Man's memory loss may be caused by seizures

Adam Brown said he had a strange feeling when he dropped off his friend and former roommate, Ryan Brow, at the Littleton light- rail station last week.

"I knew something crazy was going to happen," Brown said Friday.

But he had no idea just how crazy until an Arapahoe County sheriff's deputy stopped by Tuesday night and told him that Brow, 20, had turned up at a church in West Vancouver, British Columbia, a couple of days earlier with $1,000 of Canadian currency, a hockey bag stuffed with wet goalie equipment and not a clue as to who he was.

"I was flabbergasted. I was really nervous for him," Brown, 21, said from his Centennial home, where Brow lived for a year before briefly moving to Omaha in August.

On Friday, Brow remained in Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. Five days earlier, he had walked into the West Vancouver United Church and told the Rev. Don Collett: "This may sound funny, but I don't know my name. I don't know who I am."

Police at first thought Brow was a victim of amnesia but said medical tests ruled that out.
Brow was not carrying any identification, but authorities were able to learn his name Tuesday from a Canadian customs agent, who had processed the young man when he entered the country by bus from Washington State three days earlier.

Brown, who graduated from Aurora's Grandview High School in 2003 and attended Metropolitan State College with Brow, said Brow moved to Colorado from California in the ninth grade.
He said his friend had experienced seizures since being involved in a major car accident in California four years ago.

He remembered Brow falling "right on his face" from a seizure on prom night a couple of years ago. So when he heard about Brow's amnesialike state in Canada, Brown said he began to suspect the seizures.

Worse yet, Brow's mother in Omaha told him that her son can't remember anything from the past four months.

"It blows my mind because I hung out with him for the last three weeks," Brown said.
West Vancouver police said this week that doctors say Brow does not have amnesia but haven't said what may have caused his memory lapse.

Police also haven't been able to confirm the details of an account Brow gave them of being dropped off at a Vancouver bridge by a crying woman claiming to be his mother.
Brown said he is skeptical it ever happened.

"I can guarantee you that it's not his mother or any girl he knows," he said.
Brown said his friend may have been at a point in his life where he was attempting to try new things and gain fresh experiences and it simply overwhelmed him.

Brown said his friend recently decided to join an overseas philanthropic group that was going to Indonesia.

"He said he was tired of living for himself and that he wanted to help other people," Brown said.
Brow left Omaha and returned to Centennial about a month ago to say goodbye to his friends in Colorado, Brown said.

But Brown said when the Indonesia trip was canceled last week over concerns about avian bird flu, Brow sold off his belongings and asked Brown for a ride to the light-rail station.

He told Brown he was headed to Alaska to do forest revitalization.

"He's not a crazy person," Brown said of Brow. "He's a very positive person, and he's in a part of his life where he wants to help out other people."

"I want to make sure everything works out for him. When your friend goes through something like this, it's a scary situation," he said.