(removed at request)
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The other day I happened across this 25-ish year old documentary I had seen at the time it was first broadcast. Ramachandran has been a phenomenal teacher, explainer, and sleuth around brain injury and treatment. He is still at UCSD and gives TED talks. He invented the mirror box, which has helped amputees lower phantom-limb pain. Fascinating stuff.
Brain is such a strange and powerful part on the body. My cousin had a Vespa accident as she was 25 years old; she also hit her head against the pavement. She experienced also total amnesia when she woke up two days after- pretty scary, as she didnāt recognize anybody. She recovered quickly ā but we (and she) realized, that there was a āholeā on her memory; she didnāt remember anything that had happened between her 12 - 18 years of ageā¦ it was sooo bizarre! At the beginning, it freaked her out, then it annoyed herā¦and then she enjoyed re-learning that part of her life, through photos, visiting the places again, and talking with the friends and acquitances of that time.
My ex had also total amnesia that lasted almost 2 weeks ā no accident involvedā¦ he had a burn-out at work, and literally passed out as he was presenting at the board meeting. When he woke up at the hospital, the day after, he didnāt recognize anybody. He recovered fully, but it was a slow and.. life changing (to the better) experience. 
So, sometimes these things happen for a good end 
And some people wake up with special abilitiesā¦and even speaking with strange accents! ā usually is ātemporaryā ā this is no joke Foreign Accent Syndrome in a Patient with Posturemic Encepalopathy - PMC
I hope it does not happen to your hubby!
Here there is a classical snl skit on that one, to hopefully, make you smile @Cherub
I remember years ago reading of a case when a girl woke up and was speaking French. The injury seemed to unlock the language skills learned many years before which hadnāt been used for years.
Iām just reading a book based on a true story along exactly those lines.
An old lady living in Guernsey has a stroke and suddenly starts speaking in French much to the surprise of her entire family. It turns out she was working with the French resistance during the war. A whole life that nobody knew anything about until the stroke unlocked the memories.
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I had a neighbor last year who fell down the stairs and could only speak French
He recovered his languages in a couple of weeks but never got his health back
He was 86 and died aftet 3 or 4 moths
Yeah. Falling is no joke. Two of my elderly neighbours died from complications after a simple fall.
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Up to fifty percent of old people* (according to some data), die within six months of breaking a hip. A broken leg can be pretty serious too.
Itās the complications, as Phil said, mainly due to the immobility.
*Apparently over fifty!
A women from the UK had a severe migraine and then spoke with a Chinese accent rather than her West Country accent.
She never got her old accent back.
She even had people telling her to go back to her own country.
After my concussion, I had hoped Iād be able to speak perfect German but it was not to beā¦
Tom! donāt be such a jinx! it is 24+ months, not 6. In any case, thatās deviating from the original posting. As far as I know Cherubās OH was on his bike, and he didnāt have a hip fractureā¦
I was replying to Philās comments which also had no connection to Cherubās OH but they do align with the thread title.
I think the general point about hip/leg fractures in elderly people is that they are very serious. in terms of mortality rather than just in possibly life-changing as in younger people.
Some reports show that up to 50% of patients with hip fracture die within six months and many of those who survive do not recover their baseline independence and function.
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Since watching this heart-breaking documentary, I have religiously worn helmets during cycling and skiing. https://www.bbcselect.com/watch/louis-theroux-a-different-brain/
I really donĀ“t think Cherub needs all this right now?
Edit: the thread was just separated from Cherubās thread. Thanks
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Itās Brainweek in Switzerland this week - raising awareness of protecting the brain from trauma:
Translation:
For one week, everything in Switzerland revolves around the brain: Brainweek takes place this week (March 16-19).
However, raising awareness about this vital organ must take place all year round ā that is exactly what the prevention campaign āProtect your brain ā Protect your life!ā by FRAGILE Suisse does.
Traumatic brain injury: frequent, serious ā and often preventable
Every year, around 20,000 people are treated for traumatic brain injuries in Swiss hospitals; 5,000 of these are moderate to severe. The consequences are often serious ā physical, psychological, and social. In people under 45, traumatic brain injuries are among the most frequent causes of death. They are caused by falls, traffic accidents, sports or work-related accidents, and blows.
Through targeted prevention, these numbers ā and the associated costs to the healthcare system ā could be reduced many times over.
Wearing a helmet protects ā but itās still not implemented enough.
Helmets therefore play an indispensable role in protecting the brain. According to a 2024 survey by the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu), wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injury in bicycle accidents by approximately 50% and the risk of serious head injury by up to 70%. Nevertheless, in 2025, only slightly less than half (56%) of cyclists in Switzerland wore a helmet. This demonstrates that public awareness of the risks and potential lifelong consequences ā particularly for short bike rides ā is still insufficient.
When life changes suddenly
As the national contact point for people with brain injuries and their families, FRAGILE Suisse is very familiar with the consequences that those affected by a traumatic brain injury have to contend with. These can include physical, cognitive, or psychological impairments ā as in the case of Stefanie F., who suffered a traumatic brain injury and a brain hemorrhage after a bicycle accident without a helmet and has since suffered from concentration difficulties and sensory overload. For this reason, she can no longer work in the hospitality industry.
āI have to learn to welcome the new Stefanie ā even if she canāt do everything like she used to.ā
Nationwide awareness campaign for increased prevention
FRAGILE Suisse is launching the prevention campaign āProtect your brain ā protect your life!ā, which will focus on helmet use from March to May. The aim is to raise public awareness about brain protection and to sustainably promote preventative behavior through various measures. This also includes specific activities for construction workers, who are particularly exposed to the risk of traumatic brain injuries in the workplace.