Imagine somebody pressing a reset button on your life every two hours, how would you feel? There is one person who does know how it feels and it’s college student Riley Horner.
She suffered a traumatic concussion while at a school dance because a boy who was crowd surfing fell on her. Doctors dismissed her case, claiming that she was normal but little did they know, her life would be far from normal.
Everyday is June 11, 2019
Embed from Getty ImagesFor the past five years, Horner’s memory is stuck on June 11, 2019. She had a party that night that she had to get ready for and she went and had fun there until a teen boy who was crowd surfing crashed down on her.
Her status on that day
Embed from Getty ImagesHorner’s health rapidly deteriorated as she had between 30 and 45 seizures, her mum, Sarah, explained. The next day, Horner woke up not remembering anything about the trauma she suffered. In her mind, she had to get ready for the school dance because it was still June 11.
Things kept getting worse
Embed from Getty ImagesIn the days that followed, her memory kept resetting every two hours. That means that every two hours, her memory gets wiped clean and she’s back on June 11. She would later realize that the day wasn’t June 11 through her notes and it would leave her confused.
The doctors misdiagnosed
Embed from Getty ImagesTurns out that the previous doctors missed that Horner had a severe concussion through their assessments. In addition to this, she had a TBI (traumatic brain injury), which affected her ability to focus, prioritize, and store information, hence, the vicious cycle she is stuck in.
A new ray of hope for Horner
Embed from Getty ImagesHorner and her mum have been to countless doctors but to no avail, they always got little to no answers. However, Cognitive FX gave them hope as post-concussion specialists finally diagnosed her condition and formulated a treatment plan to get her going.
The reason behind Horner’s loop
Embed from Getty ImagesDr. Mark Allen, a clinical neuroscientist at Cognitive FX and Riley’s doctor, explained to Fox News what happened. He said that the initial scans showed that she had a concussion and Dr. Allen revealed that there was another present issue.
The other reason
Embed from Getty ImagesDr. Allen told Fox News that there is a disconnect in the way Horner’s brain receives oxygen. He explains, “What happens is that little communication system breaks down, and it’s fixable and it’s really a minor issue, but it leads to major problems.”
Dr. Allen believes the problem is fixable
Embed from Getty ImagesDr. Allen continued and explained, “The ultimate goal is to get the system back online.” He believes that they “can coax the system back into working order,” through a combination of different physical and mental therapies that will hopefully reboot Horner’s brain.
The therapies Horner is undergoing
Embed from Getty ImagesHorner is undergoing and doing exercises that rely on coordination, strenuous exercise, and memory. These exercises are used in a specific sequence for set amounts of time. The end result is cognitive rehabilitation and rebuilding the connections in the brain.
The Horners are content
Embed from Getty ImagesNormally, patients do one week of treatment but Horner had to do two. Nevertheless, she is very happy as she told Fox News, “I’m very hopeful that the ‘now’ will come back and I can make memories and I can move on from this.” Her mother thinks it’s worth every penny to see her daughter get her life back.
