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Each day is a new one for Slade drummer Don Powell
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Every morning drummer Don Powell, drummer with the pop group Slade wakes up with his mind as blank as a new born baby's. Slowly he remembers who he is; occasionally he remembers where he is, but normally he has to refer to a large diary at his bedside. For the past six years, Don Powell has suffered from amnesia. It was caused by a bad car crash. The smashed skull Powell received in the accident has left him with no memories of the accident or events leading up to it. More seriously it has damaged his ability to remember anything for more than an hour or so. The first Don knew of the accident was when he woke up in hospital, nobody had expected him to wake up at all: his injuries were so severe it was thought he would die. " I woke up shivering as if I were on a bed of ice. There were tubes every-- where. I unhooked myself from various contraptions and went into a bathroom. I looked into a mirror and I think I screamed. I had no hair, a puffy bruised face and metal clamps held my skull together." Doctors and friends pieced the events together. Slade were number one in the charts with Skweeze Me Pleeze Me. The day of the accident they were to appear on Top Of The Pops. Don and his girlfriend headed for the television studio's in his Bentley. For some unknown reason the car crashed into the wall of a school in the bands home town of Wolverhampton. The girl died and Don was rushed to hospital. When he came to, he didn't remember that he played drums or that he owned a Bentley. Worst of all he couldn't remember the girl. "It was terrible. I could recall a girl to whom I had been engaged to three years previously, but that was all. Apparently I had been dating the girl who died for a year." Later, Don went to see the girls parents: "It was awful for them and for me. Everything I said was wrong. I just couldn't remember." For a concussion victim to forget details
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of his accident, and things that happened before the accident is quite common. But Don's injuries were so severe that they affected his 'short term' memory as well. "It was frustrating. I am told that I used to have such a good memory. But now I can remember for only about half an hour I live by my diary. I write everything down. When I wake up in the morning, I don't know where I am. At first I used to worry about it, but now I just relax and look in my diary. If it comes back to me great, if it doesn't I don't panic anymore. I look back at what I did the day before. I look around the room to see if there's anything I recognise. If I'm at home it's not so bad, but if I'm in a hotel----well, I'll tell you, I've woken up and not known what country I'm in." Doctors said that the best thing for Don was to get back to work. This presented difficulties as he had forgotten all the old tunes, and found it difficult to memorise new ones. But the members of Slade--friends from boyhood--were patient. They waited for Don, it took a long time. "At first, I didn't want to work. I thought I wasn't ready. But the others made me. They carried me on the stage. They even hid my crutches." Gradually he relearned the old songs. By constantly repeating them he was able to 'drum' them into his 'long term' memory. "But even now, I blank out sometimes and just have to bluff my way through." Don has become used to living his life day by day. "Sometimes I'll look back in my diary and see we've been in Japan or Australia on a certain date and I'll try to recall what it was like there. On the day John Lennon died, I put it in my diary and underlined it." Don's poor memory has led to some embarrassment with girlfriends. " I make a date and forget to turn up. Sometimes I forget what the girl looks like or her name I've learnt all sorts of tricks for getting people to repeat their names. The great thing is not to panic or force your memory.
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Don Powell of Slade survived this crash but lost his memory. "I live by my diary now," he says, "I write everything down"
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