The longest time in a coma. The longest stay in a coma in the world

A few days ago in Miami / Florida, USA /, at the age of fifty-nine, Edward O'Bar died./ Edwarda O "Bara /. At first glance, there is nothing special in this story of premature death, if not for one "but": the woman was unconscious for forty-two years. The fact is that in 1970 Edward fell into a diabetic coma.

The longest coma in the world

These long decades, the woman was watched by her closest ones - her mother and sister. According to information from relatives, it is known that O "Bara was in high school when she was suddenly struck 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.

So, the girl's mother fulfilled her own promise: she cared for and watched her daughter for an agonizing thirty-seven years, until she herself died. AT last years The burden fell on her sister's shoulders. The story of Eduarda O'Bara became the basis of the work: "A promise is a promise: an almost implausible story of maternal selfless love and what it teaches us."

It should be noted that before this incident with Eduarda, the longest time a person was in a coma was thirty-seven years. The conversation is about an American woman who fell into such a state in August 1941 / after an operation to remove her appendix / and died in November 1978. During her coma, the girl even opened her eyes several times, but she was not destined to fully wake up.

Coma is a formidable complication of various diseases.

Coma is a pathological inhibition of the central nervous system, which is characterized by a complete loss of consciousness and manifests itself in the absence of reactions to external stimuli, as well as a disorder in the regulation of vital body functions.

Coma is a formidable complication of various diseases. Violations of important functions in the body are determined by the nature and severity of the main pathological process and the pace of its development. They form very quickly and are often irreversible or develop gradually. Approximately thirty species are known.

The pathogenesis of coma is heterogeneous. With any type of coma, violations of the functions of the cortex in the large brain of subcortical structures, as well as the brain stem, are noted. Anemia, hypoxemia, disorders of cerebral circulation, acidosis, blockade of respiratory enzymes, microcirculation disorders, electrolyte balance, release of mediators can contribute to the development of such disorders. The most important pathogenetic value is played by swelling, edema of the brain, its membranes, which lead to increased intracranial pressure, hemodynamic disorders.

The duration and depth of coma are considered to be the most significant predictors of prognosis. At present, scales have been developed in various states that make it possible to fairly accurately determine the prognosis for coma based on an assessment of the usual clinical symptoms. Back in 1981, A.R. Shakhnovich and a group of scientists proposed a scale that included fifty neurological signs - their severity was assessed in points. Changes in eye micromovements, clinical and physiological properties, the rate of evoked stem and cortical potentials were taken into account.

The previous record for being in a coma was 37.5 years

The record, which is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, for being in a coma belongs to Elaine Esposito. She never awoke from anesthesia for an appendectomy on August 6, 1941. Then the girl was only six years old. She died on November 25, 1978 at the age of forty-three years, three hundred and fifty-seven days, having been in a coma for thirty-seven years, one hundred and eleven days.

However, sometimes people can wake up from a coma after extended periods of time. After the age of nineteen - Terry Wallis, in a minimally conscious state, spontaneously began to speak and regained awareness of his surroundings. There is also a case when the Polish railway worker Jan Grzebski woke up from a nineteen-year coma in 2007.

So, for many decades, medical professionals and scientists have been studying the properties of coma in order to determine the circumstances that provoke this phenomenon. Society pays great attention to the direction - "brain death", since the majority of "industrial developed countries equates a coma with the death of a person. However, based on the opinion of scientists, "the death of a person is a special phenomenon, characterized by the irreversible cessation of all vital functions / blood circulation, consciousness, respiration /".

Her mother, Katherine, perfectly remembered that day all her life - firstly, it was the 22nd wedding anniversary of her and Eduarda's father, and secondly, the daughter managed to ask her mother not to leave her just before oblivion.

Edward O'Bar photography

And troubled days began for Eduarda's parents. They all waited for their daughter to come out of a coma, but days passed, then weeks, then months, and Eduarda continued to be in a state of sleep.

No one knew then that it would be the most long coma in the history of medicine, which will last 42 years. And then the girl's parents were on duty day and night near her bed, turned her over to prevent bedsores, fed her through a tube and did not take their eyes off the apparatus, every minute waiting for a miraculous awakening.

