A 17-year-old in York was left with serious amnesia that caused him to forget his entire life every 24 hours after suffering a head injury during a rugby match.
After March 27, Sam Tai’s memory began wiping itself clean every 24 hours, just like Drew Barrymore’s character in 50 First Dates.
According to The Daily Mail, Sam was initially diagnosed with a concussion after being tackled during a rugby match, but doctors soon realized his injury was far more serious when he woke up next to his girlfriend that night.
“Who are you? Get out of my bed,” Sam began screaming at his girlfriend, 18-year-old Ellie Watson, when he saw her in his bed.
Doctors quickly diagnosed Sam with anterograde amnesia, meaning his long-term memory was gone and he couldn’t form any new memories.
For the next two months, Sam’s memory wiped itself clean every single time he went to bed.
“Every morning I told him he had a brother. I would say, 'You've a 20-year-old brother, Dan, who is a rugby player.' He'd say ‘Wow that's cool!' and his face would light up,” his mom recalled. “But the next day he couldn't remember Dan and needed to be told again.”
Although he would occasionally remember random memories here and there, Sam essentially had no recollection of the first 17 years of his life.
It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago, when Sam and his brother were preparing to visit their father in Sri Lanka, that he finally began to remember his life.
“I knew what I had done, my normal day to day movements, I remembered being at home and different conversations I'd had,” Sam said. “I flew to Sri Lanka on the Thursday, then on Friday I messaged my mum saying 'Everything has come back.'”
Within the next few days, Sam’s memory gradually started coming back and he was soon able to retain new information.
“At first, I knew there was still the risk of losing my memory again so I was cautious,” he said. “Now I realise that it's back for good.”
“I can even remember the time that I had amnesia, all the different places I have lived, and I have all my childhood memories back,” he added.
