A man who was left with a 30-second-memory after he contracted a rare virus has one specific and important thing that he always remembers.
Clive Wearing was a musicologist and was working as a renowned music conductor when he was suddenly struck down with an illness back in 1985.
The British man was diagnosed with something called herpesviral encephalitis and the disease destroyed the memory-forming parts of his brain.
He ended up suffering from one of the most extreme cases of amnesia that has ever been recorded, with a memory span of just seven to 30 seconds long.
Speaking to Real Stories, Wearing revealed: “I know what it’s like to be dead now. Day and night, the same thing. No difference between dreams or anything like that.
Advert
“No sense at all. The brain has been totally inactive. No dreams, no thoughts of any kind.”
However, despite not remembering anything for more than half a minute at a time, there is still one important detail that Wearing has never forgotten - his love for his wife, Deborah.
Often writing in a diary to try to remember his day, there is a similar entry that Wearing will put in.
Advert
He writes: “I love darling Deborah forever”.
Keeping the diary is frustrating for Wearing, as he usually forgets what he has written by the time he’s finished the entry and will start over again.
He also struggles to trust what he wrote, often adding: “Now I am awake”.
However, there are some things that Wearing hasn’t forgotten, including his ability to play the piano.
Advert
His family enjoy listening to him sit at the piano and play a tune, even though he won’t remember doing so.
He also knows that he has children but cannot remember any of their names.
Because of his severe memory loss, Wearing lives in an assisted facility so that he can receive the support he needs.
Advert
Speaking to The Guardian, Deborah said: “I realized that we are not just brain and processes. Clive had lost all that and yet he was still Clive.
“Even when he was at his worst, most acute state, he still had that huge overwhelming love… for me. That was what survived when everything else was taken away.”
In a book she wrote with the Amnesia Association to give the NHS advice on how to rehabilitate people with brain injuries, Deborah described her connection with her husband as “a bond that runs deeper than conscious thought”.