A retired teacher is proving that life does not stop after having a brain injury - or three.

Phillip Lisgarten has baffled doctors because after landing on his head when he fell out of a window, crashing off his bike and hitting his head and then years later being hit by a car, he’s not only alive but loving every minute of life including studying astrophysics.

He was first injured while decorating his townhouse home when he accidentally broke the latch on a window on the second floor and fell out on August 31, 1979.

The then 25-year-old landed on his head on top of a car parked below but it broke his fall, keeping him alive.

His wife Judith, who was heavily pregnant with their first child, said she heard a thud and came running to find Phillip on the street below, swearing - something she had never heard him do.

The fall damaged the frontal lobe of his brain which is in charge of planning, emotional and behavioural control, personality, social skills, attention, flexible thinking and conscious movement.

Phillip also damaged his left temporal lobe which is responsible for memory, generating emotions and language.

As a result, his personality changed. He became even happier and without anxiety, however, he also suffered from memory loss and did not know who his wife was or that she was having their baby.

At the time, Phillip had just completed a master’s degree in astrophysics and the injury meant he had also forgotten large parts of it.

His daughter Rebekah said: “It was life-changing. He lost huge parts of his frontal lobe and temporal lobe.

“My mum worked with him to help him get much of his long-term memory back. It was like the quicker and more realistic version of the film 50 First Dates.”

Judith, 70, added: “You need to get through an hour at a time. There is no quick way through it, you live an hour at a time and make the best of it.”

In 2005, when Phillip was 50 years old, he suffered another brain injury. He had a seizure while cycling around Gillingham as a result of his brain starting to deteriorate.

He fell off his bike and landed on his head, damaging the right-hand side of his brain further and causing a blood clot which then dissipated.

Six years later, Phillip was then hit by a car while cycling through Strood and was knocked unconscious.

He was wearing a helmet, which medics think saved his life, but the injury caused more brain damage.

Due to the three injuries, the retired teacher struggles to learn new information and process it, has huge rigidity of thought, does not process emotions like most people and struggles with names and faces and short-term memory. He has also lost his sense of smell.

He has been described as a “medical mystery” by his doctors as his intelligence is unaffected and he can still enjoy studying astrophysics and maths while missing parts of his brain and has no care needs.

The family, who live between Dartford and Sevenoaks, have been helped by the brain injury association Headway which works to improve life after brain injury by providing support and information.

According to the charity, every year around 350,000 people are admitted to hospital with an acquired brain injury - one person every 90 seconds.

Phillip, 70, said: “My favourite song is Always Look on the Bright Side of Life and that is what I try to do.

“I want to inspire people that they can do things in their lives after their head injuries.”

The dad-of-six and granddad-of-five decided to use his experiences to focus on helping others facing their “own crisis” and has raised around £10,000 for different charities.

Last week, he walked 70km in one day to raise awareness and funding for the human trafficking charity Stop The Traffik. You can donate here.

Rebekah, who is a director at the organisation, said: “We like to think he is the luckiest man. He is not only surviving but is focused on helping others.

“You can do all these amazing things with a head injury, not in spite of it. There have been massive challenges but there is huge inspiration because of it.

“Lots of your life changes but out of some of that can come wonderful and really beautiful things.”

Judith added: “In some areas, the head injuries are negative, but in others it is a strength. It gave Phillip the potence to do something whereas others would have put up barriers.”