A MAN in the US, who was being treated for cancer, developed an uncontrollable “Irish brogue” accent, despite having never visited Ireland, researchers say.
The researchers said his symptoms were consistent with foreign accent syndrome (FAS).
The man, aged in his 50s, was diagnosed with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer and was receiving treatment, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal.
He had no neurological examination abnormalities, psychiatric history or MRI of the brain abnormalities when the symptoms began.
It’s been reported that the man had lived in England in his 20s and had friends and distant family members from Ireland. However, he had never visited Ireland and had no immediate relatives from here.
Researchers reportedly said he maintained his Irish accent throughout the 20 months of his treatment, and a gradual onset of paralysis, until his death.
“Despite chemotherapy, his neuroendocrine prostate cancer progressed resulting in multifocal brain metastases and a likely paraneoplastic ascending paralysis leading to his death,” the researchers said.
They said his accent change was most consistent with an underlying paraneoplastic neurological disorder (PND).
PND happens when a cancer patients’ immune system also attacks parts of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves or muscles.
In 2010, The Guardian reported the case of Sarah Colwill, a UK woman whose native west country accent was replaced by a Chinese lilt about seven years after she suffered a stroke.
In 2006, UK woman Linda Walker suffered a stroke and discovered that her Geordie accent had been replaced by a Jamaican-sounding voice, the BBC reported.
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