A concussion can affect your memory, reflexes, speech, balance, and even muscle coordination. People who suffer concussions often would even experience a brief period of amnesia, where the individual would not remember what happened to them before or after the injury. But could this be the reason Danny Filippidis seemingly disappeared for six days?
In 2018, Constantinos “Danny” Filippidis, a firefighter from Toronto, went missing during a ski trip in upstate New York. After six days in California, he surfaced wearing ski gear and no memory of how he got there. Medical experts say a concussion explains his amnesia.
Where Did They Find Danny Filippidis?
In 2018, Constantinos “Danny” Filippidis went missing while he was on a ski trip at Lake Placid in upstate New York. Six days later, he was found in Sacramento, California, wandering about with no memory of how he got there.
A year after the incident, Filippidis is back working as the captain of the Toronto Fire Services. The doctors on his case have concluded that he had most likely suffered a head injury while he was out skiing and suffered a concussion that led to his days-long amnesia. They have also confirmed there is no long-lasting physical damage.
However, experts from The Doc Project say that brain injuries are quite complex, and it will be challenging to describe the whole picture. Until today, Filippidis is experiencing memory gaps from his long-term memory, which isn’t likely to come back for years or even at all. (Source: CBC)
The Sequence of Events
Michelle McQuigge, a reporter for the Canadian Press, was the only media personnel granted access to speak with Filippidis. She also talked to The Doc Project regarding some details she had uncovered while speaking with Filippidis.
There hadn’t been a sense of any sort of a major avalanche or anything like that, but it’s a ski trip, so anything could have happened.
Michelle McQuigge, Canadian Press
In an interview with Filippidis, McQuigge shares the sequence of events he remembers from the whole incident. It all started on February 2, 2018, when Filippidis left his friends in the Whiteface Mountain Ski Resort to get his cellular phone from his vehicle. From that point, no one saw him at the mountain again. He believes he lost consciousness shortly after separating from his friends. What he remembers is waking up cold and sore.
A massive search was conducted after he didn’t return to where his friends were, and he did not remember much about the next few days, but he recalls flagging down a truck to hitch a ride off the mountain. The next thing he knew, he was already in Utah, and the driver then dropped him off in Sacrament, with his ski gear in tow. He only had one credit card on him and no ID. He eventually got a new phone, but it took him a few days to remember his wife’s number.
I called, and someone else answered. It was one of the wives of one of my friends. She told me, ‘You know, everybody is looking for you. We’re all here in Lake Placid.’ And I just remember the waves of emotion.
Constantinos “Danny” Filippidis
Filippidis got home safely but was surrounded by endless questions about his disappearance. But according to medical experts, everything points to a concussion.
The incident could be a combination of retrograde amnesia — loss of memory of events before a blow to the head — and anterograde amnesia, loss of memory of events after a blow to the head. It happens maybe in 10 per cent of cases of concussion that there is a period of amnesia.
Dr. Charles Tator, Brain Surgeon, Toronto Western Hospital’s Canadian Concussion Center
(Source: CBC)