Mora's 'Glass Half Full' Life

Before she was born, Mora Leeb had a stroke that destroyed the left side of her brain. Her best chance to thrive was to remove the damaged areas. But what kind of future could she have living with half a brain? At 16, she's defied expectations.

- EILEEN FINAN

Mora Leeb walks through the doorway on a recent October afternoon with an energetic bounce. She stretches out her left arm for a hug. "Hi!" she says with a bright smile, turning to a table in front of her where a loaf of chocolate chip pumpkin bread is wrapped in tinfoil.

Before cutting into the bread, which she baked for the occasion, she has a joke for her visitor: “What do you call a writer that doesn’t follow sentence structure?” she asks. Much of her speech is slow, deliberate, almost robotic. Then the punch line tumbles out: “A rebel without a clause!” She follows with a laugh, and soon she’s dealing cards for a round of UNO!, which she plays (and wins) while munching on pumpkin bread.

It’s a charming but otherwise unexceptional introduction to this 16-year-old from South Orange, N.J., until you understand the underlying triumph of the moment. Each ordinary action— walking, talking, reading a recipe, dealing cards, joking—has required painstaking practice to learn.