He opened his eyes and wandered around in confusion. He didn’t know where he was and found himself in a hospital bed. The nurse approached him to observe his condition, and he said his first word after 19 years in a coma.
Munira Abdullah – before telling you the story of Terry, I would like to tell you the story of Munira as well. Munira, like Terry, had been in a coma and woke up only after 27 years. Being in a coma is very serious and can have many negative long-term consequences. Usually, a coma lasts only a few weeks, so the stories I will tell you today are rare exceptions.
Munira was an Emirati woman and lived in Al Ain, a small town in Abu Dhabi. Then one day, the school bus was unable to pick up her son, Umar, so she decided to take him to school herself. She got into the car with her brother-in-law and her son and drove to the school. Omar was only four years old at the time.
On the way home, the car crashed into a school bus. Munira’s brother-in-law was driving, and she was sitting in the back seat with Omar. When she noticed the accident was imminent, she picked up little Omar and held him firmly in her arms to protect him. This helped, indeed, but because of this, she suffered the full impact of the collision. She sustained a severe brain injury as a result of the accident, while Omar only had a slight bruise.
After the accident, Omar crawled out of the car and then looked desperately at his unconscious mother. They didn’t have a telephone, which meant they couldn’t call an ambulance immediately. As a result, 32-year-old Munira spent hours lying on the ground. She was unconscious when the ambulance eventually arrived, and they transported her to the emergency room. She was unaware of anything because she had been unconscious the whole time and therefore did not react to her surroundings.
At the hospital, the doctors diagnosed a minimal state of consciousness, and her coma would last much longer than the doctors could ever expect. They administered tube feeding to Munira and she regularly underwent physiotherapy so that her muscles remained intact, and her body did not deteriorate any further. The doctors believed that she would not wake up because there was no progress in the years that followed. However, Omar never gave up. He visited his mother regularly and always believed that one day she would open her eyes and wake up from the coma.
Omar walked a long distance every day to see his mother, and he would stay with her for hours. Even though she was unable to talk, he noticed her expressions when she was in pain. He was also unable to speak to her during his visits, but for him, she was valuable, and the longer it took, the more valuable she became. He firmly believed that one day she would wake up from her coma, and the prospect gave him courage and hope. He tried everything he could to help her because Omar wanted to be with his mother every day. He had difficulty finding a permanent job, but his mother was more important; she needed him, and he had to be there whenever she opened her eyes. So he always made sure he managed to spend valuable time with his mother in the hospital.
They moved her from one room to another as the years passed. When the crown prince heard about the story of Munira in 2017, they offered the family a grant for an extensive multi-disciplinary rehabilitation program in Germany. The family didn’t expect this because they never asked for it, and they expressed their gratitude to the prince. By now, it had already been difficult for them to keep Munira in the hospital.
In Germany, Munira underwent surgery to repair the weakened muscles of her limbs. The aim was to keep her body as healthy as possible so that her consciousness could develop, and it helped. It became apparent that she was aware of the people around her. Omar continued to hope that she would wake up and talk to him, but the doctors saw this more as a wild fantasy of Omar because they thought it was impossible. Munira had been in a coma for so many years.
However, then the unexpected happened. Munira had another week in Germany when Omar came to visit her and got in an argument near her bed. She reacted, and it seemed as if she felt that her son was in danger. She suddenly started to make strange noises, and Omar called the doctors. But according to them, it was normal, and there was nothing wrong with her. They left it at that.
But three days later, Omar woke up because he heard his name. Someone spoke his name, and he knew that it was his mother who did this. He was so happy because this day had finally come. He had been looking forward to it for years, and the first thing she said was his name.
After she said Omar’s name, she also mentioned the names of her brothers and sisters. These were the names of the people she thought were there. She shouted, and it seemed as if she was experiencing the accident again. When she calmed down, she could tell the doctors where she felt pain. Although she was not able to communicate very well, she became more and more conscious every day. Meanwhile, 27 years had passed, and her little Omar had already become a mature man. She had been missing out on so many things over the years, but Omar had always stayed by her side and was very happy that she was back.
He talked a lot with her and prayed with her as well, while she repeated the words after him. She liked to talk when the subject interested her, but she still needed a lot of help from her family to regain her independence. Omar shared his mother’s story with others to encourage them not to give up and to always support their loved ones.
Terry Wallace – And now I will tell you about the boy who woke up from his coma after 19 years. Have you already subscribed to our channel? I will allow you to do that now. Can you also turn on the notification bell to get notifications when we put new videos online?
Terry was 19 years old when he slipped into a coma. He was involved in a car accident and was injured severely because of it. Terry was a young, healthy, and cheerful guy until the accident happened. He was even married and just starting a family. His wife had given birth to their daughter just six weeks before the accident.
It was July 1984, and Terry had just turned 19 in April. On the day of the accident, he drove with a friend in his pickup in Arkansas on a small bridge. All of a sudden, the pickup slid off the bridge and bumped into the railing. Then the pickup fell off the bridge and ended up upside down on the side of the river. The friend who came along unfortunately died, but Terry was still breathing, although he had become unconscious.
After the emergency services arrived at the scene, they took him straight to the hospital. In the hospital, he was still not conscious, and it took a year before any changes occurred. At that time, the doctors had given up hope, and they thought that his changes would only be temporary.
At the time when the accident happened, Terry’s wife had only just given birth to their daughter. The years passed, and the girl had never spoken to her father. She could only see him in the hospital, and so she grew up without her dad. Surely she missed him a lot. It must have been strange for her not knowing her father.
During the 19 years that Terry was in a coma, technology changed so much, and there were even other government songs that were hit at the time were now old and out of fashion. And of course, he didn’t see his daughter growing up. He had a great deal of catching up to do when he woke up. Nobody knew for sure if that was even possible. How do you think someone can catch up with 19 years?
Terry’s family didn’t have the money to pay for physiotherapy for him when he was in a coma, so his muscles and limbs got weak. When someone lies still for such a long time, it is important to keep the body in shape.
His family visited him regularly in the hospital, and they did this faithfully all those 19 years. However, they didn’t think he would wake up again and were afraid he might even die.
Nevertheless, some remained hopeful, and finally, Terry woke up miraculously in 2003. He opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. The place was unknown to him, and he was in a hospital bed. The nurse walked up to him to check his condition, and he said his first word after having been in a coma for 19 years.
His daughter was now 19, but he believed that he was still 19. To him, it was as if he was just in the pickup. His first word was “mother.” He could only use his mouth because his muscles and body parts were weak, but in the days that followed, Terry gradually recovered. The only thing he had was a speech disorder as a result of the accident.
Terry’s development was the subject of curiosity for many scientists, and they made various scans of his brain. They wondered how he managed to talk immediately after such a long time. Not only did scientists show interest, but also the media. Terry not only became a scientific legend, but he also became famous. Journalists were eager to interview him, and he got invited to do several talk shows.
During the coma, Terry’s brain created new connections. This was very interesting for science, and they did further research so they could explain this. Because Terry had been in a coma for so long, he will never be the same person again. But his family is happy to have him back amongst them, and now, for the first time, his daughter had a chance to get to know her father.
