Every morning, this 16-year-old girl woke up, still thinking the date was June 11, 2019
Having to relive the same few hours every day sounds like a living nightmare, but for an Illinois teen it was no dream.
College student Riley Horner suffered a traumatic concussion while at a school dance, and despite initially her family being told by doctors that she was okay and subsequently discharged from hospital, it became clear that the then 16-year-old was far from okay.
Riley, now aged 21, had woken up every morning since June 11, 2019, under the impression that it was still June 11, 2019, and that she had a big dance to get ready for that night.
The partygoer was enjoying her time on the dance floor when all of a sudden, a teen boy who was crowd surfing came crashing down on her.
Within just a few hours of leaving the hospital, Riley’s health rapidly deteriorated as she had a series of 30 to 45 seizures, mom Sarah explained.
The following morning, it came apparent to Riley’s family that something was up as she couldn’t recall any of the traumatic events that unfolded the previous night – in fact, as far as she was aware, she had to get ready for the dance as it was still June 11.
Things only got worse from there, in the days that followed her memory began resetting to that same date every two hours
In the days that followed, her memory kept resetting to that date every two hours.
When she would realise that’s not the date, she would go to her phone and find countless updates on her Notes app to fill her in on everything that’s happened since the accident.
“I have notes on my phone, when I got up this morning there’s like thousands of notes,” she told Fox News in an interview.
It turned out that Riley had suffered a severe concussion that other assessments had missed, and had a TBI (traumatic brain injury), affecting her ability to focus, prioritise and store information.
When Riley finally got that diagnosis from post-concussion specialists Cognitive FX, they were able to put together a plan to help her improve her memory.
Within just one week of treatment, Riley started making her first new memories – though she still hasn’t been able to recall anything that happened between 11 June 2019 and December 2019.
In the most recent update from her mom on the Facebook page Help Riley Remember over the summer, it was revealed that Riley will be a senior nursing major later this year and she spent her summer interning in Med Surge at a local hospital.
Riley is still on medicine for her seizures, and will probably never be her old self again, but her family haven’t given up hope and continue to search for a treatment that will work for Riley.
Though it’s been costly, Sarah says it’s been ‘worth every penny’ if it means helping her daughter get her life back.