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Jessica SharmanBritish woman lost memory due to frontal lobe epilepsy
Country:
 Great Britain |
Content:
Biography of Jessica Sharman
Jessica Sharman, a 19-year-old woman from the UK, suffered from memory loss due to frontal lobe epilepsy. Despite her condition, she fell in love again with her "completely unfamiliar" boyfriend, whom she couldn't remember anything about their past relationship. Her story resembles the movies "The Vow" and "50 First Dates".
Jessica, also known as Jess, was on her way to work on the subway when she experienced a series of seizures that erased her memory. However, she was able to fall in love with her boyfriend again, who passionately convinced her to give their relationship another try. After the unfortunate incident, Jess couldn't remember her own name and didn't recognize herself in the mirror. She had to "get to know" her family all over again and was determined to end her romantic relationship with someone she had no recollection of. However, Richard Bishop, her 25-year-old boyfriend, convinced her to give him a second chance, which he fully took advantage of.
Jess was diagnosed with frontal lobe epilepsy in 2010, and she was told that the consequence of her severe seizures was retrograde amnesia. As an employee in a recruitment agency in Kent, Jessica said, "My world had fallen apart in one day. I met strangers who claimed to be my family. They were talking about things that meant nothing to me. Not knowing who I was, I felt so lonely. I didn't know my strengths and weaknesses, my likes and dislikes."
After the seizures on March 3, 2016, Jess had to quit her job, rediscover herself, and reintroduce herself to her parents, 49-year-old Lisa and 56-year-old Harry. By that time, Sharman had been dating Richard Bishop, a recruitment specialist, for about five months. She said, "I was told that Richard was with me on the subway and accompanied me to the office. At that time, I didn't realize what was happening. Temporary memory loss was a common occurrence after seizures."
"But after an hour or so, I saw a woman running towards me. And I had no idea who she was." Jess added, "It was my mom, but I just stared at her blankly."
Lisa, who worked in retail, convinced her daughter that they were related. To prove it, her mother showed her shared photographs on her phone. Jess said, "I had no idea what I looked like, so I had to look at my reflection to believe that it was me in the pictures. Before that, I just didn't want to get into the car."
"Feeling my fear, my mom put her hand on my knee to comfort me. But I pushed her away. That gesture from a 'stranger' felt too intimate to me."
When her parents called her by name, she didn't react because she didn't know what she was called. She struggled to remember her relationship with Richard, and seeing him for the first time after the seizure was extremely difficult for her.
"My parents left me alone with him, and it just infuriated me," she confessed. "He was a stranger to me."
"Richard took me to what he claimed was our favorite park, but I couldn't even walk beside him. When he held my hand, I pulled away."
After a couple of weeks, Jessica decided to break up with Richard. She said, "I couldn't understand how we could be together. He remained an absolute stranger to me."
"He was crushed but insisted that we could regain everything we had."
"With his passion, he convinced me that he would take care of me, so I agreed to continue dating him, but I didn't make any promises."
Eventually, Sharman fell in love with her boyfriend again. Today, her only fear is that she might lose her memory again.
She said, "Doctors confirmed that the series of seizures caused my memory loss. They said it could take six months for my memory to return, but there might be no improvements at all."
"Due to my condition, there's a 50% chance that I might experience something similar in the future. It's just terrifying."
In October 2016, the six-month period of amnesia passed, but as Jess admitted, her memory of past events never returned.
"It's hard to explain how it feels to lose 19 years of your life," Sharman said. "I try not to think about it because it won't lead to anything. Similarly, all my worries about what might happen to my memory in the future are useless."
"At times, I briefly forget things at work, such as who I just spoke to on the phone or why I entered a room."
"But I've come back to life, thanks to my family and, of course, Richard. I feel lucky that he knew me well enough to stay with me, even when I saw him as a stranger."
"Now he practically lives in my house, and our relationship grows stronger every day."
"The past year has shown me that I can overcome whatever is in store for me in the future. But for now, I want to move forward and create new memories."
