I woke up sounding WELSH - but I've never been there: Mystery of English ... trends now
An English woman who woke up with a Welsh accent — despite never visiting the country — is pleading for help to get her voice back.
Zoe Coles, 36, fears the distinctive accent is 'stuck' and won't disappear after she developed the voice overnight in June 2023.
The mother-of-two, of Stamford in Lincolnshire, is often asked if she's from Cardiff and can now roll her Rs.
Ms Coles, a former bartender, now gets 'anxious' whenever she leaves home as she feels like she 'doesn't fit in any more' because of her new voice.
She believes she has the extraordinarily rare foreign accent syndrome (FAS). There have only been around 150 cases documented worldwide since its first mention in 1907.
Zoe Coles, 36, (pictured) fears the distinctive accent is 'stuck' and won't disappear after she developed the voice overnight in June 2023, nine months ago
Zoe Coles shared her story on social media and revealed she has been stuck with a Welsh accent for nine months. Ms Coles said she gets 'anxious' still and doesn't feel like she fits in
It is usually the result of a head or brain injury, with strokes being the most common cause.
FAS can also occur after trauma to the brain, bleeding in the brain or a brain tumour.
Other causes reported in medical journals include multiple sclerosis and conversion disorder.
Ms Coles, who also has functional neurological disorder (FND), says that her accent returns 'back to English' when she has bad flare-ups.
She said: 'When I am having a bad flare-up and I can’t walk my old accent will return back to English.
'I have no idea why because it is so rare not much is known about it.'
Ms Coles, who originally developed a German accent before it morphed into Welsh, added: 'I am struggling a lot, you are born with a voice, you grow up and develop a way of speaking.
'That has been taken away from me.
'Even though it has given me a confidence boost, I would love everything to go away and life to go back to normal.'
Ms Coles is appealed for help on TikTok to find an expert or neurologist who can help her deal with the sudden change. But experts have told her there is nothing they can do
FND relates to a problem