Edward O'Bar photography

Alas, Eduarda was destined to become the record holder for being in a coma. Keeping her promise, her mother continued to take care of her, and in order to pay the bills from the hospital, the girl's father had to work three jobs. But they still hoped, and in the end they kept their promise, without leaving their daughter for the rest of their lives. So, first Eduarda's father died in 1976, and in 2008 Katherine died, leaving Eduard in the custody of her younger sister.

BUT fragile life Eduarda continued, many media outlets had already written about her, and people began to come to Catherine's family home, who nicknamed Eduarda Sleeping Snow White. It was like a pilgrimage, as many believed that touching the sleeping Eduarda would bring health and good luck.

Edward O'Bar photography

Eduarda O'Bara lived to be 59 years old and died in 2012 after spending 42 long years in a coma.

AT different time there were heated debates about the humanity of such life-sustaining, but for Katherine, who devoted 35 years of her life to caring for her daughter, the question was never raised in this way. Firstly, she was bound by a promise that she made to her seriously ill daughter many years ago, and secondly, all these years, both she and her husband lived in the hope that the coma would end sooner or later, and their Eduard would be with them again . However, she was with them - Katherine read aloud to her, played records for her, arranged her birthdays, and made everything as if her daughter had just laid down to sleep. As time has shown, it was a very long dream, lasting more than four decades.

Edward O'Bar photography

Based on the history of this family, a book was written, and many celebrities and politicians visited the house of Catherine, including Bill Clinton; The media covered the story extensively. And Edward O`Bara entered the history of medicine, having spent 42 years in a diabetic coma.

Best of the day

A famous song says: "There is only a moment between the past and the future." It is called our life. But what, even if this "moment" a person spends without consciousness? Is it worth holding on to in this case? No one will give an exact answer to this question. However, there are cases when a person has been between life and death for decades and grabbed this “moment”. Let's talk about the longest coma that a person has been in.

A dream of a lifetime

The longest coma was recorded in the USA. At the end of 1969, under New Year, 16-year-old girl with pneumonia was admitted to the hospital. If this was a normal case in medical practice, she would have undergone a course of treatment and returned to a full life. But Edward O'Bar had diabetes. January 3, insulin did not reach circulatory system and the girl on long years lost consciousness.

The last phrase of the modern "Snow White" was a request to her mother not to leave her. The woman kept her word: she spent thirty-five years by the bed of her daughter. She celebrated all her birthdays, read books to her and believed in the best. I went out only to sleep and shower. In 2008, the mother died, and the sister of an unusual patient took over her burden.

In November 2012, at the age of 59, Snow White passed away. Thus, the longest coma lasted 42 years.

It is noteworthy that all the unconscious years the poor thing spent with open eyes. She did not see or hear others, did not react to anything. It was only on the day of her death that Edward O'Baras could close her eyelids.

Is there any chance to wake up after many years?

Until recently, doctors were sure that between life and death a person is only the first month. Then his return to consciousness is impossible. Some relatives of patients did not like this situation, and they waited by the bed for years loved one until he wakes up.

The longest coma, after which the patient began to react to others, lasted 20 years. That's how many years American Sarah Scantlin spent unconscious after she was hit by a drunk driver in a car. To be precise, she spent 16 years unconscious. Then she began to communicate with loved ones with the help of her eyes. After another 4 years, some reflexes and speech returned to her. True, Sarah, after waking up, sincerely believed that she was still 18 years old.

In fact, the longest coma, after which a person woke up, happened to a resident of Poland - Jan Grzebsky. The Pole spent 19 years unconscious. When Yang woke up, he was most amazed by the quantity and variety of goods in the stores. And for good reason. He “fell asleep” in the early eighties, when martial law was introduced in the country. Grzebsky woke up in 2007.

Cases in Russia and Ukraine

In these countries, too, there are cases of a miraculous return to life. So, the Russian teenager Valera Narozhnigo came to his senses after 2.5 years of deep sleep. A 15-year-old boy found himself in a coma after he received an electric shock.

A Ukrainian young man, Kostya Shalamaga, spent 2 years unconscious. He ended up in a hospital bed after an accident. A 14-year-old boy riding a bicycle was hit by a car.

