Wayne and Sharleen Meyers were content with their lives. The couple from South Australia married in 2004 and has four amazing children, three sons and one daughter.
On January 28, 2009, however, everything changed in an instant.
Wayne was working as a forklift driver on a blistering hot day when he collapsed from acute heatstroke and dehydration.
Sharleen couldn’t wait to visit Wayne when he awakened in the hospital. She raced inside his room, wanting to help him with his recovery.
Her spouse then turned to face her and spoke seven words she will never forget.
He says, “I’ve heard you’re my wife.”
The South Australian couple married in 2004.
They couldn’t be happier!
Wayne and Sharleen have four children: three sons and one daughter.
Wayne had a wonderful relationship with his children, and parenting came naturally to him.
The Meyers family’s lives were flipped upside down on January 28, 2009.
It was a scorching hot July day. While working as a forklift driver, Wayne had pulled over and passed out behind the wheel.
Doctors said Wayne was suffering from extreme heatstroke and dehydration.
When he awoke in the hospital, things took a weird and disturbing turn…
Wayne awakened unaware that he was married to Sharleen and had no idea who she was.
He also had no memory of his four children.
Wayne was trapped in 1989, with no understanding of what has happened since.
His memory had been wiped clean of 20 years of memories.
“I’ve been informed you’re my wife,” Wayne said Sharleen as she walked into Wayne’s hospital room.
Wayne was found to have retrograde amnesia, a type of amnesia caused by dehydration. According to The Human Memory, “retrograde amnesia is a type of amnesia in which someone is unable to recall events that occurred prior to the onset of the amnesia, even if they may be able to encode and memorize new things that occur after the onset.”
While most cases of memory loss improve with time, Wayne’s was exceptionally severe.
Wayne’s mother assured him that he could rely on Sharleen to care for him at their home following his five-day stay in the hospital.
Sharleen began the difficult work of helping Wayne restore his memory. However, family photos and vintage home movies had no effect.
Sharleen and their four children, ages 15, 14, 12, and 10, turned to YouTube to help Wayne adjust to modern life. Wayne was taken aback by everything that had happened in the previous two decades, from “new” technology like flat-screen televisions to the tragic events of 9/11.
Wayne wanted his family to tell him about his hobbies and interests before the disaster. His children loved showing him how to use his favorite gadgets and watching his favorite movies with him.
Sharleen had planned for a gradual return to normalcy but Wayne had forgotten!
Even so, something amazing began to happen as the two spent their days together.
For the second time, Wayne fell in love with Sharleen.
After a while, Wayne returned to work. He marries Sharleen in 2014, exactly 20 years after they first met.
They married for the second time five years after the catastrophe.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Sharleen said. “No one is allowed to get married the same person more than once.”
Over time, Wayne and his children developed an entirely new kind of special intimacy.
The Meyers family is now focused on making new memories.
“The greatest way for us to cope is to continue living our lives and making new memories.”
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