Memory
loss forces cheerleader to start her life over

Injury
left girl unable to recall family, studies

Karen Workman • Associated Press • December 16, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal

Family
circle: Lindsey Friend, 15, (foreground) is surrounded by her family:
father David Friend (from the left), brother Joe, 12, and mother, Nancy, in
Independence Township. Lindsey has lost her memory.

(Jose
Juarez/Associated Press)

INDEPENDENCE TWP. - Lindsey Friend, a
15-year-old from Independence Township, may have lost her memory, but
her sense of humor and strong will are still soundly intact.

"I don't know if I
necessarily want it all to come back at once because that might be a little
overwhelming," Lindsey joked.

"But I want it to come back
quickly."

Lindsey lost all memory of her 15
years of life in a split second during a junior varsity cheerleading practice
at Clarkston Junior High School on Sept. 29.

"My mom actually told me what
happened. I don't really remember anything," Lindsey said.

"I guess we were trying to do
a new stunt at practice, and I just remember hitting the ground and my whole
body feeling numb and tingly."

She added, "I didn't know what
had happened, where I was or who anybody was that was standing around me. I
was really scared because I thought they had done something to me."

Didn't know mom

A trainer asked Lindsey some basic
questions, like what were her address and phone
number. Being unable to answer the questions made her feel even more scared.

The team's coach called Lindsey's
mother, Nancy, and told her what happened.

She drove to the school to pick up
her daughter.

"Nancy had to tell her, 'I'm your Mom,'
" said David, Lindsey's father. "I don't
think she knew what a mom was. She's forgot every single thing you can
imagine forgetting - what salt and pepper are, what the sky is, what birds
are."

Nancy took her daughter from practice
directly to the emergency room, where a CAT scan was performed.

"They didn't see any swelling
so she got an MRI," David said.

"In the first week, she went
to maybe seven doctors, and they all said, 'Don't worry about it. She'll be
fine.' "

For the first few weeks, Lindsey
suffered severe migraines and nightmares.

She was put on a migraine
medication, but her parents took her off it and took her to the University of
Michigan Hospital after learning the medication could cause confusion or
memory loss.

It became apparent that even the
most simple and routine daily activities were foreign to her.

For instance, she forgot to turn
on the cold water with the hot water to take a shower.

"She burned herself,"
David Friend said. "Right then was when my wife and I said, 'We really
have a problem here.' "

Back in school

Before the accident, Lindsey was a
straight-A student who had packed her schedule with cheerleading, track,
softball, gymnastics and dancing, as well as being an altar girl at church
and playing the clarinet.

Lindsey forgot all her school
lessons and is working her way back up to where she was. She now is attending
school for full days but doesn't take any math classes.

Doctors have told Lindsey that she
will most likely get her memory back, but they don't know when.

"With every brain injury,
it's different," Lindsey said.

Meeting all the people she used
know was a little overwhelming in the beginning.

"Meeting a whole bunch of new
people at once is scary, especially when they come up to you and know who you
are but you don't know them," Lindsey said. "I've gained a lot of
new relationships. New to me, I guess, but old to them."