Teenager Becomes Musical Genius After Suffering Head Injury
Lachlan Connors was playing lacrosse in the sixth grade when he hit his head on the ground and sustained a concussion. Although he began to display "concerning behaviors," he was allowed to return to sports. Soon after, another concussion sent him to the hospital for weeks and Connors began suffering from epileptic seizures and mini-hallucinations.
The Colorado teenager was saddened to learn he could never play contact sports again, but while recovering from the head injuries, he realized he could suddenly play music with little effort. According to his mother, Elsie Hamilton, Connors had displayed no musical talent before the accident. "I would say 'Can't you hear what's next?' with something like 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' or 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' and he'd say 'No,'" she said.
But now a junior in high school, Connors plays 13 instruments, including bagpipes (both Scottish and Irish), piano, guitar, mandolin, and karimba. According to Connors' physician, Dr. Spyridon Papadopoulos:
"This was not a small injury for him," Papadopoulos said.
"The thought is just a theory — that this was a talent laying latent in his brain and somehow was uncovered by his brain rewiring after the injury. Clearly something happened in his brain and his brain had to recover from injury and change happened. And change may have uncovered this ability no one knew he had."
Connors cannot read music and plays all of the instruments by ear. And while some do question whether or not a brain injury helped uncover his talent, Connors believes it did. "I honestly think something got rewired," he said. "Something just changed, and thank God it did."