The longest coma after which a person woke up. Coma and cases of prolonged stay in it

Coma, coma (from Greek koma - deep sleep, drowsiness) - life threatening a condition characterized by loss of consciousness, a sharp weakening or lack of response to external stimuli, the extinction of reflexes until they disappear completely, a violation of the depth and frequency of breathing, a change in vascular tone, an increase or slowdown in the pulse, a violation of temperature regulation.

Coma develops as a result of deep inhibition in the cerebral cortex with its spread to the subcortex and underlying parts of the central nervous system due to acute circulatory disorders in the brain, head injuries, inflammation (with encephalitis, meningitis, malaria), as well as as a result of poisoning (barbiturates, carbon monoxide, etc.), with diabetes, uremia, hepatitis. This results in violations acid-base balance in the nervous tissue, oxygen starvation, ion exchange disorders and energy starvation nerve cells.

Coma is preceded by a pre-coma, during which the development of these symptoms occurs.

The coma lasts from several hours to several days, less often - more; in this it differs from fainting, which does not last long (from 1 to 15 minutes) and, as a rule, is caused by sudden anemia of the brain.

It is often difficult to identify the cause of a coma. Importance has a rate of disease progression. The sudden development of coma is characteristic of vascular disorders (cerebral stroke). Relatively slowly, a coma develops with brain damage of an infectious nature. Symptoms of a coma with endogenous intoxications increase much more slowly - diabetic, hepatic, renal coma.

The exit from a coma under the influence of treatment is characterized by a gradual restoration of the functions of the central nervous system, usually in the reverse order of their oppression. First, corneal (corneal) reflexes appear, then pupillary reflexes, the degree of vegetative disorders decreases. Restoration of consciousness goes through the stages of stupor, confused consciousness, delirium, hallucinations are sometimes noted. Often, during the period of coming out of a coma, there is a sharp motor restlessness with chaotic discoordinated movements against the background of a stunned state; convulsive seizures are possible, followed by a twilight state.

Cases of coming out of a coma after a long stay.

AT June 2003 39-year-old US resident Terry Wallis came to his senses after being in a coma for 19 years. Terry Wallis fell into a coma after a car accident in July 1984 when he was 19 years old. All these years, Terry Wallis was under the supervision of doctors from rehabilitation center Stone County. In 2001, he began to communicate with relatives and hospital staff using elementary signs, and on June 13, 2003, he spoke for the first time. Terry Wallis is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair.

In 2006, Terry Wallis still needed help eating, but his speech continued to improve and he could consistently count to 25.

AT June 2003 Chinese woman Jin Meihua woke up from a coma in which she had been for the past four and a half years. She suffered a severe brain injury after falling off her bike. Due to the severity of the injuries, the doctors did not have high hopes for Jean's cure. All these years, her husband was next to Jin Meihua, caring for and caring for his wife.

January 21, 2004 The media reported that a patient, who had been in a coma for a year and a half, regained consciousness in the As-Salam International Hospital in Cairo. A 25-year-old Syrian was in a car accident in Lebanon in 2002. He fell into a coma from severe head injuries, his heart stopped several times, the patient was connected to an artificial respiration unit. He was first treated at an American hospital in Beirut, and then he was transferred to Cairo, where he underwent a series of neurosurgical operations. Having regained consciousness, the Syrian was able to move his arms and stand, understand speech and began to try to speak himself. This is a very rare case in medical practice, when a patient with such severe injuries survived a long coma and came to his senses.

AT April 2005 American firefighter 43 year old Don Herbert(Don Herbert) came out of a 10-year coma. Herbert fell into a coma in 1995. While extinguishing the fire, the roof of the burning building collapsed on it. After the oxygen in the breathing apparatus ran out, Herbert spent 12 minutes under the rubble without air, as a result of which a coma ensued. In February 2006, Don Herbert died of pneumonia.

