![]() ![]() Their daughter, Taylor, now 20, is back in Phoenix working, but their older son has had "countless" drug relapses, according to his father. They settled a lawsuit against the office building where Bolzan fell in 2010, and now earn money from giving "inspirational" speaking tours around the country. With Bolzan unable to work, the couple, who once made a large income, has struggled to pay their medical bills. Today Bolzan's past is still a blank slate, and he continues to suffer from seizures and headaches. "I don't recognize them, and I don't know what that relationship was, especially if I am in a group setting conversation and I have no idea what they are talking about." "I still have anxiety meeting someone for the first time, even if I have known them for 10 years," he said. He also watched how his wife and daughter interacted to learn how to become a good husband and father again.Ībout 18 months after the accident, Bolzan developed a seizure disorder that was a maladaptive coping mechanism caused not by electrical signals but psychological stressors, according to his doctors. I would see shows on TV and find out how husbands and wives talked to each other, said Bolzan. Drew" and "The Sopranos," shows that his wife told him he had enjoyed before his injury. Much of his recuperation involved watching television shows like "Dr. "How could I have a child that we lost and not have an emotional attachment to that?" Bolzan asked himself. Their first child, daughter Taryn, suffocated coming down the birth canal. ![]() Scott and Joan Bolzan had been college sweethearts at Northern Illinois University. "You can imagine the emotional ramifications of having a spouse not remember the critical points of a relationship." "But If someone has an intact relationship with his wife and a strong marriage, it usually survives," she said. "The strength of the marriage is tested, where there is too much stress and heartache. "A lot of families fall apart," she said. Unsurprisingly, retrograde amnesia can take quite a toll on a marriage, and not all couples are as successful as the Bolzans at continuing their union, said O'Connor. Medical experts also say that people with retrograde amnesia cannot recover their memory simply by being told the events of their life by others. But, she said, lack of oxygen "leaves a big footprint on the brain." "Retrograde amnesia usually takes place in the context of infection, encephalitis or something causing ongoing seizures that disrupt the formation of memory," said O'Connor. But the memory loss continued, and one doctor even suggested it was psychological and that he should see a psychiatrist. Doctors said he would likely recover within a week. ![]() Bolzan was initially treated for a severe concussion and sent home from the hospital after three days. They may also understand that they have a memory disorder.īolzan's case, one of the most severe on record, is likely irreversible, according to the couple. Like Bolzan, amnesiacs can usually understand written and spoken words, and can retain skills such as bike riding or playing a musical instrument, which are part of procedural memory. In its "purest form," there is dense memory loss, but the patient continues to have intelligence and reasoning, as well as language function, according to O'Connor. Retrograde amnesia occurs after damage to the medial temporal lobe or encephalitis, and has fascinated doctors for more than a century. In anterograde or post-traumatic amnesia, the memory loss is of events after the injury or trauma. Retrograde amnesia is the loss of memory of information acquired before injury, according to Margaret O'Connor, director of neuropsychology at the Center for Cognitive Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and a professor at Harvard Medical School. ![]()
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