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 The 26-year-old has lost the ability to make and retain
short-term memories. Instead, he painstakingly records his days
in lined notebooks, crammed with entries in blue ink.
"I use the notebook to remember who I helped today, how much
farm work I did, whether there was rain ... the notebook is my
memory," said Chen, who lives with his stepmother, Wang
Miao-cyong, 65, in a remote village in Hsinchu County,
northwestern Taiwan.
"I once lost one of my notebooks. I was so sad that I was crying
and asked my dad to help me find it." (Click https://reut.rs/2zXJNmP
for a picture package of Chen and his notebook entries)
Since his father died four years ago, Chen and his stepmother
have lived on a government disability allowance and a small
income they get from farming fruit and vegetables, which they
barter with neighbors, some of whom call Chen "notebook boy".
Dr Lin Ming-teng, head of the psychiatry department at Taipei
Veterans General Hospital, said Chen has made remarkable
progress despite his extensive brain damage.
"From the X-ray, we can see a large part of his brain in black -
these are the sections that were operated on after the traffic
accident," Lin said.
"After losing such a substantial portion of his brain, it is
quite amazing for him to achieve what he is doing now," Lin
said, adding that Chen could only remember things he had done in
the last five to 10 minutes.
Lin said the damage had also affected Chen's ability to receive
and process information.
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"This has an effect on his relationship with his mother, too, as
sometimes his mother cannot get over the fact that he forgets
things," Lin said.
Wang longs to go back to her hometown in Indonesia, but she feels
she cannot leave Chen alone.
"If I leave, who will take care of my son? I can't imagine his
future after I die."
For now, Chen's notebooks allow him to preserve some semblance of
order in his life.
"October 26 go to Beipu alone, Chen clan organization, go find
phone, go Catholic church, Citian Temple, 10:38 ZZZ", reads one
poignant note about a day he spent searching for, and praying to
find, his lost mobile phone.
Ten days later, he found his phone, documenting the find in his
notebook, of course.
(This story has been refilled to fix paragraph four to add missing
link)
(Reporting by Tyrone Siu in Taipei, Writing by Anne Marie Roantree,
Editing by Karishma Singh)
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