Stella Dimoko Korkus.com: Nigerian Teen Wakes Up From Coma Speaking Spanish After A Head Injury

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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Nigerian Teen Wakes Up From Coma Speaking Spanish After A Head Injury

A Georgia teenager who suffered a life-threatening head injury last month while playing soccer awoke from a coma speaking fluent Spanish for the first time in his life.




Rueben Nsemoh, 16, shocked family members and doctors when he opened his eyes after a three-day coma and began uttering sentences in Spanish, despite having known only a few words before his accident.

“It started flowing out,” the teen told TIME on Monday. “I felt like it was like second nature for me. I wasn’t speaking my English right, and every time I tried to speak it I would have a seizure.”

“It was weird,” Rueben added. “It was not scary at all. I actually liked it a lot. It was really unique to me.”
Another teenager accidentally kicked Rueben on the right side of his head during a game on Sept. 24 after Rueben dove for a loose ball, he said.

Rueben, an aspiring professional soccer player, suffered a severe concussion, went into shock and had to be airlifted to a hospital, according to his mother, Dorah Nsemoh.

Days after being treated in the intensive care unit, Rueben finally started stirring again. He began moving his hand and gesturing for food. And then he blurted out: “Tengo hambre,” or “I am hungry” in Spanish.

“I was very shocked. That’s something he’s never done before. When he got up and he started speaking Spanish, I was confused,” said Nsemoh, a 54-year-old high school teacher who is from Nigeria.

Nsemoh then ran out of the room to find help and brought back a nurse. “A nurse asked me what language does he speak. I said, ‘I speak English. He speaks English. We’re not Spanish-based people,’” Nsemoh said.
Doctors have not told the family why Rueben woke up speaking perfect Spanish, although they have sought consultation with a neurologist.


It’s not unprecedented for patients to start speaking a different language or using different accents after a major trauma. In June, a Texas woman made headlines after she had surgery on her lower jaw and then suddenly started speaking with a British accent.
That case was diagnosed as foreign accent syndrome, a very rare condition in which people speak with a different accent, usually after head trauma or stroke, according to CNN. Severe cases of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and concussions can also cause changes in language function, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rueben says he could recite just a few phrases in Spanish before his accident. The only ways he had heard Spanish were from his brother, who had previously studied in Spain, and his Spanish-speaking teammates.

In the weeks after the accident, Rueben gradually recovered the ability to speak English, and now he speaks both languages fluently, although he says the Spanish has begun to fade.
Doctors say Rueben’s brain scans suggest he will fully heal, but the family has been overwhelmed by mounting medical bills in the $250,000 range, Nsemoh said. A GoFundMe page for Rueben has collected more than $11,000 to go toward the teen’s medical costs.
“Definitely, it’s a miracle,” Nsemoh said. “My son is awake, I don’t care what language he’s speaking. Whatever went on, he’s alive today and I believe 100 percent in recovery.”


Culled: Time.co

53 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Amazing ke?
      Good for him though

      Delete
    2. Some1 please hit my head o😩😩😩. I want American accent😙

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    3. This is becoming rampant. Hmmmmm

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    4. Portable bloody local fowl....what is not amazing? Do u even know what that word means? Lol

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  2. Replies
    1. Lol.
      I remember when I woke up to find myself in the hospital, they said I'd been in a coma for 3 days and was just waking up. I was like really? And I don't see anyone? I was expecting maybe something like Jesus coming to hug me and me saying I don't want to go back and Him telling me it was not yet my time. (Hahahaha). And some people had the nerve to ask me, did I see anything when I was in the coma? But no, except for a temporary amnesia when I woke up, I was back to normal, Thank God.

      In all, we bless God for the gift of life jare.

      Delete
    2. Wow... thank God for your life@ Mystique.
      That was a near death experience.
      We truly bless God for the gift of life.

      Delete
  3. Wow! Interesting. I have been learning Spanish for a very long time but laziness no gree me move to the next level.

