A crash victim who suffered a brain injury in a collision with a tractor stunned medics when he woke from a coma - only able to speak Malay.

Edinburgh resident Fraser Watt, 60, spent more than a month in intensive care after his car collided with the farming vehicle on a road between St Andrews and Dundee in 1983.

He spoke about his experience at the launch of a new base for the charity Edinburgh Headway in Craigmillar, which helps people with brain injuries.

Medics rushed to save Mr Watt following the incident but the injuries he sustained resulted in him losing almost a quarter of his brain.

He lost around a quarter of his brain in the accident

Mr Watt, who was 24 at the time of the crash, shocked doctors when he woke up speaking Malay - the language he spoke as a child while growing up in Borneo.

Mr Watt lived in Borneo with his civil engineer father and spent a lot of time with the family's cook, becoming Chinese and Malaysian by the age of five.

But family members were shocked when he woke up communicating in a language he had not spoken for almost 20 years.

'Everyone was stunned'

He said: "Everyone was stunned when I spoke Malaysian - so was I because although I was fluent as a child I hadn't spoken Malaysian for 19 years before the crash.

"My mum was at my bedside so she could translate for the doctors until the end of the day when my English returned."

Mr Watt returned to Scotland in the 1970s and later gained a degree in chemistry and biology at Abertay University in Dundee.

He was driving home one night in 1983 when a tractor pulled out in front of him.

Despite wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash he broke through the windscreen and suffered serious injuries.

It is understood the tractor driver who caused the crash received three points on his licence after driving on a provisional licence with no L-plates and faulty brakes on the trailer.

But the life-changing injuries to the front and back of Mr Watt's brain resulted in several years of recovery, forcing him to learn how to walk again.

Mr Watt, from Edinburgh, said he still feels painful, migraine-like headaches on a daily basis, more than 30 years after the crash.

'Memory scrambled'

He said: "My memory is now permanently scrambled but every so often an isolated memory comes to the surface for me to see.

"The biggest struggle though is because I look fine on the surface people assume I'm stupid or they just don't have the patience while I struggle to recall memories or articulate thoughts."

Mr Watt added: "Other than that, I've learned how strong I really am and how to survive whatever comes my way."

He revealed the surprising turn of events at the opening of a new base for brain injury charity the Edinburgh Headway group in the capital on Wednesday.

The charity aims to "empower and enrich the lives of adults who have survived an acquired brain injury" through a programme of rehabilitation.

Michelle Keenan, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Headway, said: "There are many brain injury survivors like Fraser who feel their lives would be improved if others understood their injury.

"For more than 35 years our charity has provided brain injury survivors with rehabilitation services and this new centre helps us meet the demand for this vital support network as local survivors rebuild their lives."


