Teen's Memory Resets Every 2 Hours — and Doctors Can't Figure Out Why

An Illinois teen wakes up every morning believing it's June 11 after she was accidentally kicked in the head by a fellow student. 

That's not all ⁠— Riley Horner's memory also resets every two hours due to the traumatic injury she sustained from the kick, her family told WQAD.

"I have a calendar on my door and I look and it's September and I'm like 'Whoa,'" said Riley. "... I'm very confused and I try to think back and I can't."

The symptoms are baffling to doctors, who can see nothing medically wrong on scans, according to Riley's mother, Sarah Horner.

"They can't see anything," said Horner. "You can't see a concussion though on an MRI or a CT scan. There's no brain bleed, there's no tumor."

On June 11, Riley was at the FFA State Convention when she was accidentally kicked in the head by a student crowd-surfing. At first, doctors thought Riley was just suffering from a concussion and they sent her off with crutches.

But as the months have passed, her symptoms haven't improved. To stay on top of her schoolwork, she has to take detailed notes and set an alarm for every couple hours to brush up on what she's learned. She can't even store stuff in her locker, she said, because she can't remember where it is. 

"I know it's hard for them as much as it's hard for me," she said of others. "And people just don't understand. It's like a movie."

She added: "I'm not making memories. And I'm just, like, really scared."

Horner is desperate for a diagnosis. 

"[Doctors] told us that she might just be like this forever. And I am not OK with that," she said. 

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