A Georgia teenager who suffered a life-threatening head injury last month while playing soccer awoke from a coma speaking fluent Spanish for the first time in his life.
Rueben Nsemoh, 16, shocked family members and doctors when he opened his eyes after a three-day coma and began uttering sentences in Spanish, despite having known only a few words before his accident.
“It started flowing out,” the teen told TIME on Monday. “I felt like it was like second nature for me. I wasn’t speaking my English right, and every time I tried to speak it I would have a seizure.”
“It was weird,” Rueben added. “It was not scary at all. I actually liked it a lot. It was really unique to me.”
Another teenager accidentally kicked Rueben on the right side of his head during a game on Sept. 24 after Rueben dove for a loose ball, he said.
Rueben, an aspiring professional soccer player, suffered a severe concussion, went into shock and had to be airlifted to a hospital, according to his mother, Dorah Nsemoh.
Days after being treated in the intensive care unit, Rueben finally started stirring again. He began moving his hand and gesturing for food. And then he blurted out: “Tengo hambre,” or “I am hungry” in Spanish.
“I was very shocked. That’s something he’s never done before. When he got up and he started speaking Spanish, I was confused,” said Nsemoh, a 54-year-old high school teacher who is from Nigeria.
Doctors say Rueben’s brain scans suggest he will fully heal, but the family has been overwhelmed by mounting medical bills in the $250,000 range, Nsemoh said. A GoFundMe page for Rueben has collected more than $11,000 to go toward the teen’s medical costs.
“Definitely, it’s a miracle,” Nsemoh said. “My son is awake, I don’t care what language he’s speaking. Whatever went on, he’s alive today and I believe 100 percent in recovery.”
