People do not remember

Unlike Alzheimer's, only a serious brain inflammation can erase the past and present memories of a talented artist.

Lonni Sue Johnson, 63, is an artist with severe dementia after suffering from encephalitis in 2007. The disease destroys the seahorse lobe inside her brain, sweeping away almost all old memories. , as well as prevent the formation of new memories.'She lives in a thin strip of the present moment, and what happened earlier quickly dissipated , ' TIME magazine quoted his sister Aline Johnson. It can be said that encephalitis has pushed Ms. Sue "drift" in moments of time.

Sue is a stray woman when stripped of the key tool that allows each person to know who she is and how to connect with the outside world. Tragedy struck in December 2007, when friends rushed to take her to a hospital in New York, in a fever of up to 40 degrees Celsius. The doctor was most likely diagnosed with the virus Herpes Simplex . But instead of just causing a normal cold, the virus crept up the facial nerve or deep into the brain, lying there for weeks. Just before the New Year 2008, the virus "baked" the victim's brain, attacked the temporal lobe and destroyed the seahorse lobe, which contained almost all human memories.

Mrs. Sue is studying redrawing, under the encouragement of her mother and sister - (Photo: NJ)

When the fever is repulsed, illustrators for more than 50 books, often illustrate The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and a few cover of New Yorker magazine, wake up without remembering what. The past completely disappears, the future never exists, and the present is squeezed into a fragile, short period of time, enough to allow her to utter the next sentence.

Just like the loop of an old tape, Sue's mind was completely trapped in it. Doctors have never witnessed any serious memory loss. 10-year marriage has no trace. The names and appearance of friends and colleagues completely evaporated. Career and property are no longer present. Even the most common knowledge is gone, and she doesn't remember the ways to take care of herself, like brushing her teeth in the dark. In the midst of drifting in time, Sue could only cling to the two 'anchors' connected to the past - Maggi's mother and her sister Aline. Though Sue cannot live independently, Sue is gradually learning to walk, stand, talk, eat and dress. She is also beginning to practice drawing again.

If left untreated, patients with Herpes Simplex encephalitis virus face death rates of up to 70%, according to experts. Every year, there are about 300 cases in the US. People who are lucky to survive often suffer from serious brain damage, mostly in the frontal and temporal lobe. In Mrs. Sue's case, the seahorse lobe was completely damaged, according to Sabine Kastner, Princeton University's Psychology Professor (USA). Since then, Ms. Maggi and her sister Aline have decided to announce Ms. Sue's case and invite the most prestigious scientists to participate in the study.'Our mission is to find a way to turn this tragedy into an opportunity to help others,' said Aline. That way, Mrs. Sue's life will be more meaningful.