Clive Wearing is battling a rare form of amnesia that wipes out his memory every 30 seconds. To paint a vivid picture of his daily struggle, imagine waking up and greeting your spouse as if you're seeing them for the first time in decades, only to have that moment wiped away moments later.
This relentless cycle has persisted for him, resembling a perpetual awakening from a comatose state, stretching across four decades.
From Daily Star UK:
But the talented musician is in fact living with the most devastating case of amnesia in medical history so far after being struck with a rare brain virus in 1985. After a mild case of herpes that passed the blood-brain barrier, Clive experienced both anterograde and retrograde amnesia which means he can't remember the past and is "stuck in the present,' unable to create new memories.
He has no recollection of his childhood or the names of his children from a previous marriage. His memory lasts between seven and 30 seconds but strangely, he remembers how to play music and how much he loves his wife.
Before tragedy struck, Clive was a pianist and musician known for editing Orlando de Lassus’s works. He had a career as a tenor lay clerk at Westminster Cathedral and was a chorus master at Covent Garden and with the London Sinfonietta Chorus.
He was working for BBC Radio 3 and in his mid-40s when he contracted the virus. Since then he spends every day "waking up" every 20 seconds or so, "restarting" his consciousness once more.
My heart truly aches for this man and his family. The thought of living with a condition like this is unimaginable...
It's not just maddening for the person enduring it; it also must be emotionally draining for those in his immediate circle.
