1 To Ken Howell, the last four decades are a closed book.
2 A brain tumor caused such a catastrophic memory loss that he was left believing he was still a teenager in the 1950s. He thought modern cars looked like space ships, had never heard of the Kennedy assassination or the Beatles, and was shocked to learn that Elvis Presley was dead.
3 Worst of all, he did not even know that he was married or that he was the father of three grown children. With infinite care and patience, however, his wife Christine introduced 56-year-old Mr. Howell to life in the twenty- first century, and he fell in love with her all over again.
4 Mrs. Howell said, “We have both had good careers, we have worked hard, had three beautiful children and a lovely home,” she said. “The children had all left home and we were looking forward to a wonderful future together when Ken suddenly fell ill.
5 “He had a heavy cold for a while and severe headaches. Eventually things got so bad that he was sent to hospital, and in June of 1997 he slipped into a coma and was diagnosed as having cancer of the brain.”
6 Mrs. Howell stayed at his bedside for three months and, miraculously, he recovered. “But when he came out of the coma he did not know who I was,” she said. “It was the same with the children; they were strangers to him. When I took him home he was reluctant to
come with me but he did. When I told him I was his wife and he said, ‘You can’t be, you’re too old.’”
7 “Worst of all was not remembering me and the children because we had been so close. At first he thought I was nursing him and he had no idea who the children were. He would just send them away when they came to visit.”
8 “But softly, softly through videos and photographs, he has clawed back some of his past although he does find it all very upsetting, as you can imagine. One day I managed to get him to watch the video of Karen’s wedding. He gave her away and made speeches at all of his children’s weddings. Tears came running down his face. He said, ‘I want to get married again.’ He said he had to do it so he could have a memory of his marriage. It was so romantic.”
9 Mr. Howell said, “It has been a very hard three years, especially for Christine and the children. I have found it very hard not remembering things. I cannot remember meeting Christine or getting married or having children - all those wonderful moments in a man’s life.”
10 “I had to watch a video of man walking on the moon because I just refused to believe Christine when she told me it had happened. The cars people drive these days, the cost of everything, the way houses are, the way people dress and speak, music, color TV, video players and CDs - it’s all a bit strange to a man stuck in the late fifties.”
11 “I got to thinking that everything I was being told must be true, and I have fallen in love with Christine all over again. I cried with joy when she said she would marry me again.”
Adapted from The Sunday Telegraph.
Predicting