Mother of three, 32, wakes from a coma thinking it's 1998 and she's still only a teenager

Sarah Thomson had no memory of her husband or three children

Believed the Spice Girls were in the charts and Michael Jackson was alive

She has now fallen back in love with her husband



Quite a few 30-somethings have wished they could turn back the clock and be a teenager again.

Sarah Thomson experienced the reality when a burst artery in her brain wiped out her memories of marriage and 13 years of motherhood.

The 32-year-old went into a coma from which she awoke thinking she was 19.

The way we live now: Sarah Thomson after her operation, left, and as she thought she still was, right



Family album: Ms Thomson had no memory to of her wedding to husband Chris or of her children Michael, 14, Daniel, five and four-year-old Amy

She had no idea who husband Chris and children Michael, 14, Daniel, five, and four-year-old Amy were. She started to dye her hair all colours and, by her confession, act moodily like a teenager.

The ten days she spent in intensive care last November had destroyed 13 years of her life, making her think it was still 1998. Mrs Thomson thought her favourite band the Spice Girls were together, had no memory of the Millennium and didn't know Michael Jackson had died.

'When the children came to see me I just had no idea who they were, I thought they were somebody else's,' said Mrs Thomson, who lives in Exeter. 'I kept calling them the wrong names, and had no idea why they were so pleased to see me.

Who am I? Ms Thomson, pictured left with husband Chris and right after her operation to remove a blood clot on her brain, said she still feels like a teenager



Grown up overnight: Ms Thomson's son Michael, now 14, as she remembered him, just after he was born

'When the rest of my family came to see me I took one look at my brother and said “You're bald”. I told my parents how rough they looked too – it was like they'd aged overnight.'

For some time she thought her husband was a hospital worker.

'When I realised I'd be going home with him I was really confused – I thought I was still with my ex,' she said. 'Luckily my mum explained who he was, but I had no recollection of meeting him.'

Pieces of the puzzle: Ms Thomson, pictured with husband Chris and children Michael, 14, Daniel, five and four-year-old Amy), has had to remember the past using pictures and videos Together again: Sarah with Chris and children Michael, 14, Daniel, five, and Amy, four

LIFE BEFORE THE X-FACTOR

When Sarah Thomson, 32, awoke from her coma in November, she believed it was still 1998 and she was only 19 years old.

She awoke thinking the world was a very different place...

Elton John's Princess Diana tribute Candle in the Wind topped the charts, as did The Boy is Mine by Brandy & Monica.

Everyone was watching U.S. sitcom Frasier and hospital drama ER.

Saving Private Ryan and Armageddon were the big blockbusters of the year.

Furbies and Betty Spaghetti were the most popular children's toys.

MP3s are invented and Google had just been launched.



Claudia Schiffer was the supermodel of the moment.

Bill Clinton denied sleeping with Monica Lewinsky.

Mrs Thomson collapsed when a blood clot in her brain caused by malformed blood vessels started to trap spinal fluid.

'I remember looking at some pictures on the computer when I felt something ping at the back of my neck,' she said.

'I started feeling weird and seeing splodges in my vision. I took myself to bed and the last thing I remember was being in an ambulance.'

She said she had to fall in love with her husband, a 34-year-old IT worker, for a second time and he had helped by taking her to their old haunts.



'I told him I loved him for the first time at Christmas – it felt like I was saying it to him for the very first time. I had butterflies.



'I feel a bit like a teenager at the moment. I dye my hair all different colours and can get really moody.



'He's had to get used to the new me! But he's stuck by me through it all, he's just been amazing.

'A while back I had a bit of a meltdown because I was fighting trying to remember the person I was, but I realised I can't let what happened define me.'