After a disastrous head injury from a fall down the stairs two weeks ago, assumed cat owner Abe Box is still trying to fully recover from lingering amnesia. Receiving his phone after waking from a coma of a few days, Box assumed he would be able to relearn himself and get back to the usual routine quickly. That, however, ended up being far from the case.
When paramedics found Box unconscious in his home after being called by a neighbor, they also discovered his iPhone at the bottom of a bucket of water being used for his leaking roof. Assuming the phone fell in when Brain tripped, the paramedics brought the phone in with him.
Due to the water damage and a lucky penned scrawl on his arm saying, “PHONE PASSWORD,” Brain was able to get into his phone, but found it mostly unusable. All of his contacts were missing, no photos were backed up, and he didn’t know the password to his Instagram. Finding only one app remaining in its previous state, Box thought it seemed promising and focused his future on the Notes app.
Hewas initially exalted when scanning notes labeled, “Dad’s Birthday Present Ideas” and “Netflix Password,” assuming the discovery of his real life was on the horizon, but grew increasingly confused when he took the time to read some of the other notes.
After finding real headings and text such as “what do i want to do with m life: get shredded cheese and bread,” “big oil guy in charge of un climate summit,” “insta post caprinos: my annual post,” “t swift, hobby lobby, playas the ultimate list,” “things to do: aqua boggin,” “shows to Watch: Lucifer, vegetables,” “when you stop cpr,” “shampain,” “moon: no sky no ocean no life,” “beaver idea: beaver swimming laps, beaver mango tree, beaver cooking,” “3 truths 1 lie: i’ve never played golf” and “ambitions: jeans, caprisun, curtains, pistachio?, GRAPHING CALCULATOR,” Box fell back into his coma after feelings of extreme anxiety and mental overwhelmedness.
According to his doctors, who shared this list with the public to discourage any other amnesiatic patients from following Box’s example of using the notes app, Box was “extremely confused and concerned” about what his life was.
The lead doctor for Box at UNC Hospital, Sarah Jones, had never seen this dangerous phenomenon before, but was worried of it happening again to others.
“He was so worried that all he had wanted in life was jeans and a graphing calculator that he just passed out. That visceral reaction told me that he had humanity, but might mean a longer stay in our coma ward,” Jones said. “Abe didn’t realize that the notes app is never used to write notes about yourself, just unintelligible words and phrases that you look back at later and question.”
Box has already begun the road to a full recovery, went viral on TikTok for his 12-part health-scare story and is scheduled for a TED Talk next month about his experiences with the notes app.
*all notes taken directly from Ananya’s phone
Image by Hammond Cole Sherouse/The ECHO
