Illinois teen claims everyday is June 11 and her memories get erased every two hours: 'I'm really scared'
MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS: An Illinois teen wakes up every morning thinking that it is June 11 -- the day she was accidentally kicked in the head.
That was the day that everything changed for Riley Horner of Kirkwood, according to WQAD. It was the day she was kicked in the head by a student who was "crowd surfing" during a dance at the Future Famers of America (FFA) convention.
As a result, Riley began suffering repeated seizures, and now has a memory that lasts all of two hours. Every morning when she wakes up, her first feeling is one of confusion because it is not June 11. "I have a calendar on my door and I look and it's September and I'm like 'Woah,'" she said.
A former athlete and scholar, Riley now has to leave herself detailed notes, take photos of them on the phone, and then sets an alarm for every two hours so she can brush up on what she has forgotten.
She also has to carry every notebook, textbook, and pencil with her throughout the day because she can never remember where her locker is.
Despite countless hospital visits, no doctor has been able to diagnose her condition, with standard tests offering no clue to her mysterious condition. Sarah Horner, her mother, said the teen's first doctor dismissed her condition as a concussion and sent her back home with crutches.
"They tell us there's nothing medically wrong," she said. "They can't see anything. You can't see a concussion though on an MRI or a CT scan. There's no brain bleed, there's no tumor."
Sarah said her brother had passed away last week, and that despite telling Riley about the devastating news every single day, the teen still has no idea. "(Doctors) told us that she might just be like this forever," she said tearfully. "And I am not okay with that."
The long-term implications of Riley's condition are even more terrifying. Sarah said she is desperate for a diagnosis because research she read had shown that, after six months with short term memory, the patient could have suffered irreversible damage.
"We need help," she pleaded. "We need somebody that knows a little bit more because she deserves better. I mean she wanted to be in the medical field and now she can’t even hold a job if she wanted to."
"I know it's hard for them [my parents] as much as it's hard for me," Riley told WQAD. "And people just don't understand. It's like a movie. I'm not making memories."
The teen admitted she was "really scared," but that she wanted anyone else out there who was experiencing similar symptoms to know that they were not alone.