Last week I came across a piece of news that set me thinking about the families of people who remain in a comma for many years. I would like you to read it and see if you share my point or not...
Crash victim wakes up after 20 years in a coma
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An Arkansas man who went into a coma after a serious car crash during his late teens has awoken nearly two decades later as a middle-aged man with an adult daughter.
Terry Wallis was 19 and newly married with a baby daughter when his truck plunged through a guard rail, falling 25 feet.
He was left paralysed and in a coma by the crash in the summer of 1984. One of his companions was killed outright.
He remained outwardly unresponsive for years, and news reports yesterday described his recovery as all the more remarkable because Mr Wallis was never given specialist care.
His father, a farmer, was reportedly too poor to afford a neurological examination and state medical insurance was reluctant to pay for a man not expected to return to the work force.
But, according to the popular legend now taking root which promises to turn Mr Wallis into a hero for the pro-life movement, the family never gave up hope.
His parents and wife continued to hold one-sided conversations at his bedside, and brought him home from hospital on alternate weekends. Doctors now believe the stimulation kept his mind functioning.
A few years ago, he began re sponding to questions by blinking his eyes.
Three weeks ago, he spoke for the first time calling out for his mother.
"He just said, 'Mom'," his mother, Angilee Wallis, told CNN. "I like to fell over."
Since then, Mr Wallis's powers of speech have slowly returned, and he has been able to tell his family that he remembers snatches of the conversation from around his bedside.
However, his speech remains laboured, he has problems with short-term memory, and his entire frame of thinking is stuck in 1984, the year Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term as president, and Mr Wallis had his life-changing crash.
It really makes me happy to think that this fortunate man was able to wake up after being so many years in a coma however, my point is: these pieces of news shouldn't be spread out. Why? Well, imagine you have a relative in a comma but he/she hasn't any chances to wake up at all (and doctors tell you so but you don't seem to believe them and are optimistic about the future), what media actually does by spreading this is to give hope to those who live a pessimistic reality. One should be conscious that waking up from a comma is not a usual situation. I understand that people want other people to know about the case because it is absolutely unbelievable but I am against the spreading of this type of publications. I'm sorry if it sounds rough but that is how I feel every time I read something like this.
What can I say? My son has been in comma for 30 days. Then, he woke up and came to life. How extraordinary it sounds, isn´t it? And now, he is improving day by day. I think that God provides us with new opportunities to live and thrive, all the time.
ReplyDeleteI think your position is related to your previous post, the one about being pessimistic! However, I think that if people read this type of article, they will find hope whenever they have to overcome certain situation. After all, we should withstand every obstacles and then we will have the results. But, at least, we have put our effort!
ReplyDeleteThings like this happen once in a while, but when you hear the news you cannot help it but being really happy. It is true that a piece of news like this elevates people´s expectancies and hope, specially from those who are living a similar situation. I would like to wake up one day, turn on the TV and listen to someone saying: Gustavo Ceratti has finally woken up :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the girls here. I mean, I understand your point but I think that spreading such news is something that people cannot actually help. You never know if that person is going to wake up or not, but, that's what life is about: not knowing everything. And that is also what faith is about: in many cases, faith is the one thing giving strength to people who live difficult situations. Faith and hope are the two things one must never lose. Of course, this is just my opinion :)
ReplyDeleteyou are such a pessimistic Nadine! ha ha, I agree with Nadya about Ceratti or any other outstanding person who is in this state, although we know it is a miracle and we are waiting for it to happen!
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