Althia Bryden, a 58-year-old resident of Highbury in north London, has become a medical enigma after a stroke earlier this year led to an extraordinary change in her speech.
On May 4, Althia was found unresponsive in bed, with the right side of her face drooping.
She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors confirmed she had suffered a stroke.
The condition left her unable to speak and without sensation in the upper-right side of her body.
Further tests revealed the cause: a carotid web, a rare structural abnormality in her neck that obstructs blood flow to the brain.
Surgeons removed the anomaly in August, and what followed stunned everyone.
While recovering in intensive care the day after surgery, Althia unexpectedly began to speak again.
“Out of nowhere, I just started talking,” she recounted. Medical staff, equally surprised, quickly gathered to witness the event.
However, there was an unforeseen twist—her voice had transformed.
Althia, who had never visited Italy or spoken Italian, now spoke with a strong Italian accent and used phrases like “mamma mia” and “bambino.”
“I’ve lived in London all my life, and my family is Jamaican, so this was completely bizarre,” she said.
Medical professionals diagnosed her with foreign accent syndrome, a rare neurological condition where speech changes to resemble a foreign accent, often due to brain injury.
Doctors and nurses were amazed by her case, with many admitting they had never encountered this syndrome before.
“It’s when I realized how rare this condition really is,” Althia explained. “I wish more people knew about it.”
While she is grateful to have survived the stroke, the unexpected shift in her accent has deeply affected her sense of self. “Even my laugh isn’t the same,” she shared.
“I feel like a different person as if people are meeting a stranger, not me. It’s heartbreaking.”
Each day, Althia wakes up hoping her original voice will return, but medical experts are uncertain if that will ever happen.
“I don’t know where to go to find the switch to turn this off,” she said.
Despite the challenges, support from the Stroke Association has been a source of comfort.
Through home visits and support groups, Althia has begun to accept her new reality. “This is part of my story now, and I shouldn’t be ashamed,” she said.
Still, she yearns to connect with others who share her condition.
“I feel so isolated. I want to meet someone else with this so I can relate and feel less alone,” she added.
Althia’s journey highlights the rare and life-altering impact of foreign accent syndrome, leaving her in search of both understanding and her lost sense of identity.
