A British woman who has developed a Swedish accent despite never having visited the country is pleading for help to get her voice back to normal.
Georgina Gailey, 60, fears her new, distinctively Scandinavian accent will remain ‘forever’ after her speech changed during a phone call to her sister three years ago.
She was rushed to hospital amid fears she had suffered a stroke, where doctors diagnosed her with an extremely rare condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), which Ms Gailey believes is linked to a heart attack she had previously suffered.
That means she is one of the few people who has ever suffered from this speech disorder, which usually develops as a complication of a stroke or head injury.
The mother-of-two from Hillingdon, Middlesex, says she is often asked if she is from Sweden these days and now pronounces ‘yes’ as ‘yes’.
Georgina Gailey, 60, fears her new distinctive Nordic accent is ‘stuck forever’ after her speech changed during a phone call to her sister three years ago
Reflecting on her ordeal, Mrs Gailey said: ‘It has changed my life, there is a big part of me missing. I used to speak really well and now I sound Swedish. I say “ja” instead of “yes”‘
Looking back on her ordeal, she said: “It has changed my life, there is a big part of me missing.”
‘I was very well spoken and now I sound Swedish. I say “yes” instead of “yes”.
‘I didn’t notice how different it was at first until I listened to the message on my answering machine.
‘It’s so different. People ask where I’m from and when I tell them I’m English they laugh. They think I’m Swedish.’
She added: ‘When people laugh, I laugh on the surface, but underneath I get sad.
‘I had a heart attack a few months before, I was feeling better and ready to go back to work.
‘One night I was talking to my sister on FaceTime and she noticed I was mixing up my words.
“I went to the hospital and they thought I had a stroke. They kept me for two weeks and then I was diagnosed.”
Although strokes are the most common cause of FAS, it can also occur after a brain injury, a brain hemorrhage, or a brain tumor.
Other causes mentioned in medical journals include multiple sclerosis and conversion disorder, in which a person experiences temporary physical symptoms such as blindness or paralysis.
After being rushed to hospital amid fears she had suffered a stroke, doctors diagnosed her with the unusual condition Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), which Ms Gailey believes is linked to a heart attack she previously suffered
Ms Gailey said she has visited a number of neurologists in the hope of regaining her original accent, but she fears she is ‘stuck’ with it ‘forever’
There have been cases around the world where people changed their accent from pure Japanese to Japanese with a Korean accent, and from British English to English with a French accent.
But IIn some cases, no clear cause has been identified. FAS, about which little is known, can last for months or years and sometimes even be permanent.
No further details about her diagnosis have been released.
Ms. Gailey says she has visited a number of neurologists in the hope of regaining her original accent, but she fears she will be stuck with it “forever.”
She said, “I don’t know if I’ll have the accent forever. It doesn’t feel good to think that it’s going to be like this forever.
‘My poor family has to make do with me. The longer I have the accent, the more likely it is to stick.
‘My brain will get used to speaking like this. It’s strange because when I sing I sound English.
“It changes depending on how much sleep I get. It’s so weird.”
She hopes that by making her voice heard she can raise awareness about FAS and encourage more research into the condition.
