Canadian Mum Wakes Up with Scottish Accent After Hitting Head from Riding Accident
A woman in Canada who fell off a horse and hit her head has woken up with a Scottish accent. The Canadian mum to 2 children is currently writing a book describing how her foreign accent from a freak accident changed her life completely.
Sharon Campbell-Rayment, the 50-year-old mum who manages a horse-riding school in Ontario, has never been to Scotland since she fell from her horse in 2008.
According to local reports, Ms Campbell-Rayment was knocked unconscious when she hit her head after stumbling from her prized horse. She was incapable of speech for a few days. When her voice eventually returned, it came out with an involuntary stammer. A speech therapist worked with her to recover her voice for eight weeks.
The Canadian mum was shocked when she could speak with a Scottish accent. Bewildered doctors told her she had remote stress syndrome. She was told that she was one of 60 people in the world to have experienced the effects of the condition.
Ms Campbell-Rayment did some research about her family background and discovered that her ancestors originated from Scotland and came to Canada more than a century ago. It was not clear if there was any connection between her condition and the discovery.
Her doctors were not sure how long she will have her Scottish accent. It could disappear eventually or stay with her for life. Ms Campbell-Rayment thinks it's not going away anytime soon.
In Sept. 2013, a woman from Plymouth who suffered severe migraines woke up one day talking in Chinese. It might sound comical to some people but Sarah Colwill struggled with her predicament. She woke up not sounding herself and her condition caused a strain on her marriage.
Her husband Paddy Colwill said it felt like being married to a stranger. Ms Colwill knew what her husband was feeling since she also felt she didn't know herself anymore.
Despite having a foreign accent syndrome, she has learned to accept her condition and did not pressure herself during speech therapy. Her accent seemed to have "softened" and spoke words more clearly.
