Brain injury gives woman affinity for art, poetry and math

MAYBELL, Colo., May 15 (UPI) -- A former Colorado rancher who lost all memories of her life with a 2009 traumatic brain injury said her new interests include art, poetry and high-level math.

Leigh Erceg, 47, said she has no memory of her life as a ranch worker in Maybell, Colo., before falling into a ravine in 2009.

"I don't know what type of fall it was but it must have been pretty dramatic," Erceg told ABC News. "I just remember them saying 'Leigh, keep breathing.' I remember it was a sheriff, and he said, 'Leigh keep breathing.' There isn't pictures, there is just words, 'Leigh keep breathing.'"

She said her memories left her completely when she suffered seizures following her accident.

Erceg said she lost her ability to feel emotion, a condition doctors call "flat effect," and she also discovered an affinity for art, poetry and high-level math, which lifelong friends said was out of character for the former NASCAR fan with a degree in physical education.

Doctors said Erceg was found to have "acquired savant syndrome," enhanced cognitive abilities in fields such as art and math that weren't previously present, and synesthesia, a condition that causes her senses to overlap -- she can see sounds and hear colors.

"Leigh is the only woman in the world who has acquired savant syndrome and synesthesia following brain injury that I know of," said Dr. Berit Brogaard, a University of Miami neuroscientist who has been studying the changes brought on by Erceg's traumatic brain injury.

Brogaard said the way Erceg experiences the world has dramatically changed.

"Most people, if you ask them to draw a house or a car, they will start with the outline of the car or house, and they will fill in the windows and door, and the wheels," Brogaard said. "When you ask Leigh to draw something, she will start with the details. She will start with the windows or the wheels -- the details, and fill out that way. She is attending to details before she is attending to the whole."

Erceg, who founded a support group for traumatic brain injury survivors in Hayden, Colo., said she considers herself lucky.

"I'm one of those people who's gotten lucky," she told Psychology Today. "I think of it as a growing thing that made me stronger.