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The accent transplant: Brain surgery leaves Yorkshire boy speaking like the Queen
Last updated at 16:52pm on 18.09.07
Fully recovered: William as he is today
But when he did speak weeks later, she was in for a shock.
He had lost his strong Yorkshire accent and was now speaking the Queen's English.
"We noticed that he had started to elongate his vowels in words like 'bath' which he never did before," said Mrs McCartney-Moore, 45, a music teacher from York.
"He no longer has short vowel sounds - they are all long. It's bizarre."
William was taken to hospital after suffering a fit in March last year.
"It all began with a headache," said Mrs McCartney-Moore, whose husband Barry is an IT consultant.
"William said his head really hurt above one eye and he had a high temperature.
"There was a bug going around school, so my husband and I didn't think it was any more than that. But a few days later he had a massive seizure."
Doctors discovered he had an abscess on his brain, known as a subdural empyema, which is caused by a rare strain of meningitis. He needed a lifethreatening operation to remove the fluid.
"All the doctors and surgeons thought he was going to die - nobody thought he was going to come out of surgery," added his mother.
"Before he went in I cut off a lock of his hair to keep."
Following the operation William, a pupil at Hempland Primary School in York, was in hospital for more than four weeks. He lost the ability to read and write and his memory was also affected.
But remarkably he was able to play the piano and trumpet much better than before.
After he came out of hospital William went on a family holiday to Northumberland with his parents and brothers Alex, 16, and Edward, 15.
"William was playing on the beach," said Mrs McCartney-Moore.
"He suddenly said, 'Look, I've made a sand castle' but really stretched the vowels out, which made him sound really posh.
"We all just stared back at him - we couldn't believe what we had just heard because he had a northern accent before his illness.
"But the strange thing was that he had no idea why we were staring at him - he just thought he was speaking normally."
Mrs McCartney-Moore, who took 18 months off work to nurse her son back to health, added: "He went from being such a bright, lovely, wonderful boy who was confident and socially aware, to being like a two-year-old who followed me everywhere like a toddler.
"It was such a shock because he had always been such a sparky, healthy little boy."
William has since returned to normal in everything but the way he speaks.
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Recovering in hospital: William had a rare strain of meningitis
Brain surgeon Paul Eldridge, who works at the specialist Walton Neurological Centre, Liverpool, said it was possible that the infection and abscess had affected the area of the brain which controls language skills, forcing William to learn how to speak again.
"It's as if he's re-learnt how to talk from listening to language from sources different to those that prompted his speech first time around."
Phil Edge, head of therapy at the brain injury charity, Brainwave, said: "I've heard of other patients developing changes in their speech or behaviour following a head injury or brain surgery, but not quite to this extent that an accent completely changes.
"Usually, a person's speech changes in pitch or tone, but it's interesting that this boy's lost his Yorkshire dialect completely.
"Obviously there has been some change to the central speech centre of his brain which has caused differences in how it is functioning now, compared with before the operation."
Last week the Daily Mail revealed how Czech speedway rider Matej Kus started speaking fluent English after he was knocked unconscious in a racing accident.
Despite knowing only basic English phrases before the crash, the 18-year-old, who made a full recovery, was able to chat with paramedics as they treated his injuries.
Reader views (31)
I had cranial plastic surgery (brain surgery) But thank got i was an infant! I feel bad for him. 8(
- Sarah .S., L.A. USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome
- K Mart, Los Angeles, USA
Thank God for creating science and medicine. And thank God for doctors who know where the appreciation lies.
- Todd, Dallas, United States
He's lucky really, he could have come out of this sounding like Keith Richards of the Stones.
- Dave, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
"Posh". What a quaint expression! Now the lad has the best of both worlds -- a Yorkshire heritage and a London accent. Well done!
- Comproff, USA
He is such a handsome boy, thank God and thank all the doctors, nurses etc of course.
- Linda Jordan, Virginia, USA
Thank God for medicine and science.
- Joe, USA
I'm just glad he's well. God Bless every parent with a sick child. There is nothing worse.
- Rex, Atlanta, US
Thank God that the young man has been liberated from that awful accent. Most of all the behaviours of the lower orders should be firmly suppressed.
- James, UK
How about instead of thanking a non existent being, you thank the amazing doctors that did this. Thank "god". Thank medicine and science.
- Jay, USA
"Leave it to an American to bring God into it?" The English would prefer arrogance to gratitude, I suppose?
- Wes, Spokane USA
I am sorry for those of you who think that God had no hand in this child's remarkable recovery.
- S. Hackworth, Texarkana, USA
I understand the neurosurgeon who performed this procedure refers to it as his crowning achievement.
- Scott Hallman, Granbury, Texas
Hey Tommy, it was God that saved this boy's life. A total miracle! God is great! God bless this young man throughout his life, and you too Tommy.
- Wayne, Toledo Ohio, USA
Quite right! He could be speaking French for all we know.
- The Davio, Stockholm, Sweden
William, you are doing great. Hang in their buddy! God bless.
- Karl, Washington, DC
Here's hoping that the boy doesn't turn insufferably snobbish and start using such queenly phrases as "We are not amused".
- J. Link, Boston, MA, USA
Best wishes William. I hope that the change in accent turns out to be nothing more than a quirk that you laugh about one day. I've actually heard of people who suffered brain trauma who lost the ability to speak their mother tongue, but were still able to communicate in a language they studied later in life.
- Joe Zingher, Gurnee, IL, USA
Cmon, Roz, let's not get our feathers plumped. Yes, they are certainly suggesting the queen's accent is more posh than a Yorkshireman's.
What of it? Don't the Frenchies consider the Parisian more posh than provincial accents? Or is it that the idea of "poshness" belongs on the puritan left's long list of criminal thoughts?
- Margaret, Los Angeles
Leave it to an American to bring God into it.
- Tommy Atkins, Chicago, US
Funny how Casper thinks speaking posh is speaking properly. Posh is just another accent. Anyone whose speech is understood is speaking properly, whatever their accent.
- Mick, London, England
It's great that he has recovered completely, but the two cases mentioned above just go on to impress us that we know nothing about the brain despite spending billions of dollars and endless man hours trying to fathom the mysteries.
- Kalpesh V. Upadhye, Pittsburgh, US
Or, we could bless the hard work of the hospital and the labours of scientists the world over to make this sort of treatment possible.
- Carla Pike, High Wycombe, Bucks
What a lucky boy! I just know that if a similar situation happened to me, I'd come out of the coma speaking latin!
- Matthew, Baton Rouge, LA
Just goes to show you, the great powers of the Queen. He is lucky to have had this happen to him in the UK, if it had taken place in the USA he would now be speaking like President Bush.
- Will Thomas, New York
What a wonderful testament to the power of the God-created human brain!
- Derf, Iowa, USA
Just be happy that he doesn't sound like Ozzy Osbourne!
- David, Florida
God bless this child.
- Gagalbert, Rochester, NY USA
What a wonderful result for William to recover from such a fatal infection. It is pleasing to know that there is good news sometimes.
I wish him and his family well.
- P.Robinson, Northants
Funny how speaking properly is considered to be speaking posh. Surely it is just speaking properly.
- Casper, Ibiza, Spain
"He went in with a York accent and came out all posh": surely they're not suggesting there are no 'posh' people in Yorkshire?
- Roz, Chamonix, France
