A Taiwanese, Chen Hongzhi, 25, from Hsinchu county, is suffering a unique condition,he can't remember anything for more than five minutes. The young man literally has to start his life from scratch every day. But in order to surmount the challenge, Hongzhi writes down every single thing about himself in a diary so that he can remain in touch with everything around him.

Hongzhi’s amnesia is the result of a serious head injury sustained during a car accident when he was 17. After spending months in intensive care, his body finally recovered but the span of his memory was reduced to only five minutes. This has sadly left him forgetting everything in the space of five minutes.

According to Daily Mail UK, when the 25-year-old wakes up every morning, his mother, Wang Miao-chiong, reminds him that he is no longer 17 before handing him his notebook so that he can catch up on everything that has happened since the accident.

“This is my record, I write in it every day, even if it is pouring down with rain or if I don’t go out to do the weeding I still must write, ‘Heavy rain,’” he said. “Whenever I get home from any time away I quickly grab my notebook and write down important things from the day – who I’ve met, what I’ve done, how much money I got from recycling bottles, all that sort of stuff.”

Miao-chiong, who is now 60 years old, says that the system they’ve established is working pretty well. Although Hongzhi’s condition makes it impossible for him to get a job, the family is able to get by on donations from neighbours and friends.