How Human recovering with its own strengths - How to save the capacity?

During World War II, a marine lieutenant on Okinawa received four shell fragments that ripped through the whole left side of his brain, leaving him paralyzed on one side of his body, unable to read, write, talk, or even understand what was said to him. Two years later, he was in college, his paralysis largely overcome, and his ability to read, write, and talk restored. If necessary, the stomach can be removed completely-and has been to save the lives of cancer patients-with part of the large intestine transposed to become a kind of new stomach.

Eighty percent or more of the small intestine-the organ that normally does most of the work of digesting food-can be dispensed with. More than three quarters of the liver can be removed. One kidney, if necessary, can support life. So can one lung. Virtually every organ can be removed from the pelvic area, and life can go on. In fact, a super-radical operation has prolonged life in otherwise hopeless cases when cancer of the vulva, uterus, ovaries, vagina, bladder, or rectum has spread to adjacent organs. The operation involves removal of all organs, nerves, and blood vessels in the pelvic region; nothing is left there. The body has been known to survive extremes of hunger, thirst, temperature.

A South Barre, Massachusetts, seaman lived after floating on a raft at sea for 83 days without food and, during the last 12 days, without water. At Memorial Hospital, New York, a 100-pound woman survived a fever of 114 degrees, possibly the highest on record. At the other extreme, a young Chicago woman survived a body temperature of 60.8 degrees. On a November day some years ago, a young woman in Newcastle, England, gave birth to a child. The previous May she had been struck on the head by a log falling from a truck and had lost consciousness. She had remained unconscious for 169 days. For seven days, too, she had been in a state approaching hibernation when, as part of treatment, cooling had brought her temperature down to well below normal. 

She recovered in time to give birth without complications to a husky 8-pound son. But capable as the body is of demonstrating remarkable powers in emergencies, it is obviously the better part of wisdom to avoid the need. The purpose of this section is to consider the various systems of the body, to provide what we hope will be practical, useful insights into how they are organized and their functioning, how nature has provided for their protection, and what you can do to add to the protection. Total health represents the summation of the health and efficient functioning of the individual parts of the body. If lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, skin, and other organs and tissues work at maximum efficiency-and if, to this, is added a healthy mind free of excess nervous tension, anxiety, or depression-then the basis for full enjoyment of the body and of life is complete. The complex and wonderful human mind will be covered in the next section. The body, as you will see in this section, is no less complex and wonderful.