Hadhin Anjum

[Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 @AusWomenCricket]

Nobody did it better 🥲

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

I am a Hepatologist.

Arguably, I care for the sickest group of patients in medical practice – end stage liver disease.

I see death almost every day in my ICU.

Some are natural deaths, leading to multiple organ failure triggered by a failing liver.

Some are decided. The family decided to pull the plug. They decide it was time to let go.

And every time, I see the heart rate drop, the blood pressure fall and the electrocardiogram go flat.

And I wonder. What goes on inside a dying brain?
Was it a small black hole, that gets bigger and bigger and then engulfs the field in darkness as the heart shuts down taking the brain away with it?

Or was it just all light at the end of the tunnel and then darkness, once the destination had reached?

A group of doctors did something strange. Something unimaginable.

And it led to them witnessing something melancholic, but beautiful.

They went inside an ICU. Saw that four patients were unconscious.

They were not clinically dead, yet. And not brain-dead. But were comatose.
They were kept alive by a machine that pumped oxygen into their lungs.
Three had brain injury due to cardiac arrest. One had haemorrhaged into the brain.

All were unresponsive for a very long time and sadly, the family decided to pull the plug on them.
To let them go away, peacefully.

But before they did that, the loving family did something bittersweet. They signed a document which was made by the group of doctors, allowing them to study their beloveds’ dying brain.

The group was led by Dr Jimo Borjigin of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor at Michigan.

The doctors fitted machines to the heart and brain of the dying patients and then withdrew their life support by removing the breathing tube.

Immediately after the tube was removed, the brain activity did not show anything different.
But as the brain got closer to death, about 300 seconds before death, a power surge. And it occurred in the regions of the brain which was associated with conscious experience. Like the dying was suddenly yearning to live.

And make no mistake, these were not “some bursts” of electrical activity that happens when the brain cells withered away without oxygen. This was a special kind of activity.

These power surges increased connectivity in a region in the brain called posterior cortical “hot zone” – an area crucial for conscious perception – when it came to just before dying, the brain cells were having a cross-talk, not dying away into oblivion.

They were passing final messages to each other within the regions of the brain, while the physical body lay, limp and motionless.

And the doctors were heartbroken – because the final electrical pattern of surge that the dying brain was showing was the similar to those seen in dreaming humans.

All the patients in the study died.
But before they died, they taught us something.
That even in death, our minds are resilient.
That we clutch at only everything that is good.

What were they dreaming of?
A husband, about his loving wife?
A mother, her children?
Children, their parents?
Or maybe a scene from a movie that changed you?
Or a song under a starry sky?
Or a pet who loved you unconditionally?
We will never know.

But know this, even in death, the mind conquers – with dreams and love, not nightmares and hate.

Remember, nothing perfect lasts forever, except in our memories.

Make good memories while living, so that we can re-live them in death.

Go hug you family, take your children for an ice cream. Walk your dog into the sunset.

Sources:
➡️"Surprising brain activity moments before death" by Dr. F Perry Wilson @fperrywilson via https://t.co/g2NmWlMrAs

➡️Research Article: Surge of neurophysiological coupling and connectivity of gamma oscillations in the dying human brain from @PNASNews https://t.co/YqvZIlDaxN

[FIFA World Cup Stats @alimo_philip]

🎥 One of the finest compilations of Lionel Messi at the 2022 World Cup that you will ever see.

🐐The greatest of all time-GOAT

#FIFAWorldCup|#Messi𓃵|#GOAT
https://t.co/hUpmQJHlvK

[FIFA World Cup @FIFAWorldCup]

Gracias, Leo 🏆

[Hadhin Anjum @hadhin7]

@Artofphysique_ @savetobookmark

[Hadhin Anjum @hadhin7]

@Artofphysique_ @save to bookmarks

[Idris @7signxx]

40 Kinds of Charity...

THREAD

[Tessa Davis @TessaRDavis]

10 amazing websites that cost you nothing, but will save you hundreds of hours of your life:

[• @Alhamdhulillaah]

Punchbowl Mosque, Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺

[tareq @ibnabitareq]

They wish to extinguish the Light of Allah with their mouths, but He will perfect His Light.

So keep trying to shut us up.

[🇵🇸 صَبِيْحة @Sabihah_R]

Since many masaajid will be doing 12th/13th Juz tonight here’s some quick lessons from Surah Yusuf 🧵

[ilmfeed @IlmFeed]

An Indian student says she will continue to fight for her right to wear the Hijab after a #hijab ban was upheld by a court in India's #Karnataka state.

[Yasmin @YasminMogahed]

How do some people go on living with a broken heart?
Because God puts it back together. And like broken Japanese pottery, it can become even more beautiful after its put back together. If an artist can turn broken clay into a masterpiece, imagine what God can do with our hearts.

[Mufti Menk @muftimenk]

Nothing can disturb your peace when you have attained that special connection with the Almighty. You fully submit to His Decree. He will provide for you in ways you never imagined. He will protect you from all harm. He will bless you with a kind heart and endear you to others.

[FC Barcelona @FCBarcelona]

When Messi cries, we all cry.
Big hug. ❤️ u Leo.

[Hadhin Anjum @hadhin7]

@iamAdithy Hey

[cricket.com.au @cricketcomau]

A phenomenal finish to a sensational series!

#ENGvAUS scorecard: https://t.co/G5azUXLNiJ