The longest coma. The longest coma, or a lifetime of unconsciousness

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”), on the contrary, a person is completely “in himself”, but he cannot move, talk, or even swallow. Typically, the only remaining function is eye movement.

Developments

Just the other day in Miami, Florida, United States of America, a woman named Edward O'Bara died at the age of 59.

It would seem that, in this story of premature death there is nothing particularly unusual, if not for one "but" - O "Bara was unconscious for 42 years, after she fell into a so-called diabetic coma in 1970.

The most prolonged coma in the world

All these long decades, the insensitive woman was watched by her closest people - her mother and Native sister. They say that O "Bara was already in high school high school, when suddenly she was struck down by a serious illness. The girl was sent to the hospital, where she asked her mother never to leave her, after which she soon fell into a coma.

The girl's mother fulfilled her promise: she followed and cared for her daughter for 37 long years, until she died herself. Last years all the hardships fell on the shoulders of Edward's sister. The story of O "Bara formed the basis literary work: "A promise is a promise: an almost implausible story of selfless motherly love and what it teaches us."

I must say that before O "Bara, the longest stay of a person in a coma was 37 years. We are talking about an American who fell into this state in August 1941 after an operation to remove the appendix, and departed to another world in November 1978. The girl even opened her eyes several times during her coma, but she was not destined to wake up completely.

In Miami, a 59-year-old woman died, who spent almost her entire adult life in an unconscious state. We are talking about Edward O'Bara, who was once nicknamed "Sleeping Snow White" by the media.

At the age of 16, O'Bara fell into a diabetic coma and hasn't "woken up" for 42 years since. It is noteworthy that Eduarda's eyes were constantly open, but there was no consciousness: she did not hear others, did not see them and was unable to perceive them in any way. the world.

Last words O'Bara before the coma, there was a request to the mother. "Promise you won't leave me," said the girl. And her mother remembered her request for the rest of her life.

For the next 35 years, Kay O'Bara spent at her daughter's bedside, regularly arranging her birthdays, caring for her and leaving at a time for 90 minutes to sleep or take a shower.

In 2008, the mother died at the age of 80. And Edward's sister began to fulfill her promise. It was she who caught the death of Sleeping Snow White. "Eduarda just closed her eyes and went to heaven with my mommy," said Colleen O'Bara.

According to her, Eduarda was not only “the best sister imaginable”, but also taught the woman a lot without even contacting her. "It's really great," she concluded.

The medical phenomenon of coma, unfortunately, is not fully understood by specialists. The reason why a person falls into this state may be various deviations in the body. In total, there are about 30 types of coma: alcoholic, traumatic, diabetic, etc. It is not so important which form deprived a person of the opportunity to live a full life, it is much more important how it ended. The longest coma after which a person woke up is a miracle that doctors cannot explain.

Sarah Scantlin

Young 18-year-old college student Sara Scatlin spent 20 long years in a coma. The reason for this state of the girl from american state Kansas became a drunk driver. After the accident, Sarah fell into a coma, and lived only thanks to the devices that support the vital activity of the body.

The traumatic brain injury was so serious that the girl did not show any signs of life for the first month, and her body functioned with the help of an artificial respiration apparatus. A month later, the only thing Sarah could do was breathe and swallow food on her own. She was in this position for 16 years. After years stay in a coma, a specialist began to work with her, trying to return the girl to real life. And yet a miracle happened. After a year of such classes, Sarah began to show the first independent reflexes. She could only communicate with those around her with her eye movements.

In 2005, after a twenty-year stay in a coma, the girl woke up and gradually began to remember her loved ones. She could only move around with the help of a wheelchair. Not a single doctor could explain such an “awakening”, according to them, this case is more of a happy exception to the rule than a pattern. The only thing that confused Sarah's relatives was that she still considered herself 18 years old. Gradually, speech and some motor reflexes returned to her.

Gary Dockery

The longest coma with awakening was recorded in Tennessee. Gary Dockery was 33 years old when he was shot in the head while trying with a partner to detain a bandit. The injury resulting from the wound was so severe that the doctors had to remove about 20% of the brain matter. After such manipulations, the former policeman spent seven years in an unconscious state.

And when the hope left his relatives, he suddenly came to his senses and even remembered the members of his family, despite the fact that his sons became very large. He did not remember anything about the day when he was injured and his work. Unfortunately, Gary left this world a year after coming out of a coma. The cause was a thrombus in the lungs.

Martin Pistorius

The story of this young man, who had to stay unconscious for 12 years, is very unusual. As a rule, people in a coma do not feel anything, Martin, on the contrary, understood everything, simply could not react to what was happening, being, as if in captivity. The reason for this condition of the boy was a banal sore throat, which gave a complication to his legs, and later his vision began to disappear.

Doctors made an assumption on cryptococcal meningitis, but they could not make an accurate diagnosis. Since Martin could no longer be helped in the hospital, he was discharged home. Doctors assumed that the boy, who was then only 8 years old, would not live long.

But fate decreed otherwise. Thanks to the love and care of his parents, and above all, his father, after 12 years the young man came to his senses. During this time, his father took the boy daily to a special rehabilitation center still hoping for a miracle to happen. As Martin himself later recalled, he was very annoyed by the cartoons that were shown to children in this institution, but he could not do anything and say about it.

After coming out of a coma, Martin Pistorius learned to write and read, went to college, where he received the profession of a programmer, and later a job in one of the state companies. Today, Martin has a good caring wife and, despite the fact that he moves to wheelchair lives a full life. The case of this South African teenager, unfortunately, is one of the few happy examples of coming out of a coma.

Yang Lin

In 1996, a Beijing resident fell into a coma as a result of gas poisoning. At that time he was 51 years old, and no one hoped that after 13 years of unconscious existence, a man would be able to wake up. All these years, he had a devoted wife by his side, thanks to whose efforts, perhaps, this miracle happened.

It was her name that Yang Liying, who suddenly came to his senses, said. After many years of coma, he has to learn to eat and talk in a new way, as well as get acquainted with the world, which has changed a lot during his "absence".

Terry Wallace

This man from the American town of Cornell spent about 17 years in a coma. In 1984, at the age of 19, he was in a car accident and only miraculously survived. His friend, who was in the car with him at the time of the tragedy, died immediately, and Terry fell into coma. None of the doctors gave comforting forecasts about his condition.

In 2001, he began to show the first signs of reasonable behavior and tried to communicate with the clinic staff with gestures and facial expressions. Two years later, Terry spoke, and, most surprisingly, he learned to walk again in almost three days. The most difficult thing for him was to remember his relatives (his daughter was already 20 years old at that time) and the circumstances that happened to him almost 2 decades ago.

Edward O'Bar

The record holder for the duration of an unconscious existence is Edward O'Bar, whom journalists dubbed "Sleeping Snow White". How long did the longest coma last, which, unfortunately, did not end as happily as the previous examples? Almost half a century - this woman spent 42 years in a coma and passed away in 2012. She fell into this state after a diabetic coma, and despite the fact that her eyes were open, she did not feel anything and did not understand what was happening around.

For many years, her mother, Kay, was by her side, who selflessly cared for her daughter for 35 years. She arranged birthday parties for her, washed and fed her, and also talked to her. In 2008, when her mother passed away, all the responsibilities for caring for the sick Eduarda were taken over by her sister, Colin. She says that she was able to learn a lot from her sister, even though it was impossible to communicate with her. After 4 years, Eduarda left after her mother.

Such examples of love and loyalty to their loved ones should make many people appreciate the time when our loved ones are healthy, and even in the most hopeless cases not to despair and not betray them.