A Georgia teenager survived a
life-threatening head injury on the soccer pitch that put him in a coma — and
when he woke up, he was only speaking fluent Spanish.
Reuben
Nsemoh, a 16-year-old goalkeeper at Brookwood High School, was kicked in
the head weeks ago diving for a loose ball, his third concussion. He stopped
breathing and was in a coma for three days.
When he woke up, he couldn’t
speak English, but he was able to speak fluent Spanish, a language he couldn’t
speak before. The teen told WSB radio in Georgia he thinks maybe he picked it up
from his friends and his brother. As his ability to speak English returned, his
Spanish fluency has faded out, although he still continues to speak Spanish.
“My friends would always talk to
me in Spanish and would teach me,” he said.
Nsemoh said he wants to return
to playing soccer once he recovers, but his coach said he won’t let him back
without a helmet. For now, the teenager hasn’t returned to school as he
continues to recover from the injury, and it’s unclear when, or if, he’ll be
able to play again.
“Sometimes I daze out,” the teen
told WSB-TV.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m not here, but I am.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe page for his medical expenses.
Na wah o, maybe all these
languages are all inherent in us and we just need to activate the part of the
brain that can speak and understand those languages. What other explanation can
we offer in this bizarre case?
JMK