June 2, 2007 the media reported that a resident of Poland is a 65-year-old railway worker Jan Grzebski(Jan Grzebski) has woken up after being in a coma for 19 years. In 1988, Grzebski was seriously injured in an accident on railway. According to doctors, he had no more than three years to live. In the same year, the 46-year-old Pole fell into a coma. For 19 years, Grzebski's wife was at her husband's bedside every hour, changing the position of his body every hour to avoid muscle atrophy and the spread of infections. Having regained consciousness, the Pole learned that now all of his four children were married and married, and that he now has 11 granddaughters and grandchildren.

Today we will tell a few stories of people who fell into a coma.

“Coma (from other Greek κῶμα - deep sleep) is a life-threatening condition between life and death, characterized by loss of consciousness, a sharp weakening or lack of response to external stimuli, the extinction of reflexes until they disappear completely, a violation of the depth and frequency of breathing, a change vascular tone, increased or slowed heart rate, impaired temperature regulation.

Coma develops as a result of deep inhibition in the cerebral cortex with its spread to the subcortex and underlying parts of the central nervous system due to acute circulatory disorders in the brain, head injuries, inflammation (with encephalitis, meningitis, malaria), as well as as a result of poisoning (with barbiturates, carbon monoxide, etc.), diabetes mellitus, uremia, hepatitis (uremic, hepatic coma).

In this case, there are violations of the acid-base balance in the nervous tissue, oxygen starvation, ion exchange disorders and energy starvation of nerve cells. The coma is preceded by a pre-coma, during which the development of these symptoms occurs.

There are more than 30 types of coma, depending on the cause that led to this condition - for example, endocrine, toxic, hypoxic, thermal, etc. In the case of endocrine - a number of sub-causes are possible - hypothyroid, diabetic, etc.

According to the severity, there are 4 degrees of coma. Cases of "revival" occur most often with 1-2 degrees of coma. When in a coma of the 4th degree, a person, if and, which rarely happens, returns to some kind of real existence, then basically this is a vegetative state, a deep disability, even if such a “life” will last for many more years.

A coma in itself is a very dangerous, in fact, near-death state, a person is on the verge of death, and only a few come out of the transcendental coma, coma of milder degrees lead to damage to body functions of various severity. So that a person comes out of a transcendent coma and immediately becomes such a lively person, actively moving, having no problems with memory and speech - this is from the realm of fantasy, there were one in a million such cases. For a million of those who remained deeply disabled. With a coma of 1-2 degrees, especially not long-term, but lasting several hours, days, sometimes months, it is still possible to return to the world alive, and not a vegetable, but this rarely happens.

If a person who has fallen into a coma has had brain death, then it is unrealistic to save him ... his heart beating thanks to the apparatus is all that keeps the human body on the ground. Priests say that the soul has already left, and that this is one of the most complex conditions: the soul is gone, but the body is still alive, and, they say, a person is neither alive nor dead, his departed soul rushes about, wants to be released.

In our country and in some other countries of the world, upon death of the brain, they are disconnected from life support devices, if relatives are against it, they keep them for some time, but, for example, by a court decision, they can be disconnected without the consent of relatives ..

By the way, a vegetative state (if it lasts more than 4 weeks - it is considered chronic) and brain death - different states, with the first, a person is recognized as a living being and cannot be disconnected from the apparatus, with the second, the person is actually a corpse.

Many of us have seen films where main character(as a rule, this is necessarily the main character) is in a coma for 10-20 years, and then regains consciousness, and everything around is different, he has cognitive dissonance, psychological shock, catharsis ... He remembers the times when the air was still clean and people were kind, and then nano technology, Cell phones…. the wildest - tablets, laptops ..

The stories of people who “slept” in a coma for some years are more realistic in practice: a complete restoration of memory, body functions after such a long stay of unconsciousness is extremely rare, and the duration of being in a coma is mostly several years, such are the “cinematic” stories when a person slept for 20 years - almost none. Almost, because it's still one in a million and something like that happens.

