Between life and death. Stories of people who fell into a coma for years. How long did the longest coma in the world last? The longest coma
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, on New Year's Eve, a 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. On January 3, insulin did not reach the circulatory system, and the girl lost consciousness for many years.
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 the poor thing spent all her unconscious years with her eyes open. 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 for years they waited at the bedside of a 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 a dangerous state between life and death. In the cerebral cortex, inhibition occurs, the work of the nervous system and blood circulation is disrupted. 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 the level of glucose in the blood rises in the body with diabetes 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) is a life-threatening condition between life and death, characterized by loss of consciousness, a sharp weakening or lack of response to external stimuli, extinction of reflexes until they disappear completely, a violation of the depth and frequency of breathing, a change vascular tone, increased or slowed heart rate, impaired 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).
In this case, there are violations of the acid-base balance in the nervous tissue, oxygen starvation, ion exchange disorders and energy starvation of 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 basically this is 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. The priests say that the soul has already left, and that this is one of the most difficult states: the soul has left, but the body is still alive, and, they say, a person is neither alive nor dead, his departed soul is rushing about, wants to be released.
In our country and in some other countries of the world, upon death of the brain, they are disconnected from life support devices, if relatives are against it, they keep them for some time, but, for example, by a court decision, they can be disconnected 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 are different states, in the first case, a person is recognized as a living being and cannot be disconnected from the apparatus, in the second, a person is actually a corpse.
Many of us have seen films where the 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 technologies, mobile 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 are not only cases of a long stay without consciousness, but also those metamorphoses that occurred 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, the structures of the brain that had lost their connections began to self-heal by creating alternative connections, new neural networks, and Terry’s brain anatomically does not meet the standards.
This case was a discovery for scientists and significantly advanced physicians in the practice of resuscitation of patients in a vegetative state.
Of course, Terry Wallis remained disabled, 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 the illness, Eduarda fell into a coma, her last words to her mother were 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 of a heart attack in 1975, the mother looked after her daughter until the 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. At the age of 4, Hayley Putre began to live with her aunt, 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 the Internet sources, the girl can communicate with others using a special chalkboard 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. At first he began to communicate with the help of 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 few cases when people who survived even a short-term coma suddenly discovered new gifts and 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 of 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.
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. In recent years, the hardships all fell on the shoulders of her sister. 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. The society pays great attention to the direction - "brain death", since the majority of "industrialized countries equate 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 /".
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 the world around her in any way.
O'Bar's last words before the coma were a request to his mother. "Promise you won't leave me," said the girl. And her mother remembered her request for the rest of her life.
Kay O'Bara spent the next 35 years 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.
Coma is considered one of the most difficult and unpredictable conditions for patients and physicians. The subject of coma attracts fans of mysticism, as there are many fascinating stories of people who have experienced this state.
Some former patients claim that they saw the tunnel and the light, contemplated their own physical body from the side, etc. Of particular interest is the exceptional case, which includes the longest stay in a coma in the world. To understand how this is possible, you need to know what a coma is.
Characteristics of a coma
The word "coma" in Greek means "deep sleep". If a person is completely unconscious due to a pathological condition that is characterized by the maximum degree of CNS depression, then doctors diagnose a coma. However, it cannot be called a disease. It occurs as a result of a head injury or is a complication of any disease. The longest stay in a coma in the world lasted more than 37 years. Documents confirm this.
What is a coma
Doctors distinguish between somnolence and wakeful coma. The first is characterized by the clouded consciousness of a person who is in a state of constant drowsiness. In the second type of coma, the patient experiences complete apathy and indifference to everything, retaining an autopsychic orientation.
Experts say that a coma cannot last more than a month. The body then enters the vegetative stage. Simply put, in a month a person exists like a plant. His vital functions are preserved, but mental activity is completely absent. And this situation can persist for years. In a coma, metabolic processes change in the body, one of which is concomitant encephalopathy.
The duration of the coma depends on the severity of the brain damage. The longer the coma lasts, the less chance a person has of “returning” to this world, and the more real the death outcome becomes. If 6 hours have already passed after falling into a coma, and the patient's pupils do not respond to a beam of light, then this is a very formidable symptom. Doctors say that in this case, a person may experience brain death. He is no longer able to perform any functions, and recovery is impossible, since the brain tissue is destroyed.
Therefore, people who have been in a coma for a long time do not return to normal life. A vivid example is the longest stay in a coma in the world, which lasted 37 years and 111 days. American Elaine Esposito (Tarpon Springs) fell into a coma at the age of 6 years. She underwent an operation to remove her appendicitis, after which she no longer regained consciousness (1941). A prolonged coma ended in death when the woman was 43 years old.
If a person wakes up after a coma, then he goes through a long recovery period, which sometimes takes years. Those who have fallen into a coma have a special diet, and some cannot breathe on their own. Therefore, they cannot do without medical help, even after improving their health.
Causes of coma
The longest stay in a coma in the world is simply impossible to explain from a medical point of view. Doctors do not know why some patients do not recover for many years. There are more than 500 causes of coma. But most often it develops due to a violation of blood circulation in the brain (stroke).
Coma can occur after a traumatic brain injury or poisoning. But any coma lasts no more than 4 weeks. What happens to a person after this period is not actually a coma. If the patient does not recover, then he goes into a vegetative state. The longer a person is in a coma, the less likely he is to have a positive outcome. Man-made coma is general anesthesia. This is a manageable condition, however, in some cases there are complications.
Coma is an ordeal
It is difficult not only for the patient himself, but also for his relatives. In the cinema, patients are often shown in a coma. However, on the screen, everything looks different. In reality, without the active help and support of loved ones, without careful care, a person has almost no chance of recovery.
One of the main consequences of a coma is a deterioration in the quality of thinking, memory, as well as changes in behavior. A person may partially lose his previous skills, ability to work and behave in such a way that his relatives practically do not recognize him. The extent of the loss depends on how long the patient has been in the coma. For some people, normal speech is restored only after a few months.
The longest stay in a coma in the world fixed in Miami. The woman spent almost her entire life in a coma. She died at the age of 59 without regaining consciousness. This is Edward O'Bar, who was dubbed "Sleeping Snow White" by the media in the past. She was 16 when she went into a diabetic coma. Edward did not regain consciousness for 42 years! Interestingly, she did not close her eyes. They were constantly open, but there was no consciousness. The woman did not see, did not hear or perceive anything.
Before the coma, she asked her mother not to leave her. The mother kept her promise and took care of her daughter for the rest of her life - 35 years. After her mother's death, her sister took care of Eduarda. She witnessed the departure of "Sleeping Snow White" to another world. At the time of Edward's death, she closed her eyes.
Curious fact
Experts have repeatedly tried to find out what caused the longest stay in a coma in the world. To this end, a study was conducted in which doctors from the UK and Belgium managed to establish contact with a patient who had been in a coma for 10 years. Scott Routley from Canada fell into a coma after suffering a head injury in a car accident. With the help of magnetic resonance imaging, specialists were able to get answers from him to their questions: “Are you in pain?”, “Are you scared?” and others. They recorded the answers in the form of bursts of brain activity.