One moment life was normal, and the next, everything was gone. When Nesh Pillay woke up from a nap in October 2022, her world had been wiped clean. She did not recognize her fiancé, Johannes “JJ” Jakope. She had no memory of their daughter. She believed she was 17 years old, with no recollection of the milestones, relationships, and experiences that had shaped her into the person she was.

At first, her family struggled to believe what was happening. Her sister thought she was playing a prank, unable to grasp the reality that Nesh’s memory had simply vanished. As confusion turned into concern, it became clear that this was not temporary forgetfulness. It was something far more serious.

For JJ, the experience was particularly painful. The woman he loved, the partner he had built a life with, now saw him as a stranger. She would look at him with uncertainty, often assuming he was a rideshare driver instead of the man she had once planned to marry. Even more devastating, she referred to their daughter simply as “the child,” as though she were speaking about someone else’s family.

Amnesia is not simply about losing memories—it disrupts a person’s sense of identity. For Nesh, the world no longer made sense. The challenge was even more significant for her loved ones: How do you convince someone of a life they no longer remembered?

Determined to find answers, Nesh’s family sought medical help. But as they quickly learned, the complexities of brain trauma do not always come with clear explanations, or easy solutions. This was only the beginning of her journey to understand what had happened and, more importantly, how to move forward.