Let's talk about some of these stories. Interesting are not only cases of a long stay without consciousness, but also those metamorphoses that occurred to people after a short-term coma.

Been in a coma for almost 17 years...

Terry Wallis was in a car accident in 1984 (Cornell, USA), at that time he was 19 years old. Having received multiple injuries, he lay at the scene of the accident for a day before being found and handed over to the doctors, they saved his life, but the patient was in a long-term coma. He had a state of minimal consciousness, which is akin to vegetative, but did not come to his senses for almost two decades.

“Cases of patients returning from a state of minimal consciousness are known, but usually such people, even after waking up, remain disabled, bedridden, sometimes communicating with others with just a glance.

Terry amazed the doctors ... after 17 years, in 2001, he began to communicate with the staff with the help of signs, after 19 years, In 2003, he suddenly spoke. After that, in just three days, he learned to walk, and also to recognize his (20-year-old already) daughter. The latter was the most difficult, because at the moment of awakening, Wallis sincerely believed that it was still 1984 in the yard.

His mother took care of him all the time while he was in a coma. Terry unexpectedly, almost 20 years after the accident, came to his senses - what was the reason for the restoration of extinct brain functions, the doctors wondered for a long time. After conducting a lot of research, they came to the conclusion that thanks to good medical preparations, brain structures that had lost connections began to heal themselves by creating alternative connections, new ones. neural networks, Terry's brain is anatomically abnormal.

This case became scientists by discovery and significantly advanced medical professionals in the practice of resuscitation of patients in a vegetative state.

Of course, Terry Wallis remained disabled, his mother helps him in many ways, but no one could even expect such a favorable outcome for a person who had been in a coma for two decades.

42 years in a coma...

American Edward O'Bara of her 59 years (she died on January 21, 2012, and she was born in 1953) spent 42 years in a coma - more than anyone in history. She was a young girl who dreamed of becoming a pediatrician, but at the age of 16 she fell ill with pneumonia, her condition worsened against the background of already existing diabetes.

In January 1970, a month after the onset of her illness, Eduarda fell into a coma, her last words mothers were so that the latter would not leave her. The parents did everything possible to prolong the life of the girl, the father worked three jobs, as a result he could not stand it and died in 1975 from a heart attack, the mother looked after her daughter until last days of her life, died in 2008. Eduard was known all over the world, sponsors helped the necessary, she was looked after, she died in 2012, never regaining consciousness during her coma.

37 years in a coma.

Chicago resident Elaine Esposito was born in 1935. She was only six years old when she fell into a coma. She was brought to the hospital with the usual attack of appendicitis, but before the operation she had a rupture of the appendix and peritonitis, the operation ended well, but the temperature suddenly rose to 42 degrees and convulsions began, the doctors did not expect that the girl would live the night, but she survived, but fell into a coma .

She spent nine months in a coma in the hospital before being taken home by her parents, where they fought for her recovery. She had been ill with measles and pneumonia, without regaining consciousness, she grew up, her eyes even opened, it seemed to her parents many times that her daughter would now enter the world of the living, but everything remained in vain: Elaine died in November 1978, having spent more than 37 years in a coma .

19 years in a coma..

I woke up as a grandfather of 11 grandchildren. This story is also called: “the collapse of the USSR overslept.”

Polish railway worker Jan Grzebski fell into a coma in 1988 after an accident. At that time he was 46 years old. Doctors gave pessimistic forecasts, they assumed that even if the patient survived, he would not last more than three years. The man fell into a coma, did not "stretch" not for three years, but for 19 years.

All this time, the wife selflessly cared for the sick, but since there were no positive changes in Jan's condition, and the wife was already tired of being attached to him, she decided to stop fighting for a meaningless fate and devote her life to herself and her grandchildren. At the same time, Yang woke up ... While he was in a coma, four of his children got married, got married and he already had 11 grandchildren.

Survived after AIDS.

