'I woke up with a Welsh accent and I can't get my old voice back'
19.03.2024 - 08:23
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A woman who woke up with a Welsh accent is still living with it - months after her unusual ordeal began. Zoe Coles says she has never been to Wales.
But she developed a new twang overnight last June - and has sounded more like Charlotte Church or Stacey Shipman ever since. The mum-of-two says she's often asked if she's from Cardiff.
The issue has left Zoe struggling, and desperate for her old voice back. Zoe even feels 'anxious' leaving the house, as she doesn't fit in with the other locals in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
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Former bartender Zoe, 36, said: "I am struggling a lot, you are born with a voice, you grow up and develop a way of speaking. That has been taken away from me.
"Even though it has given me a confidence boost, I would love everything to go away and life to go back to normal. I would love my old accent back but there is a concern that my FND will get worse if it returns."
Zoe says she never used to be able to do a Welsh accent or roll her R's. She was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a condition where there is a problem with how the brain sends and receives signals in January 2022.
Because of this, Zoe often has ticks, memory problems, slurred speech and pain in her legs. She said: "I was a full-time working mum, I could get up and clean the house in two hours, have a shower, get ready, go shopping, go to work and come home.
"Now I have to be assisted in the shower in case my legs go on me, I can't do the house work in two hours it is more like two days. I get so tired so quickly, I can do the shopping because I can hold the trolly but I can't do much more. It completely wipes me out."
Nine months