When he woke up, he was 'addicted' to cheese and swore frequently

Doctors battled to save his life and put him in a coma to

A mother has described how her teenage son woke from a coma addicted to cheese and compulsively swearing.

Kai Thomas, 15, suffered a sudden, potentially life-threatening brain bleed in June last year.

He had surgery to relieve pressure on his brain and doctors at Sheffield Children's Hospital put him in a coma for nine days so he could recover.

When he woke up he was unable to move or speak, a result of the trauma his brain had endured.

While he has since regained the ability to walk and talk again, Kai has been left with some unusual side-effects.

He has become so addicted to cheese that he munches on several blocks of it a day - and even puts it on his cereal.

And previously well-mannered, he now regularly swears, to his mother's horror.

Kai Thomas, 15, suffered a sudden, potentially life-threatening brain bleed in June last year. Since then, he has become 'addicted' to cheese and swears profusely

His mother Tracey, of Chesterfield, said: 'He's addicted to cheese – and he can't stop swearing.'

The 35-year-old explained that before falling ill, Kai was a good-natured, well-manned young man.

'He didn't swear and minded his manners,' she said.

'Then in June last year, he came home from school rubbing his head and saying it hurt. Then he suddenly collapsed.'

Mrs Thomas called 999 and Kai was taken to Sheffield Children's Hospital.

'Doctors carried out scans and the results showed a bleed on the brain,' she said. 'They told me it could have just come out the blue or he could have knocked himself.'

Kai spent six hours in theatre where surgeons battled to save his life.

Thankfully, doctors were able to stabilise his condition - and they put him in a coma to give his body a chance to recover.

Nine days later he woke up. 'His face was blank and he couldn't speak,' said Mrs Thomas. 'Doctors said the trauma of the bleed and subsequent surgery had caused him to regress. He'd also lost his power of speech and movement.'

To her relief, his condition gradually began to improve - and a few weeks later he started speaking again.

Last September, he finally got to go home - but there was more drama to come.

Mrs Thomas said: 'One day I was in the kitchen, when I heard Kai yelling in his bedroom.

'He was screaming "F***, b******, s***".

'I wondered what on earth was going on - the expletives were coming thick and fast.'

Kai's mother, Tracey, said while he always liked cheese, her son has now become 'obsessed' with it - even putting it on his cereal. His mild-mannered temperament has also been replaced with aggression

Experts say every patient reacts differently. 'No two cases are the same and there can be physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural problems as a result of a head injury,' said a brain charity spokesman

Upon going upstairs to see what was happening, she found Kai munching on an entire block of cheese.

Then, over the next few weeks, she noticed all types of cheese going missing from the fridge.

'He had always like cheese but now he was obsessed with it - he even added it to his cereal,' said Mrs Thomas.

'We asked the doctor about it and apparently it's quite normal for people to develop inappropriate or aggressive behaviour after waking up from a coma.

So while that explained the swearing, no one can explain the cheese.'

Kai's condition is gradually improving and he now undergoes home tutoring as well as attending mainstream school for an hour each day.

A spokesman from Headway, the brain injury charity, said: 'There can be physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural problems as a result of a head injury. No two cases are the same.'



