Girl had left brain hemisphere removed to treat epilepsy

I hope it is a good news.

Hemispherectomy - " The first such operation on humans was done by Walter Dandy in 1923*. In the 1960s and early 1970s, hemispherectomy involved removing half of the brain, but this resulted in unacceptable complications and side effects in many cases, like filling of excessive body fluids in the skull and pressuring the remaining lobe (known as hydrocephalus). The first successful operation was done by Dr. Ben Carson at world renown The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Today, the functional hemispherectomy has largely replaced this procedure, in which only the temporal lobe is removed; a procedure known as corpus callosotomy is performed; and the frontal and occipital lobes disconnected."
Wikipedia
* at John Hopkins University

"Suffering from seizures, her daughter, Brooklyn Bauer, had undergone different treatments and tried different medications for more than three years with no success. Her speech and motor skills were extremely delayed. She walked on her knees and spoke in two-word phrases.
Now after surgery and recovery, Brooklyn is in kindergarten. She has come a long way from the time when she was heavily medicated and lethargic, and has even become a spokesperson for the Epilepsy Foundation's Northern Illinois region.
Nelson remembered how her daughter's seizures were barely visible, but she had that sense as a mother that they were happening. "She would show facial twitches and her eyes would glaze over. She was on Valium all the time, had little energy, slept a lot, and missed so much preschool because of doctor visits and hospital stays,” Nelson said. (emphasis mine)
When it became clear that Brooklyn was not making progress, Jessica brought her daughter from Rockford to Comer Children's Hospital, where pediatricians discovered just how extensive the seizures were.
EEG scans showed Brooklyn was experiencing nearly constant epileptic activity every one to two seconds -- whether she was awake or asleep. The left hemisphere of her brain showed significant damage with little positive brain function. The injury was related to brain hemorrhaging that occurred when she was born 12 weeks premature.
Michael Kohrman, MD, a pediatric epileptologist and associate professor of pediatrics and neurology, said that after a child fails with two or three anti-seizure medications, there is little chance that another medication will work. However, he still desperately wanted to give Brooklyn relief.
Kohrman, along with David Frim, MD, PhD, chief of neurosurgery, reviewed her case and concluded that Brooklyn's brain would function better without the left hemisphere. The right hemisphere of Brooklyn's brain was healthy.
"The seizing tissue in Brooklyn’s brain had lost its capability to function productively, so disconnecting or removing it paradoxically allows the remaining brain to function better,” Frim said. “Once we identified Brooklyn as a candidate for surgery, we were able to move within two months to complete all testing and perform the surgery.”
Everyone involved recognized the gravity of the surgery and the need to support the family. Patti Ogden, APN, a nurse practitioner and epilepsy coordinator for the Children's Hospital, was instrumental in managing the many details related to Brooklyn's diagnostics, surgery and medical treatment--acting as a key point person for physicians and the girl's family. She educated Jessica about the diagnosis, procedure, and Brooklyn's subsequent care. “When we’re asking to cut away part of your child’s brain, it’s essential to gain the family’s trust,” Ogden said.
Lead surgeon Frim, along with the pediatric neurology team, performed a functional hemispherectomy: removing most of the brain’s left temporal and occipital lobes, and severing all neuronal connections from the left parietal and frontal lobes to the healthy right hemisphere and to other parts of Brooklyn’s body. Within a few weeks after surgery, her speech returned, her personality blossomed, and her motor skills gained strength.
Kohrman explained, “The left hemisphere of Brooklyn's brain may still be active electrically, but it can no longer communicate with, or harm, the rest of the brain.”
November 2008, two years after surgery, was a milestone and good indication that Brooklyn has gained remarkable function. After her medications were readjusted, Brooklyn's seizures are under control. She's even running now--something her family never thought would be possible. (emphasis mine)

All hemispherectomy patients suffer at least partial hemiplegia on the side of the body opposite the removed or disabled portion, and may suffer problems with their vision as well.This procedure is almost exclusively performed in children because their brains generally display more neuroplasticity, allowing neurons from the remaining hemisphere to take over the tasks from the lost hemisphere. This likely occurs by strengthening neural connections which already exist on the unaffected side but which would have otherwise remained small in a normally functioning, uninjured brain.^[1] One case, demonstrated by Smith & Sugar, 1975; A. Smith 1987, demonstrated that one patient with this procedure had completed college, attended graduate school and scored above average on intelligence tests. Studies have found no significant long-term effects on memory, personality, or humor after the procedure^[2], and minimal changes in cognitive function overall.^[3] Generally, the greater the intellectual capacity of the patient prior to surgery, the greater the decline in function. Most patients end up with mild to severe mental retardation, which is usually already present before surgery. When resectioning the left hemisphere, evidence indicates that some advanced language functions (i.e., higher order grammar) cannot be entirely assumed by the right side. The extent of advanced language loss is often dependent on the patient's age at the time of surgery. Wikipedia

This is the first time I came across with hemispherectomy as you can see by the sources and content of the post. I don't know what to think. As I said I hope it is a good news.
Hemispherectomy Foundation physicians.