A supermarket manager had his entire memory wiped from birth up to the age of 16 after he suffered a brain injury.
Antony Holly suddenly fainted at train station on his commute home to Romford, Essex, after feeling he was suffering from heat stroke.
His family then rushed him to hospital, where doctors said he was suffering from meningitis, sepsis, and a severe sinus infection. He had to have six lumbar punctures to try and identify the infection causing the problem.
The infections lead him to develop encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain that wiped his memory.
The disease had affected him so badly he couldn’t remember his mum, sister, nieces, friends – or even his own name.
Normal daily activities like showering, washing his hair and going to the toilet were a mystery to him as he simply couldn’t recollect how to do them.
Today, he still has no recollection of family holidays, his school teachers, his favourite childhood toys, birthdays or sitting exams before turning 16.
‘For me it has been hard not being able to remember things. People treat you differently,’ Anthony said.
‘You take your memories for granted. Now I don’t have any, it’s about taking life and living it. Have fun and don’t moan and groan about things.’
Antony, 22, was at work as a manager at the John Lewis store in London’s Oxford Street on June 16 last year when he began to feel unwell.
It was one of the hottest days of the year and he initially put it down to heatstroke, but standing in one of the store’s chillers didn’t help and he had to go home early.
However during his commute back to his home in Romford, Essex, he collapsed at Liverpool Street Station.
Antony said: ‘Losing your memory is like watching a film of your own life, with you as the main character, but I don’t remember anything. It’s very frustrating.
‘People tell me things I’ve done, and remind me of lovely memories they have of me, but I haven’t a clue what they’re on about.
His family were called into the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, thinking he’d simply collapsed in the high temperatures, but as soon as they arrived they were ushered into a family room and told it was unlikely he would make it.
He was suffering meningitis, sepsis, a severe sinus infection and had to have six lumbar punctures to try and identify the infection causing the problem.
Because of the infections, Antony developed encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, which severely affected his memory.
Encephalitis is caused by an infection invading the brain or through the immune system attacking the brain in error.
There are 6,000 cases in the UK every year, many of which are fatal. Sufferers can be left permanently disabled.
He was in hospital for a month and couldn’t remember who he was until the second week.
His mum Lorraine, 50, kept asking him if he remembered her and it was only when he’d been in hospital about ten days that he retorted with: ‘You’re my mother, unfortunately!’
Antony’s sister Danielle, 25, has two daughters, Libby, six, and Chloe, one. One of Antony’s greatest upsets was that he couldn’t remember his two beloved nieces.
‘In the hospital, my mum was on my bed and on the phone to my sister and my nieces wanted to say hello and I spoke to them,’ Antony said.
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