Mum-of four who forgot her whole life after stroke
A MOTHER is painstakingly rebuilding her life after a stroke wiped out her entire memory.
When Pauline Beal, 55, woke in hospital, she did not remember Andrew, her husband of 38 years.
She had no memory of her four children and did not know her grandchildren. In fact, she remembered nothing.
Andrew, 59, said: “When I say nothing, I do mean nothing.
“She couldn’t tell you anything about me or her family.
“I’ve shown her pictures of her wedding, I’ve taken her to the church, – nothing. She doesn’t know where she lived, nothing about herself.
“I’ve shown her hundreds of photos of holidays, the kids and grandkids and not one thing registered. It’s horrible.
“She cries every night because she doesn’t remember anything.”
Pauline, from Oxford, was on the first day of a week-long holiday in Majorca when she had the stroke. Andrew said: “It was completely out of the blue.
“We were sitting at the table and she started slurring her words. I thought it must be the heat or travelling.
“She did it again, so I got a little bit concerned. The third time she said to me, ‘I am slurring my words, aren’t I?’
“I went and got some help. By then she was out of it. She couldn’t speak and went all weak and limp. We rang for an ambulance straight away, whisked her off to hospital and that was it for the next 10 days. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. It’s like having a newborn baby in the house.
“She has no memory of anything from the day she was born until the day she had the stroke.”
Pauline, a former supermarket worker, has been forced to relearn everything from scratch since falling ill on the Balearic island in June.
There was further heartache when her mother died three weeks ago, just as Pauline was getting to know her again.
Facilities manager Andrew said: “Doctors are not sure if Pauline will ever regain her lost memories. The specialist said her memory may never come back, and if it does it could be years.
“It’s so rare for this to happen. Feelings have gone, everything.
“She says she loves me, but I had to explain to her what love meant.”
Pauline had speech therapy sessions and 95% of her speech has returned.
Andrew added: “She knows three of the four kids and about 10 grandchildren but only by name, she couldn’t tell you one thing about them.
“I had to show her how to cook and she just looked at me blankly. I had a frying pan in hand and she didn’t know what it was.
“I can’t let her out on her own because she doesn’t know where to go.”
She cries every night because she doesn’t remember ANDREW BEAL ON HIS WIFE’S STROKE ANGUISH