- Here’s an all-new horror scenario we definitely didn’t need.
The common cold comes with a slew of nasty and unpleasant symptoms. A runny nose, sore throat, cough, fatigue, loss of appetite, total memory loss…
Yeah, we didn’t know about that last one, either. But that’s what happened to a UK woman.
Claire Muffett-Reece caught a cold from her son, and proceeded to fall into a coma. When she finally woke up, the last 20 years had been wiped away from her mind.
She recognized her family members, but that was it. Everything else — birthdays, anniversaries, getting married, or having kids — is no longer there.
Muffett-Reece knows these things have happened, but has no idea how.
It Began with a Cold
Muffett-Reece’s living nightmare began in 2021. The 43-year-old journalist and mother of two managed to catch a stubborn cold from her youngest son, Max.
For two weeks, Muffett-Reece tried dealing with the cold, but things weren’t looking good. Her husband, Scott, said that she kept getting more and more lethargic with each passing day.
“And then she went to bed the night before Father’s Day. In the morning, I couldn’t wake her up,” Scott, 44, said according to LADbible.
Scott called the paramedics, who promptly ferried his wife to the hospital. The situation didn’t improve when she got there — Muffett-Reece started having seizures.
Doctors placed her on a ventilator. However, the woman’s condition didn’t begin to improve.
“I was hallucinating, quite delusional at that stage – which is quite normal if you’ve been on a ventilator,” Muffett-Reece said.
“I thought there was wasps in the ceiling or flies were getting in my ears. It was quite strange.”
Muffett-Reece stayed at the hospital for a week before the decision was made to transfer her to Royal London Hospital for more intensive care. By that point, she had slipped into a coma.
The woman was out of it for 16 days, until at long last she woke up. Soon after, she, her family, and the doctors realized that she’d lost her memory.
‘It’s Horrible, I’m Not Going to Lie’
According to Muffet-Reece, her memory isn’t completely gone. She remembers her family’s faces and names, but any events surrounding are at best a faint blur.
“I can’t remember how he [Scott] proposed, getting married, falling pregnant, having the birth of my children, any holidays with friends, or anything like that,” Muffett-Reece explained.
Family events aren’t the only thing the woman has forgotten. She’s also blissfully unaware of any global incidents, like 9/11 — or the COVID pandemic.
“Scott had to tell me we had this COVID lockdown. Luckily, I forgot all about homeschooling! I don’t think I would have enjoyed that,” she mused.
Muffett-Reece does get occasional flashes of clarity, faintly remembering certain details about her life. But for the most part, it’s all gone.
“It’s horrible, I’m not going to lie. I mean, you get people constantly saying to you, ‘Do you remember when…?’” Muffett-Reece said.
Of course, she doesn’t remember. People can show her a photo of something she participated in, but she’ll have no memory of it happening.
The memory loss isn’t the only weird symptom Muffett-Reece has. She also says that her senses sometimes go into override — for example, when she got out of the hospital, she could smell her medicine across the house.
Unfortunately for Muffett-Reece, there’s little hope of her ever regaining her memories. Doctors told her if she were to remember her life again, she already would’ve.
A Deceptive Disease
But how on Earth could a common cold destroy Muffett-Reece’s memories? Well, as you may have already guessed, her condition isn’t due to just a common cold.
Instead, the doctors who diagnosed her determined that while she may have initially had a cold, the illness advanced to encephalitis. It is an uncommon but life-threatening condition where the brain becomes inflamed.
While scientists aren’t always clear on what causes encephalitis, it can stem from viral or bacterial infections. So, it’s likely that the cold bugs Muffett-Reece caught started wreaking havoc on her brain.
The most terrifying thing about encephalitis — which probably contributed to Muffet-Reece’s memory loss — is that it begins with flu-like symptoms. Had her family identified the symptoms correctly, Muffett-Reece might’ve gotten the treatment she needed in time.
But who could blame them? After all, would you make the connection between a mild fever and a deadly brain condition?
We sure wouldn’t. And we’re now dreading the next time we catch a cold.