A high school goalkeeper, Rueben Nsemoh, 16, has woken up from a coma speaking fluent Spanish despite never speaking the language before. He was playing soccer for an elite Gwinnett County national team when he dived for the ball when a player kicked him in the head. Reuben is now struggling to recover from a severe concussion that almost killed him after spending over a week in ICU.
The teen who is originally from Nigeria, was airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center, where he spent several days in a coma.
According to his WSB-TV, his mother, Dorah Nsemoh, that her son was speaking fluent Spanish, something he’s never done before. ‘Our life has changed through this process,’ his mother told the station.
The first thing the Brookwood High School (Snellville, Ga.) teen said after he motioned for food was:
“Tengo hambre,” meaning, “I am hungry” in Spanish.
His mother shocked mother said:
“I was very shocked. That’s something he’s never done before. When he got up and he started speaking Spanish, I was confused”.
Bruno Kalonji, Reuben’s soccer coach, told WSB-TV that Rueben stopped breathing several times at the time of the incident.
The Georgia teen who has a lot of Spanish speaking friends, believes this might have had something to do with the strange episode that shocked and confused his parents.
“My friends would always talk to me in Spanish and would teach me,” he told WSB. “I wasn’t perfect, but my brother is a really fluent Spanish speaker. So he kind of inspired me with that too.”
Rueben’s medical bills have peaked at $200,000, but a GoFundMe account has been set up to help his family offset the cost.
