When Caitlin McOmish contracted mumps as a baby, the collateral damage was devastating.

Her parents, Lachie and Janie McOmish, were told their daughter had irreversible brain damage and would never lead a normal life.

Twenty-seven years later, Dr Caitlin McOmish has completed a PhD and become a promising neuroscientist, whose recently published research examines physical and mental stimulation on the brain.

Not only is she leading a richly fulfilling life, she is giving something back.

"I just think she's done it. She's fantastic," her mother said.

"It's absolutely extraordinary, really," her father adds.

With colleagues at the Howard Florey Institute in Melbourne, Dr McOmish recently discovered that so-called environmental enrichment, or physical and mental stimulation, reversed schizophrenia-like symptoms in mice.

It is a finding that has been published internationally, may one day pave the way for new treatments and in a remarkable coincidence, mirrors her personal experience.

"To go from being told that you'll never go to a normal school to being Dr Caitlin, yes, it's nice," she said.

"It's kind of funny, maybe subconsciously I was interested in this because of my history."

'Completely unresponsive'

Dr McOmish had been a perfectly normal baby until 13 months of age, when she contracted mumps from her older sister Elsbeth and then developed meningitis.

"She was critically ill for at least five days and her life was very definitely hanging in the balance," Mr McOmish said.

"She lost the ability to walk, she lost the ability to talk, and to cuddle her was like holding a bag of rice. She seemed to be completely unresponsive."

Caitlin McOmish suffered brain damage and was diagnosed with epilepsy.

For the next two years, she either screamed inconsolably for hours on end from headaches or would blank out, frozen in what are called absent seizures.

At times she had 30 seizures a day.

"It was absolutely devastating," her father said.

"I couldn't believe the situation. I should have known that mumps was likely to cause problems for Caitlin. I just didn't think."

Caitlin was placed on medication but her parents were told she would never be normal and there was little they could do.

The healing process

It was a prognosis her mother, a Canberra school teacher, and her father, a science graduate and defence expert, refused to accept.

So they invented an intense physical and mental exercise program to try to heal her brain, beginning with daily swimming lessons, gross motor exercises and listening to classical music.

Then as she improved, they added lots of puzzles and educational toys.

Here and when living in India, they sent her to bilingual schools where many lessons were in French.

Mr McOmish even started talking in riddles to stimulate her thinking.

"One such game was to answer a previous question," he said.

"She'd come in and say, 'here's mummy?' and you'd say nothing and she'd come back five minutes later and say, 'what's for dinner?' and you'd say, 'she's outside'."

Her parents joke that it was a bit about helping her and a bit about torturing her, and Dr McOmish agrees.

"I remember a deep sense of frustration," she said.

"It was so, so frustrating because you're a little kid and you just want a straight answer from your parents.

"In retrospect, obviously it was a bit of fun and games but at the time, oh, I could have killed him."

Caitlin's seizures gradually reduced.

It has been five years since she has had one and she no longer takes medication.

"We don't know if that was what we were doing or if that was just her coming out of the situation," her mother said.

Her father says that after all, it was not a scientific experiment.

"We were simply working on the basis of some form of made-up treatment without any particular scientific basis to guarantee us results," he said.

"That's why Caitlin's research is so interesting."

Triumph

Dr Tony Hannan, who heads the Howard Florey laboratory, says Dr McOmish's recovery fits with what his team is discovering about the difference environmental enrichment has on brain disorders.

"I think her personal story is extraordinary and I think she personally illustrates this extraordinary plasticity of the brain," he said.

"The brain has this innate capacity to repair itself, so if you give these mice increased mental and physical activity, there are particular areas in the brain where there's a boost in the production of brain cells.

"The other thing that happens is that you get a spectacular increase in the number of connections between brain cells, so the wiring of the brain changes."

Regardless of the scientific integrity of the Caitlin McOmish experiment, the result is undoubtedly a triumph of parental love and dedication.

"I think any parent does all they can for their children," Janie McOmish said.

"I think what you've got to think about is never wrapping a child up in cotton wool, and extending them as much as you can."

Mr McOmish agrees.

"I'd say to any parents, especially parents with children with brain damage, never give up hope," he said.

"There's always possibilities."