Of course, both of these examples cannot take a place in the Guinness Book of Records in the category "Longest coma." But parents probably did not want the boys to become famous in this way. In both cases, relatives say that the miracle happened because the relatives prayed and believed in it.

Life after the "long sleep"

The longest coma that a person came out of forced scientists to return to the study of this unconscious state. It is now known that the brain is capable of repairing itself. True, it is not yet clear how to "turn on" this mechanism.

African researchers believe that a cure for coma can be found. According to them, it is possible to bring a person to consciousness temporarily already today. Some sleeping pills have such properties. However, this issue has been little studied.

So far, according to observers, the most difficult thing for a person who has been between life and death is psychological adaptation. It is difficult for the patient to believe that he has become older, his relatives have grown old, the children have grown up, and the world itself has become different.

Some people, after returning from deep sleep, simply do not understand their loved ones. So, for example, the Englishwoman Linda Walker, waking up, began to speak in the Jamaican dialect. Doctors believe that the case is related to genetic memory. Perhaps Linda's ancestors were native speakers of this language.

Why do people fall into a coma?

It is still not clear why some fall into this state. But each case suggests that some kind of deviation has occurred in the body.

Currently, more than 30 types of coma are known:

• traumatic (accident, bruise);
• thermal (hypothermia, overheating);
• toxic (alcohol, drugs);
• endocrine (diabetes), etc.

Any kind of deep sleep is dangerous state between life and death. In the cerebral cortex, inhibition occurs, work is disrupted nervous system and blood circulation. A person's reflexes fade. More like a plant.

Previously, it was believed that in a coma a person does not feel anything. Everything changed after the incident with Martin Pistorius. The young man fell into a coma due to a sore throat, and lived in it for 12 years. After awakening in 2000, Martin said that he felt and understood everything, he simply could not give a signal. Currently, the man is married and works as a designer.

Hyperglycemic coma, symptoms and emergency care

Diabetic coma should be singled out in a separate row. It was in it that the first heroine of our article was 42 years old. The main thing is that at the initial stage of this disease, a person can be helped.

When in the body diabetes the level of glucose in the blood rises and toxins accumulate, then the symptoms of the disease develop as follows:

• growing weakness;
• constantly thirsty;
• loss of appetite;
• frequent urge to go to the toilet;
• increased drowsiness;
• the skin turns red;
• breathing quickens.

After these symptoms, a person can lose consciousness, fall into a coma and die. To prevent this from happening, you need to urgently inject insulin intravenously or intramuscularly. Also call an ambulance.

The main thing is not to confuse this type with hypoglycemia. With the latest disease in the blood, blood sugar drops. Insulin in this case will only hurt.

Contrary to what we often see in feature films, coma does not always mean a complete "shutdown" of all systems of the human body. In total, there are four degrees of severity of coma - if the first is more like a half-asleep state, and the patient retains the main reflexes, then at the fourth stage a person ceases to be aware of the outside world and respond to it, even breathing often stops.

Cases where people spend several days or weeks in a coma are not uncommon. Sometimes doctors put a person into an artificial coma in order to protect the body from negative impact on the brain - for example, after a hemorrhage or edema. However prolonged coma poses a much greater threat. It is believed that what longer man is in this state, the less chance of recovery. A coma that lasts more than a year is sometimes also called a "dead zone", and loved ones are prepared for the fact that a person will spend the rest of his life in this state.

What do people who have come out of a long coma say, and how their life has changed after that - in the material of Izvestia.

Another world

The testimonies of those who have been in a coma vary depending on how long the person has been in this state. For example, people whose coma has lasted for several days most often report that upon waking they feel the same as a person who has slept for about 20 hours. They may feel severe weakness, difficulty moving, and a need to long sleep. Some are not even able to remember everything they saw during this time.

People who have been in a coma for several weeks, months or years after waking up are usually unable to move independently and need a long recovery period. It may be difficult for them to look at the light, and they will most likely need to relearn how to speak and write, as well as deal with memory lapses. Such people can not only ask the same question several times in a row, but also not recognize people's faces or not remember entire episodes from their own lives.

