Phoenix woman suffers bad headache, wakes speaking with British accent

PHOENIX — A Phoenix woman who had never traveled overseas now speaks with a British accent after she suffered a series of bad migraines.

The Daily Mail reported that, in May 2015, Michelle Myers had her brother drive her to the emergency room after she had trouble seeing and the left side of her body wouldn’t work.

When she woke a day later, her cognitive abilities had returned but she had developed a British accent despite never having left the country.

“We’ve never been overseas, but my family keep teasing me, saying I sound like I have emigrated to America from England,” Myers told Daily Mail.

Foreign accent syndrome is a condition that follows a traumatic brain injury, such as a stroke. It was unknown what exactly triggered her accent.

There have been dozens of confirmed cases of the condition documented around the world.

Myers has had similar medical episodes in the past that caused her to speak in Irish and Australian accents, but it returned to normal shortly after being home.

This was different.

After her voice didn’t return to normal, Myers sunk into a depression for three or four months feeling as though she had lost a part of herself.

Eventually, Myers came to embrace her new way of speaking.

“I have some amazing family and friends, who’ve helped me to realize I’m still the same person – I just sound different,” she said.

“I believe everything happens for a reason, so, maybe this happened because it helps me to break the ice with people.”