Hello I am new here , but I specifically came online to look up this subject . I read an article about this case about five years ago. I read that people can be born with just the brain stem and still function ,they have fluid in the brain area called Hydrocephalus but that their life span tends to be shorter. I do not think that this is impossible because it has been shown that others like this have been working and functioning and operating under normal circumstances. I have also found this small portion of a talk given by Professor Keith Kendrick in which there is small amount of brain , yet as can be seen from the MRI there is no brain matter in most of the cavity . In this case the man is a 44 year old "French civil servant in the tax office, with a wife and two children. He was not considered physically or mentally disabled and his development and his socialization were normal."
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8R71Q8_0y0>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8R71Q8_0y0>