A woman in the United States has come forward with an extraordinary medical condition that has left doctors baffled for over a decade. Born with only half a brain, Michelle Mack has revealed her unusual medical condition in an attempt to raise awareness of people with special needs.

Michelle has lived with half a brain all of her life but it’s only been in the last ten years that; cognitive experts have been able to give her an insight into the reasons for her learning difficulties and frustrated behaviour.

Michelle explains that her formative years were difficult. She would often feel angry and couldn’t understand why some tasks seemed hard to master. On the outside no one would be able to tell from Michelle’s behaviour that she has only half a brain. She both talks and walks normally and even graduated high school.

But for her parents, Carol and Wally Mack, the realisation that their daughter was in someway different has been a worry from the day she was born. Without any understanding of the condition both Michelle’s parents found finding support and help hard.

"Michelle didn't have cerebral palsy, I knew that. She didn't have Down's syndrome, I knew that. I had no place to turn”, Carol says.

The problem was finally identified by Dr. Jordan Grafman after a desperate bid by the family to find answers.

Doctor’s believe that Michelle's brain has rewired itself. The remaining half took over some of the essential functions that are normally done by the left, such as speaking and reading. That rewiring, however, came at a cost.

“Michelle has fairly normal language abilities, certainly basic language abilities, she can construct a sentence, she can understand instructions, she can find words when she's talking, but actually she has some trouble in some aspects of visual-spatial processing," said Dr. Grafman.

Michelle Mack is now 37 and continues to live with her mother and father. Whilst Michelle works and pays rent, her parents know that the brain damage she has suffered will mean they have to care for their daughter for many years to come.

Michelle realises she'll need help for the rest of her life but wanted to tell her story to make it clear that she is not helpless.