Suffered a stroke, started speaking Danish

Karademir, a father of 7 who settled in Konya 10 years ago after living in Denmark for 20 years, underwent knee surgery last week at the Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine Hospital Orthopedics Department. Two days after the operation, Karademir was urgently evaluated after he suddenly developed loss of strength (paralysis) in his right arm and leg, as well as speech impairment.

Examinations revealed that a clot had traveled to one of the major vessels on the left side of his brain, causing a blockage.

The clot was cleared through a rapid angiography procedure. After the procedure, Karademir's symptoms largely resolved, but his sudden start to speaking Danish caused astonishment among those around him, especially his wife.

The fact that Karademir, who was panicking because he could not speak Turkish, began speaking a language he had not used for years also drew the attention of experts.

PARALYSIS RESOLVED WITH RAPID INTERVENTION

Prof. Dr. Gökhan Özdemir, a faculty member at the Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine Hospital Department of Neurology who performed the clot removal procedure, stated that the patient was intervened with rapidly.

Drawing attention to the seriousness of the situation, Özdemir said, "We quickly took our patient for an angiogram and cleared the clot. After the procedure, the paralysis in the patient's right arm and leg improved rapidly, and he began to use them again. The fact that the patient was already in the hospital gave us the chance for a rapid intervention. Thanks to this, both the paralysis and the speech problem were addressed quickly."

ONE OF THE RARE CASES

Explaining that they encountered a surprising situation after the operation, Özdemir said:

"We noticed that the patient could not speak Turkish, which he used in his daily life, but could speak Danish, which we thought he had forgotten. This is a situation that is rarely encountered in the literature. In individuals who speak more than one language, there can be cases where some languages are forgotten after a stroke or brain hemorrhage, while languages that were not in use re-emerge. In bilingual individuals, the preservation of one language in the event of the loss of another provides an important advantage in terms of the rehabilitation process."

Özdemir stated that they expect the patient to speak Turkish again in the future and that it is possible to regain the language.

UNDERSTANDS TURKISH, SPEAKS DANISH

The patient's daughter, Meral Karademir, emphasized that her father had not spoken Danish for many years and said, "He started speaking Danish. We were very surprised. Since my sisters know this language, he was able to communicate with them more easily. He can understand Turkish but cannot speak it. I hope he recovers quickly. He is very upset because he thinks he has lost his own language."

Rahmi Karademir, with his daughter acting as an interpreter, stated that he could remember a few Turkish words and said, "I understand Turkish but I cannot speak it. I am straining my memory. I hope it gets better. Danish is on my mind, but Turkish does not come to my mind at all."

News Source: AA