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    Replies
    1. The foreign accent part is so true. I have a friend who recovered from surgery and the British accent was out of this world. To say I was shocked is an understatement.

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  4. That kind thing.
    I love Spanish.. Frustrating to learn but enjoyable during communication.

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  5. lol the son is awake and thats all that really matters.

    I think a part of his brain just got activated from the kick he suffered.
    Afterall research has revealed that we only use 10% or 30% (not so sure) of our brain

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  6. Wow... The beautiful thing is he can be whoever he wants to be

    ReplyDelete
  7. #Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer*

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  8. God is great! Just added another language to his brain just like that? I'm happy he is alive

    Victoria's Heart

    ReplyDelete
  9. Na wa.... I've heard about situations like this before, just can't remember what its called

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hmmmm. "wonderment"

    This life is deep walahi.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hmmmmm. It makes me wonder about reincarnation.

    ReplyDelete
  12. LMAO! see people having foreign accent syndrome when every time I hit my head the first thing that comes out of my mouth is "yeh! or oooh wetin be this na"...I want this foreign accent syndrome oh, how hard do I need to hit my head? lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lmao... Miss ferragamo, you are hilarious!

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    2. You are crazy buhahahahah...
      Maybe you should hit your head on a rock

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    3. Let me help you with a baseball bat

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    4. Tell one of your friends to wear a military boot and then kick you very hard on your head with it. Voila! 'Your Spanish speaking days as jus bin convirm' in Falz voice..

      Delete
    5. 😁😁😁😁 this comment is so funny.

      Delete
  13. Hehehe,interesting story, I think I'll hit my head, been trying to learn Yoruba but e no gree..



    Allergic to bullshite

    ReplyDelete
  14. The bill self will make him to continue speaking spanish. hahaha. Thank God Nsemoh for coming back to your english speaking sense.

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  15. May God grant him perfect recovery.

    I managed a patient who was an uneducated farmer in the past with severe TBI. He regained consciousness and started speaking Queen's English with an accent.
    This was really an experience for me.

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  16. Lol jeez me I want the one wey go carry go Australia I no wan speak language carry me go the place

    ReplyDelete
  17. Most people will comment saying "End time things". Please disapoint me ooooo.

    ReplyDelete
  18. OK seen!!! Me I want to be speaking in tongues

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @ la'creamie, dat is easies darlyn. They dont ve to hit your head. Just ask the Holy ghost to fill you truly. That what i did & it worked for me. I woke up at early hour, prayed to God that if truly Holy ghost is réal,i want his in filling. I busted in another tougue. Its bn sweet fellowship since then.

      Delete
    2. You need the holy spirit for that dear. Holy Ghost fire will fall on you like the day of Pentecost..and voila. Lol

      Delete
  19. Guess wot I'm thinking ?.......I wanna av DAT kind of damage to my brain or jaw then wake up to speak my favourite languages..French n Spanish ...hahahahahaha. God helep mi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once you start recovering it completely disappears

      Delete
  20. Hmmm. Strange things happening. Thank God for his life.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Does it mean that a lot of Nigerians have had this head trauma cos many speak foreign accents even though they haven't crossed d border.or even after staying in a place for an insignificant amount of time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha. Most hilarious comment so far.

      Delete
  22. Abeg, i want to av a head injury to learn China.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Maybe okada will knock Queen and bus on her way to Alaba market to take abacha for her DH and she will wake up speaking fluent yaraba. Kwakwakwakwa.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahaha...leave Queen and Boss alone. Kwakwakwakwa

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  24. I want to speak Spanish too and hausa and French self.

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  25. He's alive that's what matters.

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  26. Yeah, it's possible. I had a patient like that too. He had motorbike accident and suffer Traumatic head injury, he was in coma for a few days only to wake up and start speaking fluent English. This is someone that has never spoken English in his entire life o. It was funny and his family members were very surprised.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Tank God for his lyf

    ReplyDelete
  28. Tank God for his lyf

    ReplyDelete

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