“Fred Hersh is a renowned and respected pianist who moved to New York in 1977 at the age of 21. In the 90s, he was diagnosed with AIDS, and in 2008 he fell into a coma due to massive organ failure, where he stayed for two months. After coming out of a coma, he spent 10 months in bed, and then began to work on himself and even play the piano. By 2010, he was back on stage, and based on eight dreams he had while in a coma, he even wrote his own 90-minute concert called "My Coma Dreams".

A girl with a hard fate...

There is no information about this girl anywhere except in reprinted articles about those who slept in a coma for many years, nothing is known about her, except for a couple of lines, but one cannot but say about her. At the age of 4, Hayley Putre began to live with her aunt, since her mother was deprived of parental rights, in 2005, when the girl was 11 years old, after being beaten by her foster parents, she was in a serious condition in the hospital, where she fell into a coma.

Doctors eventually put an end to her, believing that she would stay in a vegetative state all her life. In 2008, the social services decided to disconnect the girl from artificial respiration, but on the day the decision was approved, the young patient began to breathe on her own and show signs of life. Later I was able to smile. Now, according to information from Internet sources, a girl can communicate with others using a special type-setting board attached to her wheelchair.

12 in a coma, but understood everything ..

Martin Pistorius. The story of this guy is unusual: he spent 12 years in a coma, but according to his stories, he was like a prisoner, he understood everything, was aware, but could not do anything.

The boy's family lived in South Africa. At the age of 12, he fell into a coma that lasted 12 years. It all started with a sore throat, it was January 1988. The child's condition worsened despite all the measures, his legs failed, he stopped moving, after a while he stopped making eye contact. None of the doctors could understand anything ...

As a result, doctors ascertained a coma, the most likely diagnosis was cryptococcal meningitis. He was discharged from the hospital, recognizing the impossibility of doing anything to help. In fact, the doctors assumed that he would simply die.

Every morning, his father got up at 5.30 and drove Martin to a specialized institution for the care of the disabled, picking him up in the evening.

As the guy himself later said, for the first two years he really was in a vegetative state. But then he began to understand what was happening, but “he found himself locked in his body as if in a grave, wanted to speak, but could not, screamed inside himself, but no one heard him, life was torture for him, he understood that people perceive him as unreasonable invalid, and he could not even express all his feelings that he was bursting.

The most agonizing thing, he recalls, was watching Barney the Dragon for many hours at the day center. They sat him in front of the TV, believing that he was still unaware of anything, and they turned on cartoons that he hated. It was truly torture ... he painfully waited until the execution was over, he even learned to distinguish time by the shadows, waiting for the evening when these cartoons should stop and dad would arrive.

Only when Martin was already 25 years old did an aromatherapist in a specialized institution see his attempts to find contact with the world, nodding his head, a meaningful look. He was rushed to an alternative communication center in Pretoria, where he proved through tests that he was able to communicate with others. First began to communicate with computer programs: he chose words, and the computer spoke.

Now he moves in a wheelchair, he is 40 years old, he has a family, a good wife.

He even wrote a book about his coma - Ghost Boy: My Escape from Life - Imprisonment in My Own Body.

Ariel Sharon.

Many people know the former Israeli prime minister, including Russia. In early 2006, he fell into a coma after a massive stroke, after 100 days he was automatically, according to the laws of the country, deprived of his high post.

He passed away on January 11, 2014, after spending exactly 8 years in a coma. At some periods, he could react to the tweaks by opening his eyes. However, the miracle didn't happen.

More stories:

“September 17, 1988, Gary Dockery was 33 years old when he and another Walden, Tennessee police officer went on a call. On that ill-fated day, Gary was shot in the head. To save Gary, doctors had to remove 20% of his brain. After the operation, Gary lay in a coma for seven years. He came to his senses when his family members, standing in his room, decided what to do with him next: continue to care for him or let him die.

