Derek Amato is an American who at one time got into many of the world's print media because of his truly amazing history.
Far from music, he woke up a musical genius one morning 13 years ago. Surprisingly, this happened after Derek suffered a concussion.
So, a head injury made him a genius overnight, moreover, from a beggar and homeless person, he turned into a musician, able to earn money with his music.
Derek Amato from Denver, Colorado, now 53 years old. It is not known exactly why he was homeless at one time, but it happened that way.
He himself says that he lost all his investments in the business. So, spending the night in the car, Derek unsuccessfully tried to find a job.
On October 27, 2006, Derek dived into a shallow pool and badly hit his head on the bottom. He suffered a concussion, but that was not all - along with this he suddenly had a strange gift - Derek began to "see" music.
By his own admission, his head was suddenly filled with music, he seemed to see with his inner vision some black and white squares that unmistakably suggested the piano keys.
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As a result, the mirage turned out to be a reality - Derek Amato, who before that could strum a few simple chords on the guitar, and never took music lessons in his life, suddenly began to play the piano excellently.
It turned out that what happened to Derek is the rarest case of the so-called Acquired Savant Syndrome. It is known that many gifted savants are such from birth, while there are no more than 30 people like Derek in the world.
Today, former loser Amato has become a respected musician. He still remembers in detail that autumn day of 2006, he remembers the silence that first settled inside his head when he left the ill-fated pool.
It seemed to him that his ears were bleeding, but by touching them with his fingers, he was convinced that this was not so. He saw that his friends were saying something to him, but he could not hear them.
He was taken to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed a severe concussion, as well as 35 percent hearing loss and partial memory loss.
However, today Derek does not regret for a minute about memory and hearing - in return he received his amazing gift, which he would never wish to part with. Moreover, he believes that the concussion is a very small price he paid for his new amazing abilities.
Derek says that by the time he had a concussion, he had been sleeping and living in the car for several months - financial affairs drove him to a standstill. Now everything has changed for him - he has become a professional musician.
Derek himself is very worried that his gift would not disappear as suddenly as it appeared. However, doctors state that the likelihood that the gift will go away is very small.
And in general, Derek Amato is now considered a unique person - cases when Savant's syndrome is not congenital, but acquired are extremely rare.
