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A Calamvale woman remembers every single day she’s lived in vivid detail — but for Rebecca Sharrock, her rare memory can make everyday life feel like living in the past as much as the present.

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Rebecca graduated from Calamvale Community College in 2007. She is one of fewer than 80 people worldwide known to have Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), a condition that means she can recall almost every moment since she was a baby. 

Researchers first confirmed her condition in 2013 after her mother connected her story to a documentary about people with unusually strong memories.

Living With Endless Memories

While many locals might forget what they had for breakfast yesterday, Rebecca can describe what she wore, what she ate and what the weather was like on any day decades ago. She remembers being wrapped in a pink blanket as an infant, sitting in the driver’s seat of her mum’s car at just 12 days old, and feeling the sting of a grazed knee at age three so strongly that even now, she says the pain sometimes echoes.

Her vivid recall extends far beyond family moments. She can recite every word of all seven Harry Potter books, a skill she developed as a child when her parents encouraged her to recite the stories to calm her thoughts. Rebecca’s ability means she also remembers nearly every dream she’s ever had, and she says she can even adjust her dreams while asleep to stop nightmares.

The Challenges of Never Forgetting

While some might wish for a perfect memory, Rebecca says her condition often feels more like a burden than a gift. Every memory comes with the same emotions she felt at the time.

Remembering hurtful moments or bullying at school still brings back the pain exactly as it felt when she was young. Even visiting her old school for her sister’s graduation once brought on such strong memories that she left in tears.

Rebecca explains that her mind replays memories constantly, day and night. She needs background noise and soft light to fall asleep, because silence makes her thoughts too loud. She crosses off a calendar every day to help separate the past from the present. Forgetting a date or mixing up days frightens her more than most people can understand.

Doctors say people with HSAM forget things at a much slower rate than others but their memories mostly stick to events in their own lives, not facts learned by rote. Studies have also found that people with HSAM often share traits with obsessive-compulsive behaviour, which Rebecca experiences alongside autism and anxiety.

Helping Science and Staying Positive

Rebecca has worked with scientists from the University of California, Irvine and the University of Queensland, hoping her memory can help researchers understand more about how the brain stores life events and what that might mean for conditions like Alzheimer’s.

Though she sometimes wishes her mind could switch off, she says she has learned to handle her memories by focusing on the good ones. At the start of every month, she picks out favourite moments from the same month in past years to help push back the painful ones.

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Despite the mental clutter, Rebecca says she wants to keep her mind the way it is. She does not want to change how she thinks or feels because her memory is simply part of who she is — a local from Calamvale with a story that the rest of the community might find hard to forget.

Published 9-July-2025