Stuck in Time

Following two car crashes, Michelle Philpots lost her short-term memory in 1997; she remembers most things about her life up to 1994, but nothing beyond that.  Philpots' husband has to remind her daily that they were married 13 years ago, sometimes even having to get a photo album to prove it.  She keeps Post-It notes around her house to remind her of things she knows she will not remember the next day.

Michelle Philpots suffers from anterograde amnesia, a condition which prevents the patient from creating new memories or recalling recent ones.  She suffered brain injuries in a 1985 crash, and again in a 1990 collision.  She appeared to recover but later began having seizures and forgetting things.  While rare, anterograde amnesia does exist.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010