A DAD who went into a coma and lost his memory after a tragic hit-and-run case woke up believing it was 1980.
Luciano D’Adamo, 68, thought he was still a 24-year-old man living in Rome when he got out of the blackout – and has been struggling to adjust to reality.
Family HandoutA picture of young D’Adamo[/caption]
TG1The dad lost 40 years of his life after his memory was wiped out due to a tragic accident[/caption]
His last memories after waking up from the coma in 2019 were of leaving his house in 1980 when he dealt with a sudden blow that forced him to collapse.
D’Adamo was baffled to learn the accident only happened in 2019 as almost four decades of his life had been wiped out because of the memory lapse.
The old man even struggled to recognise himself in the mirror – and was horrified to see himself as a man with grey hair.
He even thought his aged wife was a complete stranger.
Because for all he knew, she was still a 19-year-old girl he was hoping to marry one day.
D’Adamo, who was not even married in 1980, is now adjusting to having a son in his 30s who he thinks is older than he was at the time of the accident.
A group of doctors are working with the old man to help him get back his memories – and adjust to a world that he thinks is 40 years ahead of his time.
He told Messaggero in an interview: “I still remember the amazement of travelling in a car that showed me a map of Rome on a screen, or rather the Tuttocittà as we once called it, while a voice asked us to turn right in 100 metres.”
Soon after waking up from the coma, D’Adamo requested to speak to his mother.
But he could not believe his eyes when he was given a modern mobile phone to speak to other people.
Sadly, the old man was reminded that her mother had died, but he had no memories of her death.
Describing the moment he saw his wife for the “first time”, D’Adamo said: “She called me Luciano and I wondered how she knew my name.
“She was a complete stranger to me.”
As D’Adamo lost four decades of his life in the painful memory lapse, his experience of being an old man was also wiped out.
While he was able to get on with children very easily, he struggles to socialise with them as a granddad, Corriere della Sera reports.
The dad said he still has many challenges to overcome as he tries to get his memory back.
He said: “Sometimes I say that I would like to fly on a plane because I have never done it.
“But then my wife tells me we ahve been on a plane together, and even flew out to Paris.”
For the past five years, doctors as well as psychologists have been working with D’Adamo and his family to help him get his memory back.
He has now started his life over and works in a school, DailyMail reports.
However, he never received justice – or compensation – for the tragic accident in 2019.
The hit-and-run driver was never found.