A rugby player weighing 125kg experienced a stroke during training, and upon waking, realized he was gay.
At 26, Chris Birch had recently proposed to his girlfriend and was employed at a bank when a freak accident occurred in the gym.
The Welshman, who loved rugby, attempted a back flip to impress his friends, resulting in a broken neck and a stroke.
After the incident, he was taken to the Royal Gwent hospital in Wales, where his family and girlfriend anxiously awaited updates regarding his condition.
His friends were taken aback by the substantial shifts in his personality, particularly regarding his newfound sexuality.
Chris expressed: ‘It may sound strange, but as soon as I regained consciousness, I sensed a change within myself.
‘I lost interest in women entirely. I knew for certain I was gay.
‘I had never felt attraction toward a man before—nor had I ever had gay friends. However, I felt it important to embrace my true feelings, regardless of my past.’
Previously, he worked at a bank and spent weekends enjoying sports and drinking beer with friends who shared his love for rugby.
Following the stroke, he realized that sports held little interest for him, and he found himself growing apart from his former friends.
He left his banking job to pursue a career in hairdressing and began dating a man he met at a club night.
Residing in Ystrad Mynach, south Wales, Chris remarked: ‘I suddenly despised everything about my old lifestyle. I clashed with my friends, lost interest in sports, and found my job unexciting.
‘I started to take greater care of my appearance, bleached my hair, and began working out.
‘I transformed from a 125kg skinhead into a 71kg well-groomed individual.
‘People I once knew struggled to recognize me, and with my new look, I gained even more confidence.’
His family found it difficult to accept his sudden identity transformation, prompting him to relocate from home.
Chris retrained as a hairdresser and now resides with his partner Jack Powell, 19, above the salon where he works.
He consulted his neurologist, who suggested that the personality changes might stem from the stroke activating different regions of his brain.
There have been instances where patients developed different accents or discovered artistic talents following strokes.
