Teen Spoke Fluent Spanish Only After Waking Up From 3-Day Coma

By THC Staff | November 2, 2016

 

It sounds almost too strange to be true, but teen Reuben Nsemoh says that after he was kicked in the head resulting in a brain injury, he woke up speaking Spanish fluently.

Nsemoh doesn’t remember playing the soccer game where his episode took place. He played as a goalie and was kicked when he dove for the ball. His coach told CNN that the boy lost consciousness and began vomiting. The ordeal was so scary that the coach thought that Nsemoh might not make it before he was airlifted to a nearby hospital.

The teen was in a coma for three days. When he finally woke up, he only spoke Spanish, a language he had never spoken fluently before. KHOU reports that the “strange episode shocked and confused his parents,” but Nsemoh was used to hearing Spanish spoken by his friends, and knew a little himself. Eventually, he began speaking English again. It’s not very unusual for brain injuries to impact one’s speech and language.

Nsemoh hopes to return to the field, and his coach wants all of the goalies to wear helmets in the future. This was Nsemoh’s third concussion.