Latest news Italian missing 39 years of his life after accident

His own wedding, September 11, the fall of the Berlin Wall, two World Cups for Italy - all forgotten: By his own admission, 67-year-old Italian Luciano d'Adamo has lost the memory of 39 years of his life as a result of a traffic accident.

According to doctors, he suffered amnesia as a result of the accident - in other words, he lost large parts of his memory. He is now working with the help of psychologists to find his way around again. He first had to get used to cell phones, the euro and other things again.

In 2019, D'Adamo was hit by a car on his way home from work at Rome Airport, where he was a member of the ground staff. He lost consciousness. When he woke up in hospital shortly afterwards, he was convinced that he was in 1980, 24 years old and still living with his parents, as he told the newspaper "Il Messaggero". He did not recognize either his wife or his son. When he saw himself in the mirror for the first time - a man with white hair - he cried out, the Roman told the television station Rai.

He also thought his wife and son were strangers

At the hospital, he also asked to inform his mother. However, a supposed stranger then came into the room. "She called me Luciano. And I wondered how she knew my name." It was his wife. Later, a 35-year-old man introduced himself - his son. D'Adamo recalls his thoughts at the time: "How can a man who was born long before me be my son? And what woman? I wasn't married, but I was engaged, and not to this woman, who had to be almost 60, but to a 19-year-old girl."

Since then, the Italian has been trying to reconstruct his life to date, also with the help of family and friends - which, however, causes him great difficulty. He also often has to pass when it comes to photos. "Every now and then I meet someone who greets me," he told the "Messaggero". "It must be an old friend. But I don't know who he is. So, out of politeness, I pretend to recognize him and return the greeting."

Internet, smartphone, sat nav - all new

According to the doctors, d'Adamo has realized that he will not get large parts of his life back as an adult: "He has reluctantly accepted that he is no longer a boy, that he can no longer run up the stairs like he used to. With intelligence and a lot of good will, he has gradually learned to live and work in a completely new world that needs to be deciphered." Today he works as a janitor in a school. His accounts are considered credible.

According to d'Adamo, many things were new to him after his memory loss: the internet, smartphones and even navigation devices in his car. "I still remember the astonishment when I was driving in a car that showed me a map of Rome on a screen while a voice told me to turn right."

Amnesia also a theme in literature and cinema

It happens time and again that people lose part or all of their memory. Sometimes only certain events are missing from their memory, sometimes many years. Memory loss can occur after a traumatic experience such as an act of violence, an accident or a stroke. Long-term stress, anxiety or depression can also be triggers. The autobiographical memory is particularly affected by such psychogenic amnesia. This is often a protective function that blocks out the stressful memory.

The topic has been dealt with many times in literature and cinema, such as the Hollywood films "Memento" or "The Bourne Identity". The German feature film "Good Bye, Lenin!" is about a GDR citizen who misses the fall of the Wall because she is in a coma and is then led to believe that the GDR still exists.

SDA