WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Charli Robertson is like many teenage girls. She loves Taylor Swift and her music. “I want to write about Taylor Swift,” Charli said to English teacher Mary Lee. "I want to get Taylor Swift's attention." According to WGHP, the high school senior has been trying to get the country-pop musician's attention for more than three years to personally say thank you.
"I wanted to say thank you to her for helping bring my memory back," Charli said.
In the fall of 2012, Charli, who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair, suffered seizures so severe they erased her memory.
"I didn't know my own mother," Charli said. "I didn't even know who I was."
"It got to a point, I was wondering, was she ever going to come back?" said Sheri Robertson, Charli's mom. "[Doctors] had kind of given up because they had done everything."
Sheri says nothing worked to break Charli's amnesia except the day she played the music of Taylor Swift. "There was an immediate reaction ... she was singing the words," Sheri said. "She would get all of her memory back by April [2013]."
The song "Mean," stirred Charli's memory and her spirit.
"I think it was the part, “You can't take me down,” that brought me back," said Charli. "I want to say thank you to her."
“Taylor Swift’s music was the connection to the past and present,” Lee said. Lee isn't Charil's teacher, but she befriended her in the high school library one afternoon and ever since has been working to help her reach out to Swift, doing everything from writing to tweeting.
"Charli is joy in life," Lee said.
Lee worked to help Charli get tickets to see Swift in concert when she comes to Greensboro in October. But Charli wants to personally thank the singer.
So, WGHP and local radio personalities helped secure Charli backstage passes to meet Swift during her October concert.
“You made my dream come true,” Charli said.
