Unlike the Groundhog Day characters, an English woman can't recall her repeating day. Photo / Supplied
A woman has lived the same day for 16 years because her memory resets itself.
Every day, Michelle Philpots wakes up next to her husband, who has to convince her they are married. When she expresses doubt, he shows her pictures of their wedding 13 years ago.
The condition is
the reverse of the film Groundhog Day, in which Bill Murray's character repeats the same day but remembers how it played out previously.
Mrs Philpots suffered brain injuries in two road accidents. She recalls everything up to 1994 but remembers nothing else for more than a day.
The 47-year-old, of Spalding in England, uses hundreds of notes and calendar reminders to get by in her everyday life.
Anyone new she meets needs to be recorded for future reference. She leaves her home with a sat-nav device programmed with her address.
"It's like I am living the same day, day after day," Mrs Philpots said. "I love EastEnders but I can't remember the characters or any story lines."
Her husband Ian said their marriage was built on a foundation of patience.
"It can be very frustrating for me but I have to be patient and understand. I have to keep calm because I love her," he said.
"I've known her for 25 years so I'm lucky we met before she had the accidents because she can remember me. "
Mrs Philpots was in a motorbike crash in 1985 and a car accident in 1990.
Dr Peter Nestor, a neuroscience specialist at Cambridge University, said she had anterograde amnesia.
"It is reasonably rare but it does exist. You don't forget how to do certain things like speaking," he said.
"But if someone were to ask you what you did yesterday, you wouldn't have a clue."
- STAFF REPORTER
