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Remember that cheesy rom-com, 50 First Dates, from back in 2004? You know, the one where Drew Barrymore plays an amnesiac who falls in love with Adam Sandler’s character.
Barrymore’s character is left unable to form new memories after a serious car accident and so her love interest, whom she meets after the near-fatal collision, has to win her heart with each new day.
In reality, however, memory loss is rarely that romantic…
Memory loss might be relatively rare, but it is a very distressing disorder for sufferers and their friends and family. Its causes vary from serious head injuries to alcohol abuse to chronic conditions, and unfortunately, in many cases, the condition is incurable.
Porphyria is one of the most devastating causes of short-term memory loss, and approximately one in every 10,000 people are affected by it.
So what exactly is porphyria? Well, it refers to a group of disorders that occur when the body is unable to produce enough haem, a substance which is required for a number of bodily functions.
Twenty-nine-year-old Veronika Mescheryakova, from Russia, suffers from acute porphyria which she means she has to endure very extreme symptoms of the disease.