Not too long ago, someone who works at Linden Lab (I'll call her Leah) happened to meet a bright and energetic woman at a party. As they chatted, it came out that Leigh is a Linden staffer -- and in fact, used to provide in-world Second Life support (that's her avatar pictured here). And when the woman learned that, she proceeded to tell an amazing story:

"About 8 years ago, she had a series of small strokes," Leah recalls, "which caused her to lose oxygen to her brain and to be medically dead for a short time before being revived. That resulted in permanent brain damage, with a range of symptoms from intermittent poor fine-motor coordination to forgetfulness to slurred or incoherent speech."

As you'd imagine, this was devastating to the woman.

"She became rather socially isolated, because she couldn't work or drive," Leah goes on. "But one of her friends encouraged her to join Second Life and chat with him there when they couldn't meet in person."

And this is what happened after the woman began playing in Second Life: