Colorado boy hits head, wakes up a musical genius

SPORTS-mad Lachlan Connors was heartbroken when a concussion on the lacrosse field meant he would never be able to play contact sports again.

Then he discovered he suddenly had a new talent.

The Colorado teenager woke up with the ability to play musical instruments effortlessly.

When he was younger he had no musical talents at all, according to his mother Elsie Hamilton.

"He really had no talent. I would say 'Can't you hear what's next?' with something like Mary Had a Little Lamb or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and he'd say 'No'."

Mr Connors loved lacrosse and had ambitions to play professionally. But in the sixth grade he sustained a concussion during a game, CBS4 reports.

"I fell backwards and hit the back of my head on the ground. I remember getting up and feeling really dazed. I didn't really understand something bad had happened."

He was told he could retu to the field, but in subsequent games he sustained a number of hard hits. Mr Connors started to have epileptic seizures and hallucinations and was hospitalised for weeks.

Doctors told him he would never be able to play contact sports again. But he discovered he suddenly had some serious musical talent.

Now he can play more than 13 instruments by ear.

Dr. Spyridon Papadopoulos told CBS4 he has a theory that Mr Connors' talent was laying latent in his brain "and somehow was uncovered by his brain rewiring after the injury".

"Clearly something happened in his brain and his brain had to recover from injury and change happened. And change may have uncovered this ability no one knew he had," Dr Papadopoulos said.

Mr Connors agrees.

"I honestly think something got rewired. Something just changed, and thank God it did."