Michelle Philpots starts each day with no memory of the day before, the result of a rare variety of amnesia which helped inspire the 2004 film "50 First Dates."
RedditMichelle Philpots developed anterograde amnesia in 1994 and stopped creating memories.
For more than three decades, Michelle Philpots has not been able to create new memories. After two motor accidents — one in 1985 and a second in 1990 — the traumatic brain injuries she suffered led to the development of aggressively persistent epilepsy and a severe decline in memory retention. By 1994, she lost her ability to form long-term memories.
Since then, Philpots’ life has become a strategic routine of calendars and Post-It notes, and she lost her job because she could not remember any of the work she had done. Meanwhile, Philpots’ husband has to convince her daily that they are married by using a photo album.
If it all sounds a bit familiar, that’s likely because Philpots’ story has much in common with the 2004 film 50 First Dates, which starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Unlike the film, though, Philpots’ memory doesn’t just reset every night after she goes to sleep. Within minutes of making a new memory, it can disappear. That can even happen mid-conversation.
Despite it all, Michelle Philpots has kept a positive outlook on life.
How Two Car Accidents Caused Michelle Philpots’ Memory Loss
In 1985, when Michelle Philpots was 22 years old, she was involved in a motorbike crash. Five years later, she was in a car accident. The two incidents left her brain-damaged and caused her to develop epilepsy. From that point on, her condition only continued to deteriorate.
By 1993, she became “absent-minded” and forgetful, but the true extent of her condition was made obvious when she was let go from her job. According to The Mirror, Philpots had spent all day photocopying the same document, forgetting each time that she had already done so.
When doctors examined her, they determined that the damage she had suffered during those two motor accidents had caused major damage. Alongside a form of epilepsy, Philpots had a condition known as anterograde amnesia, where the brain is no longer able to form new memories.
Columbia PicturesDrew Barrymore and Adam Sandler in 50 First Dates, a movie partly inspired by Philpots’ story.
“It is reasonably rare but it does exist,” neuroscience specialist at Cambridge University Peter Nestor told The Daily Mail. “You are capable of carrying out day-to-day things and don’t forget how to do certain things like speaking. But if someone was to ask you what you did yesterday, you wouldn’t have a clue.”
That is certainly the case for Philpots. Some day in 1994, her brain stopped forming new memories, and every day since she has woken up with no memory of the day before. Her husband Ian helps to remind her of important events — including their 1997 wedding — and rehabilitation specialists helped her create a system to keep track of her life. But Michelle Philpots effectively lives the same 24 hours every single day.
Living Life Without Any New Memories
“I can really relate to the film Groundhog Day,” Philpots once remarked (the film came out in 1993, when Philpots could still make memories). “When I wake up everything outside my window is the same. It’s hard to explain, but every day to me is the same normal day. It’s like I am living the same day — day after day.”
Philpots, a resident of Spalding, Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom, rarely leaves the town and requires a navigation tool to get around to local shops. Often, when she arrives, she has no clue where she is or why. Her house is full of Post-It notes with reminders, and her phone helps too, but her husband Ian is the greatest reminder in her life.
“The only thing I can do is be patient, and I have to make sure she is writing everything down,” he said. “Sure it can be very frustrating for me, but I have to be patient and understand and accept that she struggles to remember. I get frustrated, but I have to keep calm because I love her.”
Ian PhilpotsMichelle and Ian Philpots at their wedding in 1997.
Ian said he was fortunate to have met his wife before her accidents and subsequent memory loss. She “generally knows” they are married but has no memories of the wedding.
“Luckily,” Ian remarked, “we have lots of photos to remind her, otherwise she would forget it all. She still remembers when we first met. It’s just the day-to-day things she struggles to recall.”
In 2005, Michelle Philpots underwent a major operation that removed dead and damaged brain cells to prevent seizures, but doctors said there was nothing they could do to bring her memory back. And while Philpots never tires of a joke or television show, her condition has major downsides.
“My memory has gone and there is no way it will come back,” she said. “I understand the change in my life. I know I can’t have my old life back, but I find it hard to accept that. Sometimes my house becomes my prison and I find it very depressing.”
Although she was never able to return to work anywhere, Michelle Philpots was able to start volunteering to help other disabled people in Spalding three days a week.
“I wanted to be back to the normal me and not this shell of a person,” Philpots said on TODAY in 2010. “I want my career back. I want to be able to say, ‘I remember when’ again — but knowing the life you’ve lost, you can’t do it.”
An Exceptionally Rare Form Of Amnesia
Many people who experience amnesia — such as those coming out of a coma, for instance — need to relearn many basic skills. Philpots’ condition is different.
“What’s striking in Michelle’s condition is that she can’t form new memories, yet she can carry out everyday things; she can drive a car, she can have a conversation,” psychiatrist Gary Small explained on TODAY. “But she will not remember this experience tomorrow the way you and I will remember.”
TODAY ShowIan and Michelle Philpots on the TODAY show.
Photographs of major events clue her in to things she has done over the course of her life, but the experience is more akin to seeing glimpses of someone else’s life. There are some exceptions, though, Philpots said. Particularly unusual or exciting events do occasionally hang about in her mind, even if she forgets when exactly they happened.
Years of rehab also yielded some minor improvements to her memory, and recognizing patterns allowed her to remember up to six numbers by punching them into a telephone keypad. “I won’t remember the number itself,” she said, “but I will remember the pattern.”
Still, Michelle Philpots is effectively incapable of having pastimes. She could rewatch TV shows dozens of times and not remember any of their plots. She could start a book, but would likely never finish it. Ultimately, she has had to accept that her memory is gone and — despite her efforts — it will never return to normal.
“This is it,” she said, “it won’t get any better.”
After reading Michelle Philpots and the true story behind “50 First Dates”, read about the true events that inspired the movie Catch Me If You Can.Then, discover how long Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day spent in a time loop.
