Fit sparked wedding memory loss

As if your wedding day is not nerve-wracking enough, one County Durham woman walked down the aisle not knowing who she was marrying.

Katie Spinks, from Darlington, suffered an epileptic fit less than an hour before she got married, causing her to forget her partner of three years Mike.

But despite that, she said her vows and only later remembered who he was.

Doctors in Middlesbrough have been carrying out a series of tests to try to find the cause of the fits.

The 26-year-old told how on the day of her wedding three years ago, she suffered a sharp pain and flashing lights before falling to the floor.

She said the next thing she knew her father was helping her up and she was wondering why he was so smart before noticing she was wearing a wedding dress.

'Awful feeling'

She said: "Getting to the reception and having all the pictures took and I'm meant to be gazing lovingly into my husband's eyes.

"Yes I was gazing, but I didn't know who I was gazing at. It was an awful feeling.

"I think it was about an hour into the do when I remembered him. I couldn't remember his name though so I said: 'Oh hello husband'."

One possibility was that her epilepsy was triggered by her pregnancy with her second daughter, who is now three.

She said she can suffer up to 20 fits in a day and quite often they are linked to memory loss too.

Mrs Spinks said: "They are part of our daily lives now."

Hoping for answers

She said she cannot do basic tasks around the house like use the cooker or make cups of tea if she is by herself.

Doctors at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough are putting her through a series of tests and results are expected next month.

Mrs Spinks said her real fear was her memory going and not coming back and that the feeling of forgetting her children was awful.

She said she was hoping experts would be able to give her some answers.

She said: "I hope that they can find something that can be fixed."

Mr Spinks, 33, said he had come home from work once and she had not let him into the house because she did not know him.

He said: "At the time I was worried. Obviously I am used to it now."