The body is like a prison

Photo: Getty Images/PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura

Martin Pistorius fell into a coma when he was 12 and remained in it for the next 13 years. The cause was a neurological disease, the exact nature of which the doctors could not establish - presumably meningitis was the culprit. The boy, who initially complained of a sore throat, very quickly lost the ability to speak, move, and focus. Doctors discharged him from the hospital, warning his parents that he would remain in this state for the rest of his life. At the same time, Martin's eyes were open, but consciousness and reflexes did not work. The father and mother looked after the child with all their might - every day he was taken to classes in a special group, bathed, turned over at night every few hours to avoid the formation of bedsores.

The worst thing for the boy began after about two years later he regained consciousness, but his speech and movement skills did not return. He could not tell others that he hears, sees and understands everything that is happening around. Relatives, accustomed to his condition, by this moment almost stopped noticing him, and therefore could not guess what changes were taking place in Martin's mind.

Martin himself later said that he felt locked in his own body: in the group where his father took him, they were shown the same repetitive program for children every day and he had no way to make it clear that she was deadly to him tired. One day he heard his mother, in despair, wish him dead. However, Martin did not break down - at first he learned to control his own thoughts so as not to fall into depression, after that he re-mastered interaction with the outside world. For example, he learned to determine the time by the shadows. Gradually, physical skills began to return to him - in the end, the aromatherapist who worked with him noticed this, after which Martin was urgently sent to medical Center to pass all required tests and the start of the recovery period.

Martin is now 39 years old. Consciousness returned to him completely. partial control above own body although he still moves around in a wheelchair. However, after coming out of a coma, Martin met his wife Joanna and also wrote the book Shadow Boy, in which he talked about the time when he was locked in his own body.

Dreams in a coma

Musician Fred Hersh has received several Grammy nominations and was named Jazz Pianist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2011. Today he continues to give concerts around the world.

In 2008, Hersh was diagnosed with AIDS, against which the musician almost immediately began to develop dementia, after which he fell into a coma. Hersh spent several months in this state, and after coming out of it, he realized that he had lost almost all motor skills. For about 10 months he had to remain bedridden. During the rehabilitation process, the main source of motivation for him was the synthesizer, which Hersh played while in a hospital bed.

Photo: Getty Images/Josh Sisk/For The Washington Post

Almost a year later, the musician managed to accomplish the almost impossible - he achieved a full recovery. And in 2011, based on the experience experienced during his stay in a coma, he wrote the concert My coma dreams (“My dreams in a coma.” - “Izvestia”). The work includes parts for 11 musical instruments and vocalist, and also provides for the use of multimedia images. In 2014 the concert was released on DVD.

The longest coma

The longest living person in a coma was the American Terry Wallace. In June 1984, he and a friend got into a car accident - in highlands the car fell off a cliff, his friend died, and Terry himself fell into a coma. According to doctors, there was practically no hope that he would be able to get out of this condition. However, 19 years later, in June 2003, Terry suddenly came to his senses.

Soon he began to recognize relatives, but the possibilities of his memory were limited by the events of 19 years ago. For example, he felt himself a 20-year-old man, and his own daughter refused to know because last time when he saw her, she was breastfed baby. And, from Terry's point of view, she should have stayed. In addition, Terry suffered from short-term amnesia - he could keep any event in his memory for no longer than a few minutes, after which he immediately forgot about it, or could not recognize the person he had just met. This phenomenon is spoken of by many who have survived a coma for at least a few days, but most often memory problems are of a short-term nature.

Among other things, Wallace physically could not imagine that he had been unconscious for the last 19 years and the world had changed significantly, and because of the change in the functioning of the brain, he had almost forgotten how to hide his thoughts. Now he literally says what he thinks.

At first, Terry could only speak in fragments, but gradually the ability to communicate coherently returned to him. He remained paralyzed for life, but fully regained consciousness and the ability to communicate coherently.

After a specially conducted study, the doctors came to the conclusion that his brain was able to independently connect the remaining "working" neurons and thus reboot.

RELATED MORE

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 showed no 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 many years of being 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 a 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 relatives are healthy, and even in the most hopeless cases not to despair and not betray them.