Kent Cochrane was born in 1951, lived in Toronto Canada where he worked as in a manufacturing plant. Kent was described as a bit of a wild child, playing cards all hours of the night, in rock bands, partying at Mardi Gras, fist fights among other things. He had been knocked unconscious on two occasions, once in a dune-buggy accident and once when he was hit in the head with a bale of hay. In 1981, Cochrane skidded off an exit ramp while riding his motorcycle, he was 30 years old. (Kean, 2014)
Kent spent a month in intensive care, and doctors stated he lost both hippocampus. There is one in each hemisphere of the brain. This retrieves old memories and helps create and store new ones. If these are not functioning, it was believed that dates, names and other information is not retained. This is where KC’s story has changed that belief.
After his motorcycle accident, K.C. did not forget who he was, his likes and dislikes, and he could make few new memories, and lost the majority of his past memories. K.C. was studied by a neuroscientist, Tulving, where he found Kent remembered certain things but the memories were about subjects that could be researched and lacked emotion. They were “semantic memories”. (Kean, 2014) He could not describe any memories of things he had done in his life, seen or felt. The personal memories he had seemed to not hold any emotion, simply just things that occurred in his life.
To access old semantic memories, the brain may use the parahippocampus, an extension of the hippocampus on the brain’s southernmost surface. Scientists state that Kents parahippocampuses survived, could remember to hit the eight ball last in pool (semantic knowledge), even though he could not remember the last time he played pool with his friends (personal knowledge). (Kean, 2014)
Kent also helped scientists understand another distinction in memory research. This was understanding recollection and familiarity. Recollection is usually thought to mean that the person remembers something specifically and familiarity means that something sounds familiar. Kent helped researchers find that the brain can do the same. Doctors developed a list of words and placed fake words in the mix. Kent was able to pick out the real words from the fake works with ease, however did not know the definition. They also tried this with a list of names, famous people who became important after 1981. He could pick out the famous names but didn’t know why they were famous. This told neuroscientists that recollection does require the hippocampus and only certain patches of the cortex are needed to feel familiarity. (Kean, 2014)

References
Kean, S. (2014, April 6). RIP, K.C. Retrieved from theslate.com: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/04/amnesia_patient_kc_was_kent_cochrane_the_hippocampus_makes_memories_personal.2.html