List of people who awoke from a coma

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This is a list of people who awoke from coma-like states, such as a persistent vegetative state, minimally conscious state, catatonic stupor, or locked-in syndrome after a lengthy period of time.[ vague ]

Contents

NameBirth and death yearsComa startDurationComa endNationalityDetails
Munira Abdulla [1] 1959199127 years2018 Emirati Coma caused by a car crash.
Riaan Bolton [2] ~19802003, July3 years2006 South African Suffered severe brain trauma in a car crash. Emerged when his family learned about the effect of the drug Zolpidem on fellow coma victim Louis Viljoen (see below).
Gary Dockery [ citation needed ]1954–19971988>7.5 years1996 American Police officer who went into a coma after being shot in the forehead. Unlike most patients who come out of a coma after years, after two days of talking, he became unresponsive again.
Jan Grzebski [ citation needed ]1942–2008198819 years2007 Polish Railroad worker.
Donald Herbert 1961-200629 December 1995>9 years30 April 2005 American Firefighter. Lapsed into a coma after a burning building collapsed on him, starving his brain of oxygen. He awoke more than nine years later and was able to speak to his friends and family before returning to a minimally responsive state. Died from pneumonia on 21 February 2006, aged 44.
Thomas Hill[ citation needed ]1988201012 years2022Woke up after being in a coma for 12 years after a suicide attempt.
Leonard Lowe 1920s-?1939>30 years1969 American Fell into a catatonic stupor resulting from encephalitis lethargica. In 1969, Dr. Oliver Sacks managed to awaken him and a few other Spanish flu-related catatonic patients using a medication called levodopa or L-dopa. After a brief period of being in a fully recovered state, Lowe and all of the other patients fell back into their catatonic stupors with occasional very short periods of reawakenings. Lowe's and the other patients' stories were the focus of the 1973 book Awakenings and the 1990 movie adaptation Awakenings .
Abdelhak Nouri 1997>1 yearThe then 20-year-old Dutch footballer collapsed during a match.
Wanda Palmer~1970/712020, June2 Years2022, July American Beaten up and left for dead in a June 2020 attack. In July 2022, she awakened and identified her brother Daniel Palmer as the attacker. Daniel Palmer was arrested and died days later in custody.
Martin Pistorius 19753 years vegetative

4 years minimally conscious 5 years able to move only eyes

1999 South African In 1999, he fully awakened. He recovered to the point that he was able to become a web designer, developer, and author. In 2011, he wrote a book called Ghost Boy , in which he describes his many years of being comatose.
Annie Shapiro1913–200329 years1992 Canadian Annie Shapiro (1913–2003) was a Canadian apron shop owner who was in a coma for 29 years because of a massive stroke and suddenly awakened in 1992. After the patients in the true story Awakenings , Shapiro spent the longest time in a coma-like state before waking up. Her story inspired the 1998 movie Forever Love . [3]
Louis Viljoen~19701994 South African Louis Viljoen (born c. 1970). In 1994, this South African switchboard operator fell into a persistent vegetative state after being hit by a truck while riding his bike. In 1999, Dr. Wally Nel gave him Zolpidem (also known as Ambien) after a nurse told Viljoen's mother that involuntary spasms in his left arm had caused him to tear his mattress and that this could have been because of him feeling uncomfortable deep inside. Within 25 minutes, he was talking, and by November 2006 he had recovered to the point where it is no longer necessary to give him Zolpidem. The drug has since been used to awaken other coma patients, and several have been awakened around the world since, such as Riaan Bolton (see above). [4]
Terry Wallis 1964–20221984~1 year coma

19 years in a minimally conscious state

American Coma caused by truck crash.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coma</span> State of unconsciousness

A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. The person may experience respiratory and circulatory problems due to the body's inability to maintain normal bodily functions. People in a coma often require extensive medical care to maintain their health and prevent complications such as pneumonia or blood clots. Coma patients exhibit a complete absence of wakefulness and are unable to consciously feel, speak or move. Comas can be the result of natural causes, or can be medically induced.

A vegetative state (VS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative state, the patient is classified as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). This diagnosis is classified as a permanent vegetative state some months after a non-traumatic brain injury or one year after a traumatic injury. The term unresponsive wakefulness syndrome may be used alternatively, as "vegetative state" has some negative connotations among the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comic book death</span> Apparent death and subsequent return of a fictional character

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Maria Korp was a Portuguese-born Australian woman reported missing for four days and later found, barely alive, in the boot of her car on 13 February 2005. She spent a short time in a coma before emerging into a state of post-coma unresponsiveness. She became the centre of a controversy in Australia during 2005. Depending upon their viewpoint, people have characterised the controversy as being about euthanasia or about human rights and protecting people with disabilities.

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Terry Wayne Wallis was an American man from the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas who, on June 11, 2003, regained awareness after spending 19 years in a minimally conscious state.

Jan Grzebski was a Polish railroad worker who fell into a coma in 1988 and woke up in 2007. He actually stayed in a coma for four years but only fully recovered 19 years after.

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Rom Houben is a Belgian man believed to be comatose and in a vegetative state for 23 years after a near-fatal automobile accident, who was diagnosed with locked-in syndrome in 2006.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karolina Olsson</span> Swedish hibernator (1861–1950)

Karolina Olsson, also known as "Soverskan på Oknö", was a Swedish woman who purportedly remained in hibernation between 1876 and 1908. This is believed to be the longest time that anyone has lived in this manner who then awoke without any residual symptoms.

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References

  1. ↑ UAE woman Munira Abdulla wakes up after 27 years in a coma, 23 April 2019. BBC News . Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  2. ↑ Boggan, Steve (12 September 2006). "Reborn". The Guardian .
  3. ↑ "Forever Love (Tv)". Paleycenter.org. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  4. ↑ Boggan, Steve (12 September 2006). "Reborn". The Guardian .
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