitates the processing of sensory, motor and cognitive signals.
‘With ACC, I grew up with so many difficulties in life,’ Richard said.
For example, ‘the average kid would ride a two-wheeled bike at like, maybe age six. I was like 12, 13 years old,’ he said.
Other activities have proved difficult for him too, such as swimming, which strains his muscles and triggers his heightened sensitivity to cold, he said.
‘I was bullied a lot,’ Richard added. ‘I was in special-ed classes, but near my senior year of high school, I barely needed that.
‘I was able to achieve more,’ he said.
Indeed, Richard has managed to do many things he was told he would never be able to because of his disability.
People with ACC lack part or all of the corpus collosum — a bundle of more than 200 million nerve fibers that connects the left brain hemisphere to the right hemisphere.
Richard has managed to do many things he was told he would never be able to because of his condition, including solving a Rubik’s cube
Even though he was the ‘smallest and weakest’ in his elementary school class, he participated in gym class and went on to play basketball in middle school.
‘I was the smallest person and the weakest person in the league. But I scored my own basket, on my birthday, my first season’ Richard said.
And even though he was supposed to graduate with a modified ‘special education’ diploma in high school, he earned a standard diploma after passing all his Standards of Learning assessments.
He believes mastering the Rubik’s cube has played a big role in his success.
‘Doctors say that I should not be able to solve a Rubik’s cube,’ he said, ‘But I defied the odds from what the doctors said.’
Richard can solve this three-by-three color-matching puzzle in a matter of seconds. He first tried it nearly two decades ago after a friend introduced him to it, WUSA9 reported.
He now has a collection of more than 500 Rubik’s cubes and many fans within the ‘Rubik’s cuber’ community.
As a brand ambassador, he travels to competitions and events across the country, and frequently speaks to school groups about how the Rubik’s cube has helped him overcome his disability.
‘Solving the Rubik’s cube calms me down from all the stress I face daily,’ Richard said in a video.
‘Staying calm is the best way to help keep the brain healthy and strong,’ he added.
