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Lad Suffers From Real-Life '50 First Dates' As His Memory Wipes Every Evening

Lad Suffers From Real-Life '50 First Dates' As His Memory Wipes Every Evening

Doctors don't know when his memory will return.

Mel Ramsay

Mel Ramsay

After suffering from concussion during a rugby game, 17-year-old Sam Tai has almost totally lost his memory.

He has been diagnosed with global amnesia, so for the last six weeks he's woken up every morning not 'knowing anything'.

However, there is a silver lining as doctors are confident that he will regain his memory. Sadly, they don't know when that will be.

The incident took place on March 27 during a junior rugby union game. His mum, Jane, said that he had performed some 'big tackles' but had started to look 'unsteady on his feet'. He was later carried off the pitch.


She continued: "He passed his pitch side concussion test and seemed fine, but then later that night he lost all of his memory.

"On the Monday he had a scan, but it looked fine. I took him back the following Monday to see the GP.

"She spoke to a neurologist and he was taken for an MRI straight away.

"That didn't show anything either. He is due to see the neurologist again this Friday."

Despite the fact he can't remember how to get home, some memories have stayed with him. For example, he is a keen karate enthusiast and can still remember some of the routines. He has a few 'random memories', but sadly can't really remember anything 'from birth'. He can form some sporadic memories of people that he's been in close contact with. For example, his girlfriend, Emily.

Jane continued: "When he first wakes up in the morning, he really doesn't know anything. Social media has been brilliant for him.

"All his friends have been messaging him. He can look back through his history and see who they are and what he likes.

"He didn't know what music he liked, so it helped him there.

"By halfway through the day, he knows a lot more than he did when he started. The cycle then starts again the next day.

"He can't really go to college at the moment. It's all quite overwhelming for him.

"He goes once a week for a couple of hours just to sit in his class, but he can't really remember his lessons."


Credit: SWNS

Social media has clearly helped him quite a bit, with a recent video of Sam performing karate moves going viral.

She added: "Sam is a black belt in karate. His instructor, Dave Cartawick, came up to visit him last Thursday to see if he could help.

"They were just messing around, but Sam ended up doing one of the katas, which has 64 moves. It was amazing.

"I put a video of it on Facebook and it has already had 50,000 hits.

"It has sparked a lot of interest. People seem to be really interested about how he manages his life."

Hopefully, he will be back to his old self soon. It's hard to imagine what he goes through every morning but we wish him the best of luck.

Words by Mel Ramsay

Featured image credit: SWNS

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