THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994 TAG: 9406020405
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940601 LENGTH: ELIZABETH CITY
And after talking with a sister Tuesday evening, the patient - who says he's suffering from amnesia and can't remember anything - was finally willing to accept his identity.
{REST} Haddock, about 35 and from Portsmouth, said he has been working to rediscover himself since May 22, when he wandered into the fire station in Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
Cold, tired and hungry, the barer patches on his bearded face littered with four to five days' growth, Haddock told officials he didn't know who or where he was.
Family members in Virginia who identified Haddock from a television report Friday include a sister, Vicki Haddock of Chesapeake, who called him.
The relatives said Michael Haddock had not been in contact with them for nearly three years, after he went through a bitter separation and lost a custody battle for his now 4-year-old son.
Family members said Haddock was born in Elizabeth City, attended Virginia Tech and became a successful chef in southeastern Virginia. They said they have been reluctant to visit him in the hospital because of past family troubles.
``There seems to be a lot of people out there who know me and identify me who don't seem to be willing to come down here and talk to me face to face,'' Haddock said before speaking to his sister Tuesday. Later he said she was planning to see him.
About half a dozen people have called since television and newspaper reports about the 6-foot-4, 335-pound man, hospital spokeswoman Bonnie McCrodden said. Officials have since been working to put the pieces together.
Some officials and family members have said privately they are skeptical that Haddock is telling the truth about being a victim of amnesia, but Haddock said he wouldn't expose himself in the media if his malady was a hoax.
``Believe me, I desperately want to remember,'' Haddock said. ``It's kind of hard to see this as a positive experience.''
Haddock said he awoke May 22 on the ground between a house and some sand dunes. He said he believes he wandered for some time before asking for help.
As doctors at a local clinic and later Albemarle Hospital began to examine the then still unidentified man, Haddock said he could give only one answer to any question put to him: ``I don't know.''
There was no indication that Haddock had been physically hurt. And no real clue as to who he was until the Friday news reports.
During his week and a half at the hospital, Haddock said he has been doing a lot of reading and watching a lot of television. His bedside table is stacked with news magazines and other periodicals.
``It's just so sporadic the things that I remember,'' said Haddock, who said he had been picking up general knowledge from his reading. ``It seems to be getting better, but I still haven't remembered anything about my life.
``It's very strange, very frustrating.''
by CNB