There are cases when children came out of a coma a year or two after the onset of a coma without any complications, there are cases when a husband took care of his wife who was in a coma for 17 years and waited for her to be revived, there are cases when wives, daughters, sons waited for the return of their relatives , not agreeing to put an end to the sick.

There are quite a few cases when people who survived even a short-term coma suddenly discovered new gifts and abilities in themselves, saw people through or started playing the violin. Scientists could not find explanations for these phenomena - perhaps the human soul fell into the space between the world of the dead and the living for a short time, which gave rise to a connection with the mystical space, perhaps more and more pragmatically - and the psyche, which “floated” due to organic brain lesions, “invented” itself paintings. Plus, there was a restructuring of the brain as a result of compensation for the former structures that had lost their strength, and unusual abilities appeared.

Quite a few people who came out of a coma said that they understood what was happening at different levels, but were powerless to somehow let it know.

Some even came to their senses for a reason at the very moment when doctors and relatives decided the fate of the patient.

The awakening of a seriously ill person in a coma is possible in cases good care, love and care of relatives, have you heard about cases of revival of an unnecessary patient?

The paradox is, as you may have noticed, that the vast majority of survivors after a long stay in a coma and happy outcomes - all occurred abroad, in countries with well-developed medicine. There are no such cases in Russia .. they are extremely rare. In Russia, there are almost no survivors after a coma at 10-20 years old.

Doctors call a coma such a condition of the patient, in which the main functions of the body continue to be supported by its on your own, but what we call consciousness is missing. Some relatives of comatose patients believe that in a coma a person continues to hear his own and perceive them at some subconscious level. However, from a medical point of view, perception as such in a coma is impossible - the brain is simply not able to process incoming information, much less respond to it.

Approximately in such a state, according to doctors, was the Belgian Rom Uben, and no less - as much as 23 years! This is close to the record time spent in a coma, and there is practically no hope that Rom will wake up. Imagine the surprise of both doctors and Uben's relatives when it turned out that all this time the man was conscious and simply paralyzed!

Who Uben was diagnosed with in 1983: then a 20-year-old boy got into a severe car accident, and the health workers who took him decided that he would not regain consciousness. Uben was connected to all the necessary equipment that supported his vital functions, and left to the will of fate: there is no cure for a coma.

And so in 2006 new apparatus on the study of brain activity showed that Uben's consciousness worked at almost 100%. It turned out that all this time the man was completely paralyzed, but at the same time he perfectly heard, saw and realized everything that was happening around.

“I screamed, but no one heard me,” recalls Rom Uben, who learned to communicate with the outside world through a special keyboard, recalls his experience.

According to Uben, he remembers very well how he came to his senses after the accident and realized that he was in the hospital; but then he realized with horror that he could neither move nor even blink - the patient had no way to signal to the doctors that he was conscious, so the doctors decided that he was in a coma.

For a long time, Uben tried to somehow show others that he was aware of everything that was happening, but numerous attempts were unsuccessful. The man felt completely helpless and soon lost all hope: all he had to do was dream.

Uben's savior was Dr. Stephen Loray from the University of the Belgian city of Liege, to whom Roma's mother turned. The woman was sure that her son could hear and understand her all this time, so she asked Lorey (one of the most famous neurologists in Belgium) to examine Roma. After the first examination, the doctor doubted the initial diagnosis and suggested checking the patient's brain activity using special equipment.

“I will never forget the day they found me awake. It was like a second birth, - BBC quotes Uben.

According to Dr. Lorey, this turn of events was not at all a surprise for him: almost 40% of comatose patients are actually fully or partially conscious, the doctor claims.

For reference. How is who determined?

To determine the state of a coma, physicians around the world use the so-called Glasgow Coma Scale. According to this method, the doctor must evaluate (set points) four indicators - the patient's motor reaction, his speech skills and the eye opening reaction. Sometimes, the state of the pupils is used as an additional criterion, which can reflect how much the functions of the human brain stem have been preserved.

