The 2004 film '50 First Dates' starred by Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore revolved around Drew's role, who has a kind of amnesia that the movie refers to as loss of short-term memory.
Because of this, her memory merely lasts for a day and soon after she goes to bed, her brain goes right back to the day the amnesia started. And while the character of Drew was absolutely non-realistic, that's not the always the case.
Jenny Grieve from Bournemouth is a reflection Drew's character when she was hit with a rare form of encephalitis in August 2014 that left her with a little short-term memory.
In line with a report in Daily Mail, the disease results in the inflammation of the brain and her immune system that caused damage to her brain. To regain her health, she had to spend a couple of months in a hospital after her organs started to deteriorate.
The day she woke up, was certain it was 2010. Nearly four years of her memory has been erased and thought she just began dating her 23-year old, long-term boyfriend Martin Fudge.
Jenny has been recovering for over a year now and in an attempt to jog her memory, Jenny takes advantage of a day-to-day journal, post-it notes and a couple of white boards.
Miss Grieve said: 'When I finally woke up I had forgotten how to eat, drink and even walk."
'At first I was admitted to a psychiatric ward as everyone thought I was losing my mind," she added.
Her confusions and seizures were identified by physicians as symptoms of encephalitis within twelve hours. From then on, she jots down almost every activity she does to ensure she recalls the things she has been doing every single hour.
The doctors determined that NMDA-r encephalitis, the most serious type of encephalitis struck Jenny in which the own body produces antibodies that harm the brain and likewise has an increased rate of relapse. Such type was just discovered in 2007 and because it's so uncommon, a lot of doctors remain struggling to detect the indications at a sooner time.
Jenny mentioned that she's puzzled all the time but her mother, Lorraine Grieve provided her best to help her daughter and that she hardly ever left Jenny's side. Mrs. Grieve showed her photos and play voice clips from loved ones.
Lorraine, 49, said: 'We are so lucky that doctors diagnosed Jenny so quickly, we have no doubt that she wouldn't be here if she'd been left undiagnosed for much longer.
Unfounded, Jenny would cry or laugh for no reason and usually couldn't remember the people around her as stated by her mom. Seizure or panic attack were the symptoms of encephalitis she has experienced.
Jenny feels much better now that she's off with her daily medication which caused her put on six stone. Although uncertain of how long will she struggle with the disease, she is being hopeful that someday she will be back to her normal self.
'It'll be great to have my independence back and to start my career in helping children with brain injuries,' Jenny stated.
