Brain Injury Patient Brought Out of Coma After 10 Years
Here’s something for the living will crowd to chew on:
In 1995, firefighter Donald Herbert suffered brain injuries when a roof collapsed on him while he was fighting a fire. He went into a coma and was given no hope of recovery. Doctors said nothing could be done for him. Until Dr. Jamil Ahmed put him on a combination of drugs used for other things, and brought him out of the coma on April 30, 2005. He immediately started talking, and kept talking — catching up with family and friends — for 14 hours straight. He has since begun physical therapy and is re-learning how to walk. He can now walk with assistance.
Note that he did not come out of the coma randomly — he just got treatment that he had not received before. I don’t know if the treatment was available 10 years ago and not given, or if medical advances since his injury made this possible. Certainly, if it was Dr. Ahmad’s creativity that made it possible, that would count as “an advance since his injury” — since Dr. Ahmad was still in medical school in Pakistan 10 years ago.
Dr. Ahmad said something I wish more doctors would say: “I never give up. Don’t give up. There should always be hope.”
He also said, “God will not help you unless you try something.”
Here’s the story in the Boston Globe.
(Hat tip: Kevin, M.D.)