There are other, close to coma states of oppression of consciousness - for example, vegetative. With this diagnosis, the patient retains motor reflexes and even the cycle of sleep and wakefulness, but consciousness as such is absent.

But with the so-called locked-in syndrome (literal translation from English - “locked”), a person, on the contrary, is completely “in himself”, but he cannot move, talk, or even swallow. Typically, the only remaining function is eye movement.

Translated from the ancient Greek language, the word "coma" means deep sleep. In this state, a person undergoes physiological decline, loses reaction, reflexes, but continues to breathe and live.

Often the coma ends in the death of the patient. But sometimes miracles happen and there is an awakening. The most long coma in the world with the revival lasted almost 19 years. This case has changed the opinion of doctors about the coma and gives hope to many people.

It all happened in Stone County, Arkansas. On July 13, 1984, a young farmer and auto mechanic, Terry Wallis, who at that time was 20 years old (born April 7, 1964) decided to take a ride with his friend Chub Lowell in a pickup truck. The car had an accident and fell off the bridge from a height of almost 8 meters.

The pickup was found in a dry riverbed lying on its roof. Rescuers removed Terry, who suffered a head injury and was already in a coma, as well as Chub, with a serious spinal injury, who died a week later.

All internal organs and Terry's bones were intact. He received only minor bruises and, most importantly, a small abrasion above the eyebrow. It is likely that it was this blow that brought the guy's condition to a coma.

A young farmer and auto mechanic before the tragedy.
With his wife Sandy.
A touching photo of Terri in a coma, along with her daughter, who is less than a year old. He will be able to communicate with her only when she is 20 years old.
With wife (left) and daughter (right).

Stay in a coma

After the accident, Terry was admitted to a local hospital. Doctors gave him a chance and said that if he wakes up within a year, then the probability of continuing a normal life is quite high.

But Terry did not come to his senses. Not in a year, not in five years, not even in fifteen.

His parents Angela and Jerry Wallis continued to believe in miracles. They went into serious debt to pay for their son's life support. They did not lose heart, even despite the fact that doctors were already giving disappointing forecasts.

Keeping Terry alive cost about $30,000 a month. He was denied health insurance. The Terry Wallis Foundation was set up, but raised only about $1,000.

4 months before the tragedy, he had a wedding. And 6 weeks before the accident, Terry had a daughter, who was named Amber. His wife Sandy remained faithful to him for three years his stay in a coma. But then she married another man and had three more children.

Terry's parents did not condemn Sandy, but they characterized her from a bad side. Sandy explained her departure by the fact that Amber needs a father, and she herself is not ready to sacrifice her youth for the negligible chance of her husband's recovery.

Meanwhile, Terry's parents and other relatives continued to support him in every possible way. They read books to him, turned on radio programs, and talked to him. On every holiday, everyone gathered together in his ward, fed festive dishes(ground in a blender), gave him gifts that were laid out on the bed, rolled around the hospital.

It's been like this for almost 19 years.

Exit from a coma

On June 11, 2003, Angela Wallis was perhaps even happier than when she gave birth to her Terry, because on that day he came out of a coma. All his relatives have been waiting for this for 18 years 10 months and 28 days. That is how long the longest coma in the world with awakening lasted.

Terry Wallis woke up. He has not seen the world for almost 19 years. He recognized his parents, was surprised when they told him that he was married, but then remembered that he had a daughter, who, of course, last time seen only in infancy.

When Amber came to him, he told her that she was not his daughter, since his daughter was 1.5 months old, and she was sitting in front of him adult girl. But later he realized the past tense. Parents showed photos of Amber in different years. In the future, he told his daughter that he must definitely recover in order to come up and hug her, and also that he regrets that he did not see with his own eyes how she was growing up.

Although Terry Wallis was conscious and able to communicate, he suffered from amnesia. He remembered only the most impressive moments of his life. He could listen to a recently listened melody (he liked country music) again, as if hearing it for the first time. From a past life, he remembered how he was engaged in housekeeping on the farm, and also for some time before the fateful trip, he remembered how he was going to go. After waking up, Terry could not move, he could only turn his head to one side.

