Mother wakes from coma believing she is teenager again "When the rest of my family came to see me I took one look at my brother and said, "You're bald" I told my parents how rough they looked too, It was like they'd aged overnight." She said she had no idea where she was and got a shock when she looked in the mirror. "I was completely in my own little world," she added. It was very hard for me to try and reconnect with me. I watched videos and look at pictures to try and remember what I used to be like with them, but sometimes its like watching a different person. Mrs Thomson, from Exeter, suffered a blood clot as a result of an Arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a collection of malformed connections between arteries and veins which can burst at any time. She described how she had been looking at photographs on a computer last November when she "felt something ping" at the back of her neck. She started to lose her vision and went to bed. The last thing she remembers is being in an ambulance. Before she fell ill, she had worked as a nail technician and hairdresser but while she has recovered physically, she still suffers occasional motor and cognitive problems and losses of balance and can no longer work. Mrs Thomson said her husband, an IT technician, had been "amazing" and attributed her recovery to his patience. "I had no recollection of meeting him, or marrying him whatsoever," she disclosed. I had to fall in love with him all over again really. He took me to all the places we'd be too when we first got together to try and jog my memory. It's a bit weird when I wake up each morning and see a stranger lying next to me, but it all comes flooding back after a while. She realised that she loved him again at Christmas and recalled the moment she told him, as if for the first time. " I had butterflies," she said. He's been amazing really, helping me get myself together. I feel a bit like a teenager at the moment, I dye my hair all different colours and can get really moody at times, so he's certainly had to get used to the new me. But he's stuck by me through it all, he's just been amazing. Music triggers things, and Chris kept a diary when I was ill which helps. A while back I had a bit of a meltdown because I was fighting trying to remember the person I was, but I realised I can't let what happened define me. I have to accept what happened, and try and make new memories. I remember more and more each day, I'm just enjoying being with my children and Chris, and taking each day as it comes. I want to give hope to other people - you can get through this.