A Canadian woman who fell off a horse and awoke with a Scottish accent is now to write a book about how the bizarre accident changed her life.
Mother of two, Sharon Campbell-Rayment, 50, who runs a horse riding school in Ontario had never been to Scotland before the accident in 2008. She was knocked unconscious when she hit her head after she fell from her favorite horse Malachi and was left unable to talk for several days.
When her voice came back, it did so with an uncontrollable stutter that left her needing speech therapy.
Eight weeks of work regaining her voice worked - but Sharon was stunned to discover that she now spoke in a Scottish accent using words such as 'wee', 'grand', 'awright' and 'brilliant'.
Stunned doctors diagnosed foreign accent syndrome and told her that she was one of only 60 people around the world who suffer from the condition.
However, blessed with her new accent, Sharon resolved to discover why this had happened and began to look at her ancestors - who had come to Canada from Scotland over 100-years before.
In September 2010, she and her husband Doug traveled to Scotland to discover her family history and she has recently regained the confidence to ride her horses again.
'Doctors have said I might have the Scottish accent for the rest of my life, or it might just disappear overnight but I don’t think it’s going anywhere fast,' said Sharon to The Mirror newspaper of the UK.
'I could have ended up with any accent - French, Spanish, even Klingon - but I got Scottish. It was definitely a sign.
'The accident has completely turned my life around. I strongly believe it was a message telling me this is how things were meant to be.'
Sharon has now transformed her horse riding school into a retreat therapy center for people recovering from traumatic brain injuries and is now writing a book about her experiences.
'I wanted to write it for myself and to tell my story - but also to help other people going through a similar experience.
'Brain injuries can be hard for people to understand because there are no physical signs. But they change your life.
'It’s been like starting all over again. I’m a completely different person.'
一位加拿大女性在遭遇墜馬事故后,醒來時(shí)說話竟變成了純正的蘇格蘭腔調(diào),而她之前從未去過蘇格蘭。該女子打算寫本書以記錄這個(gè)奇特的經(jīng)歷。
莎倫·坎貝爾·雷蒙特今年50歲,是兩個(gè)孩子的母親。她平時(shí)經(jīng)營一家馬術(shù)學(xué)校,2008年,她在墜馬事故中傷到了頭部,曾一度昏迷不醒,而蘇醒之后又有若干天失去了語言能力。
后來,雖然她的語言能力有所恢復(fù),但是她留下了嚴(yán)重的口吃,繼續(xù)進(jìn)行更深入的治療。
又過了8周,奇跡出現(xiàn)了。莎倫重新獲得了語言能力,只是口音變成了蘇格蘭腔調(diào),并且講話時(shí)也會(huì)用很多蘇格蘭的俚語。
醫(yī)生們對莎倫的情況表示震驚,隨后診斷其為外國口音綜合征,并告訴她,全球也只有60人和她患有同樣的病癥。
盡管如此,托新口音的福,莎倫決心去發(fā)掘讓她口音變化的原因,從她的家族歷史開始調(diào)查,發(fā)現(xiàn)100多年前,她的祖先從蘇格蘭移居到了加拿大。
在2010年九月,莎倫和自己的丈夫道格一起遠(yuǎn)赴蘇格蘭去追蹤其祖先。而最近她又重拾信心回到了馬背上。
莎倫在接受英國鏡報(bào)的采訪時(shí)說:“醫(yī)生說我的蘇格蘭口音可能伴隨我的后半生,也可能一夜之間就消失了。但是我不認(rèn)為我的新口音會(huì)忽然就消失!
“我本有可能變成任何一種口音的,法語口音,西班牙口音或者英音,但是我偏偏變成了蘇格蘭口音。這絕對是上帝給我的一個(gè)信號。
“墜馬事故已經(jīng)徹底改變了我的生活。我絕對相信這是上天在告訴我事情本來的面貌。”
莎倫現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)將她的馬術(shù)學(xué)校變成了一個(gè)理療中心,專門為從創(chuàng)傷性腦損傷后需要恢復(fù)的人提供幫助。同時(shí),她還在寫一本書以記錄自己不平常的經(jīng)歷。
“我想要為我自己寫本書,同時(shí)也希望我的經(jīng)歷能夠幫助到那些和我有相似經(jīng)歷的人們。
“因?yàn)闆]有任何量化的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)可以衡量腦損傷,所以這種損傷很難被解釋清楚,但是它的確改變了我的生活。
“就像是我又重新活了一次,現(xiàn)在的我是一個(gè)完完全全不一樣的人! |