Via nj.com, a report from The Star-Ledger: Marooned in the moment: Rare case of amnesia leaves woman with no memory. This is a long, fascinating and disturbing article. It makes me wonder about countless other encephalitis survivors, like the kids in Uttar Pradesh. Excerpt:
Lonni Sue Johnson smiles, a blur of color in her pink blouse, green and blue hair ribbons and red socks peeking out from under her pants. The 62-year-old artist and musician excitedly greets her visitor.
"Hi, how are you, thank you for coming!" she says, exuding enthusiasm.
After a brief chat, she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Two minutes later she returns.
"Hi, how are you, thank you for coming!" she says with genuine pleasure.
The scene plays out the same way every time Lonni Sue leaves the room, because every time she returns, she is meeting her visitor all over again.
Ebullient and effusive, Lonni Sue Johnson doesn’t suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia, but rather global amnesia, the result of a devastating encephalitis that shredded her brain five years ago. When the virus was gone, so too was much of Lonni Sue. A brilliant, accomplished artist, she was that rarest of amnesia victims, unable to recall old memories (retrograde amnesia) and incapable of creating new ones (anterograde amnesia). Instead, encephalitis had set her adrift in time.
