Illinois teen's memory resets every 2 hours and doctors have no idea why

For months Riley Horner still wakes up thinking it's June 11 — the day of her accident. A student had kicked her in the head while crowdsurfing during a school dance, and since then she's experienced multiple seizures and a failing memory that resets every two hours.

Before the incident, Riley was a bright student and active athlete. Now she can't remember what happened to her earlier in the day.

"I'm very confused," Riley told ABC News. "I've tried to think back, and I can't."

Riley has been in and out of the hospital and doctors still deem her case a medical mystery. They can't find anything physically wrong with her through CT scans or MRIs, which makes coming up with the proper diagnosis nearly impossible.

According to the ABC News report, research shows that after six months of short-term memory loss, the damage can become irreversible, so Riley's family is frantic to find new opinions and options.

"They told us that she may just be like this forever, and I am not OK with that," said Sarah Horner, Riley's mom.

Not only does the memory loss cause problems for Riley at school — even minor things like remembering where her locker is located is an hourly battle — but it's taking an extra emotional toll on her family life.

"My brother passed away last week," said Sarah. "And she probably has no idea. And we tell her every day, but she has no idea about it."

To grapple with her situation, Riley writes detailed notes in class, takes photos of things that are happening and sets an alarm for every two hours so she can revisit everything that's just happened.

"I'm not making memories." said Riley. "And I'm just really scared."