EXCLUSIVE: Life was turned upside down for Nick McMahon and his family after a devastating motorbike caused him to lose 10 years of his adult memory – his wife says he only remembers his childhood
Life can change in a moment, as Nick and Emma McMahon know only too well.
The couple, both 46 from Newcastle, faced immense challenges when Nick lost his memory in a serious motorbike accident 14 years ago. Since the accident, he can’t remember anything from around 10 years prior or since.
Sadly, this means he can’t remember his wedding day or his sons Ryan, 15, and Connor, 20, being born. “Nick sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in a motorbike accident on 4th June 2011,” Emma remembers.
“The driver of a car behind him thinks he clipped something in the road and this sent him flying into the air, landing on his head.
“Despite wearing a helmet, which probably saved his life, his brain smashed against his skull causing irreparable frontal lobe damage which controls memory and emotions, and other injuries such as a broken collar bone and ribs. “This resulted in a nine-week hospital and head injury unit stay.
Doctors were initially hopeful that his memory loss was post-traumatic amnesia and that Nick would make a full recovery, but as time went on it became apparent that this wasn’t going to be the case.”
Nick developed epilepsy as a result of the brain injury, and his memory has been permanently impaired.
“He lost about 10 years of memories from before the accident, he can’t remember huge events like our wedding day or our sons being born, and has been unable to lay down new memory paths since,” Emma explains.
“The transition between his short to long-term memory has been broken, so after a couple of weeks things are forgotten as they move out of short-term memory but can’t be stored in his long-term memory, and so are lost. “The easiest way for people to understand his condition is to say he is like a dementia sufferer.
“He can remember things from his childhood quite clearly, but nothing much since around his early twenties.
On a particularly bad day, he can forget things after just minutes.”
Emma tries to take a pragmatic approach to Nick’s brain injury, and to try to be positive about the changes in the family’s life. “Nick’s memory loss makes me sad because I know what he is missing, but from Nick’s point of view you can’t really miss what you didn’t know you had,” she explains. “I take photos of all our experiences and tell Nick stories of them regularly, however, this does not bring anything back. “For you and I, we could look at a photo and remember random facts from the day – perhaps the weather, what you ate or something funny that happened.
For Nick, this does not happen at all.
“Before the accident, Nick adored bikes and cars.
“He worked and raced for Harley Davidson and spent a lot of time with friends on bike rides and at rallies etc.
“He loved anything else adrenaline-fueled like rollercoasters and rock climbing. “He had recently changed jobs to become an industrial roofer, working for a friend before the accident.”
Nick struggles with his memory loss but tries to see the positive side of his struggles. “I’m gutted that a big chunk of my life has been lost and won’t ever come back,” Nick explains. “It’s annoying that we can go to fantastic places and then later I can’t remember any of it.
“Time feels like it has gone too quickly as I have no recollection of what has been and gone and the boys growing up. “In other ways, though it’s good — I can watch movies over and over and it’s like the first time I’ve ever seen it!” As well as fast cars and adrenaline rushes, Nick also likes to stay fit. As he developed epilepsy from the accident, exercise can help to keep the seizures at bay, so Nick is now training for an Ironman competition. “I developed epilepsy after the accident and the consultant mentioned that the fitter I was, the less likely seizures might be,” Nick explains. “I wasn’t sporty before the accident but I took his advice and started running.
“I’ve never been one to do things by halves so this led to marathons and I enjoyed the opportunity to raise money for charities by doing this. “Not many people have run a marathon and even less have completed an Ironman, so that was what motivated me. “Not many things have stuck in my mind over the last 20 years, but the rush of adrenaline I felt finishing my first marathon is one of them, and I look forward to feeling that again at the end of the Ironman.”
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