In addition, after coming out of a coma, Terry lost all tact in conversation and could directly tell a person what he thinks of him, forgot how to lie. So, one day he told a nurse in the hospital that he thinks she is sexy and would like to make love to her.

Photo with mother Angela, who cared for him in a coma and after waking up.
Terry Wallis is in a coma.
A mother devotes every free minute to her son.
Grandson, granddaughter, daughter and Terry himself.
Angela Wallis has stood heroically for 19 years.
Mother and father.
Brother and other relatives of Terry Wallis are preparing to give interviews.
Sandy, wife. In the foreground family photo and a marriage certificate.

Wallis lost the ability to feel full. Therefore, it was required to feed him strictly dosed. He could not understand that he had already eaten, for which he could feel resentment towards his relatives, since he believed that he was underfed. Despite the sedentary lifestyle and good food He didn't gain weight.

After a coma, he began to have a negative attitude towards bad habits scolded relatives for cigarettes and alcohol. Angela believed that her son, during a coma, communicated with angels and therefore became so correct (besides, he could not lie). He himself said that he was very happy to live and life is the most beautiful thing.

Terry Wallis became famous. His ex-wife Sandy tried to take custody of him with the help of the court in order to make money on it, as his parents said, but they remained guardians. He starred in documentaries"Bodyshock" (2003) and "Coma" in 2007. His story has become the subject of study for many physicians.

The longest coma in the world with awakening was in Terry Wallis and lasted 18 years, 10 months and 28 days, from July 13, 1984 to June 11, 2003. Terry was in a car accident.
July 13, 1984 - the day of the tragedy of Terry Wallis, it was Friday the 13th.
In some media, probably for drama, they indicate July 13, 2013 as the date of awakening, in order to write later that he woke up exactly on the day he crashed in a car. But the correct date for Terry's awakening is June 11, 2003.
Three years after the onset of the coma, his wife married another man, while having a three-year-old daughter with Terry.
Some sources indicate that Wallis and his friend were drunk at the time of the accident. But relatives claim that the guys did not drink alcohol that evening. They probably could hide this fact so as not to spoil their reputation.
Some media said that Terry's daughter became a stripper. It is not true. Amber has a family - a husband, children and has always led a decent life.
Relatives created the Terry Wallis Foundation, which collected only about $1,000, while for the maintenance of life it was necessary to pay about $30,000 a month.
When he woke up, he asked for a mineral water.
As of 2018, nothing is known about Terry and his family.
In fact, the longest coma in the world was with Edward O'Bar and lasted 42 years. When the girl was 16 years old, she fell into a diabetic coma and died at the age of 59 without waking up.

Reasons for leaving their coma

Experts tend to believe that Wallis came out of a coma due to the fact that his brain built the old nerve pathways that were destroyed due to trauma. This allowed him to partially regain consciousness. However, he could not completely improve his condition.

Some also claim that there are new neural pathways in Terry's brain that other people's brains don't have.

Terry Wallis now

As of the end of 2018, unfortunately, no data on Terry Wallis could be found. It is not known if he is still alive, and if so, what state of health he is in. The fate of his relatives is also unknown.

Coma is considered one of the most difficult and unpredictable conditions for patients and physicians. The subject of coma attracts fans of mysticism, as there are many fascinating stories of people who have experienced this state.

Some former patients claim that they saw the tunnel and the light, contemplated their own physical body from the outside, etc. Of particular interest is the exceptional case, which includes most long stay in a coma in the world. To understand how this is possible, you need to know what a coma is.

Characteristics of a coma

The word "coma" in Greek means "deep sleep". If a person is completely unconscious due to a pathological condition that is characterized by the maximum degree of CNS depression, then doctors diagnose a coma. However, it cannot be called a disease. It occurs as a result of a head injury or is a complication of any disease. The longest stay in a coma in the world lasted more than 37 years. Documents confirm this.

