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Teenager who suffered amnesia and forgot her entire life regains her memory - after hug from little brother

Health & Science

A teenager who suffered amnesia and forgot her entire life regained her memory - after a hug from her little brother.

Chloe Inman, 16, suffered total memory loss nearly two years ago after suffering serious side effects from a lumbar puncture to remove fluid from her spine.

Doctors had tried everything but devastated Chloe was still not able to recognise her family, friends or understand who she was.

But one day at home her brother Caleb, then six, walked into her room and gave her a cuddle - and miraculously her memories came flooding back.

Chloe said: "I had forgotten my entire life, which was absolutely devastating. I literally lost everything.

"Mum and dad would get very upset as I didn't recognise them and it was hard for them to deal with it.

"We had tried everything. I would look at family photographs and I knew it was me in them but I just couldn't remember anything about why I was there.

"It totally ruined me. I could not go back to school and I lost my family and friends and did not know who I was. It was dreadful.

"It sounds weird and is hard to explain but the first thing I remember was my little brother Caleb.

"After that hug all my family memories came back - every last one of them."

Chloe had always suffered bad headaches but it was not until just before her 15th birthday that medical staff diagnosed her with Idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

She suffered the severe memory loss after doctors performed a lumbar puncture and found she had twice as much fluid in her spine than usual.

Chloe, who lives in Plymouth, Devon with parents Julie, 41, Daryl, 42, sister Ellie, nine and Caleb, now seven, said she was awake throughout the procedure.

She said: "It was like a switch was flicked and all my memories just disappeared.

"I did not recognise my mum or my family. It was a weird feeling in my stomach as I felt like I knew them from somewhere but I couldn't think where.

"I immediately thought my mum must have been important as she did not leave my side through the whole ordeal."

Chloe was sent home from hospital to try to jog her memories before the hug from her brother brought all her family memories back.

Now she studies performing arts at City College in Plymouth, Devon, and also volunteers at St John Ambulance. Her dream is to work as an army medic.

She said: "It's quite scary looking back on it now. It did ruin my year and really my whole entire secondary school life.

"My pain was ignored for so many years. My consultant tested me for quite a lot of things and ran out of what to give me to help."

Chloe is now on a drug called acetazolamide to help reduce the fluid in her back. Fortunately she hasn't suffered from any headaches now for a year.

She explained: "My condition hasn't been properly diagnosed or treated yet because they don't really know what causes it.

"But they know that if it comes back to perform a lumbar puncture as a quick solution so this could all happen again. I am worried that I could lose all memory again."

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