FOX8 WGHP reports that Caitlin Little, a Greensboro-area woman whose memory loss began after a 2017 cross-country practice injury, has married. For more than four years, she woke believing each day was Friday, Oct. 13, 2017; reports describe a prolonged recovery without a clear prognosis.
The injury and its aftermath
According to FOX8 WGHP, Little was injured during cross-country practice at Southeast Guilford High School on Oct. 12, 2017. She was first diagnosed with a severe concussion and later with anterograde amnesia, which prevented her from forming new memories. For more than four years, she woke up thinking it was Oct. 13, 2017, the day after the injury, the station reported.
Her parents, Chris and Jennifer Little, described the years of care and uncertainty to FOX8. They said one or both of them needed to be with Caitlin around the clock for five years. Jennifer Little said the family had no recovery plan, end date, outline or prognosis during that period.
A search for answers
The family sought medical help from doctors around the country. A 2022 report from The Hill said Little’s parents had consulted 70 physicians. FOX8 reported that a doctor eventually suggested testing for Lyme disease, and Little tested positive.
What North Carolina guidance says
North Carolina’s Gfeller-Waller Concussion Awareness Act required students in interscholastic athletics who showed signs or symptoms consistent with concussion to be removed from activity and barred from returning to play or practice that day, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. The law does not establish how it was applied in Little’s case or address her individual medical clearance. For statewide context, the North Carolina Division of Public Health reported an average of 2.30 confirmed and probable Lyme disease cases per 100,000 residents annually from 2013 through 2017; that population-level figure does not establish the cause of an individual’s symptoms. North Carolina DHHS says Lyme disease diagnosis is based on symptoms and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks, with laboratory testing serving as a helpful tool.
FOX8 reported that Little also traveled several times a year to South Dakota for injections of her own stem cells into her spine. She worked separately with Pittsburgh-based concussion specialist Charles Simkovich, who had developed his own treatment protocol. The station said three other physicians learned of her case through its earlier reports.
Signs of recovery
Little’s improvement became more apparent over time. By 2022, FOX8 reported, she was again able to process long-term memories. In The Hill’s October 2022 account, her father recalled noticing a change when she remembered details about two kittens from an event that had taken place at least 90 minutes earlier.
That October, Little ran a 5K and later recalled details about the course and how she and other runners had approached it, her parents told The Hill. They saw her ability to remember the race as a sign of progress.
What the evidence can—and cannot—say
A scoping review in the journal Brain Injury found that subtle memory and attention deficits can persist among long-term outcomes of adolescent mild traumatic brain injury. The review does not explain or predict Little’s unusual, years-long amnesia. On Lyme disease, the North Carolina guidance cited above emphasizes that diagnosis draws on symptoms and the possibility of tick exposure, with lab tests as a helpful tool; the state also cautions against testing people without typical symptoms. Under that guidance, a positive test alone is not the full diagnostic basis for determining what caused an individual’s symptoms.
Life after recovery
Little told FOX8 that public recognition and messages of support over the years have been uplifting. Her mother, Jennifer Little, said the family’s experience showed them that people can do the impossible.