What is a coma

Doctors distinguish between somnolence and wakeful coma. The first is characterized by the clouded consciousness of a person who is in a state of constant drowsiness. In the second type of coma, the patient experiences complete apathy and indifference to everything, retaining an autopsychic orientation.

Experts say that a coma cannot last more than a month. The body then enters the vegetative stage. Simply put, in a month a person exists like a plant. His vital functions are preserved, but mental activity is completely absent. And this situation can persist for years. In a coma, metabolic processes change in the body, one of which is concomitant encephalopathy.

The duration of the coma depends on the severity of the brain damage. The longer the coma lasts, the less chance a person has of “returning” to this world, and the more real it becomes death. If 6 hours have already passed after falling into a coma, and the patient's pupils do not respond to a beam of light, then this is a very formidable symptom. Doctors say that in this case, a person may experience brain death. He is no longer able to perform any functions, and recovery is impossible, since the brain tissue is destroyed.

Therefore, people who long time were in a coma, no longer return to normal life. A striking example- the longest stay in a coma in the world, which lasted 37 years and 111 days. American Elaine Esposito (Tarpon Springs) fell into a coma at the age of 6 years. She underwent an operation to remove her appendicitis, after which she no longer regained consciousness (1941). prolonged coma ended in death when the woman was 43 years old.

If a person wakes up after a coma, then he goes through a long recovery period, which sometimes takes years. Those who have fallen into a coma have a special diet, and some cannot breathe on their own. Therefore, they cannot do without medical help, even after improving their health.

Causes of coma

The longest stay in a coma in the world is simply impossible to explain from a medical point of view. Doctors do not know why some patients do not recover for many years. There are more than 500 causes of coma. But most often it develops due to a violation of blood circulation in the brain (stroke).

Coma can occur after a traumatic brain injury or poisoning. But any coma lasts no more than 4 weeks. What happens to a person after this period is not actually a coma. If the patient does not recover, then he goes into a vegetative state. How longer man is in a coma, the less likely he is to have a positive outcome. Man-made coma is general anesthesia. This is a manageable condition, however, in some cases there are complications.

Coma is an ordeal

It is difficult not only for the patient himself, but also for his relatives. In the cinema, patients are often shown in a coma. However, on the screen, everything looks different. In reality, without the active help and support of loved ones, without careful care, a person has almost no chance of recovery.

One of the main consequences of a coma is a deterioration in the quality of thinking, memory, as well as changes in behavior. A person may partially lose his previous skills, ability to work and behave in such a way that his relatives practically do not recognize him. The extent of the loss depends on how long the patient has been in the coma. For some people, normal speech is restored only after a few months.

The longest stay in a coma in the world fixed in Miami. The woman spent almost her entire life in a coma. She died at the age of 59 without regaining consciousness. This is Edward O'Bar, who was dubbed "Sleeping Snow White" by the media in the past. She was 16 when she went into a diabetic coma. Edward did not regain consciousness for 42 years! Interestingly, she did not close her eyes. They were constantly open, but there was no consciousness. The woman did not see, did not hear or perceive anything.

Before the coma, she asked her mother not to leave her. The mother kept her promise and took care of her daughter for the rest of her life - 35 years. After her mother's death, her sister took care of Eduarda. She witnessed the departure of "Sleeping Snow White" to another world. At the time of Edward's death, she closed her eyes.

Curious fact

Experts have repeatedly tried to find out what caused the longest stay in a coma in the world. To this end, a study was conducted in which doctors from the UK and Belgium managed to establish contact with a patient who had been in a coma for 10 years. Scott Routley from Canada fell into a coma after suffering a head injury in a car accident. With the help of magnetic resonance imaging, specialists were able to get answers from him to their questions: “Are you in pain?”, “Are you scared?” and others. They recorded the answers in the form of bursts of brain activity.