How long did the longest coma last? Coming out of a coma: held hostage by his own body

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 /".

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 longest coma in the world with awakening lasted almost 19 years. This case changed doctors' opinions about 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.
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  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.
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  Brother and other relatives of Terry Wallis are preparing to give interviews.
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  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.

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, just before oblivion, managed to ask her mother not to leave her.

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 this would be the longest coma in the history of medicine, which would 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 most prolonged coma in which the person has been.

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.

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

“Coma (from other Greek κῶμα - deep sleep) - life threatening a state 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 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 (with barbiturates, carbon monoxide, etc.), diabetes mellitus, uremia, hepatitis (uremic, hepatic coma).

This results in violations acid-base balance in the nervous tissue, oxygen starvation, ion exchange disorders and energy starvation 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 this is mainly 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, when the brain dies, they are disconnected from life support devices, if relatives are against it, they are kept for some time, but, for example, by a court decision, they can be disconnected even 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 without consciousness is extremely rare, and the duration of being in a coma is mostly several years, such are the "cine" 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 not only cases long stay unconscious, but also those metamorphoses that happened 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 an invalid, 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 survive 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. Haley Putre began to live with her aunt at the age of 4, 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 cared for 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 lot of cases when people who survived even a short-term coma suddenly discovered new gifts, 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 "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.