Positive start to healing
TEENAGER Aaron Payne is recovering in hospital following brain surgery to combat seizures he endures as a result of a condition called Rasmussen's Encephalitis.
Aaron and his family travelled to Sydney last week for a hemispherectomy, where surgeons removed the left half of Aaron's brain in an effort to give him a seizure-free life.
A friend of the family said the teen spoke his first word since the procedure on Saturday and proving he was a typical teenager, said "no" to his mother.
"Sunday was full of highs and lows, which (the family was) told to expect, but language transference is definitely there," the family friend said.
"He continued to say a few things and spoke to the neurologist and neurosurgeon who were both surprised and thrilled to hear him, plus very positive about it continuing to improve.
"He is an absolute example of faith in action."
Aaron faces a long road to recovery but his family are confident he was the will and determination to succeed.
He is expected to experience greater weakness to the right side of his body, loss of peripheral vision and cognitive difficulties, including language deficits.
