Posted on 02/11/2005 6:16:34 PM PST by nickcarraway
A US woman who has spent the past 20 years in a coma-like state has inexplicably awoken and can now speak, news reports said.
Sarah Scantlin was 18 years old when, as a pedestrian, she was injured in a hit-and-run accident that left her in a semi-vegetative condition, aware of her surroundings but unable to speak or move.
Since that time, she has been in a care centre in the Midwest US state of Kansas.
Scantlin's parents unexpectedly received a phone call last week from the nursing home where their now 38-year-old daughter resides.
However, instead of the call being about Sarah, it was actually from Sarah.
"Hi mum," she said to her mother.
The words were a shock and a joy for Scantlin's parents.
"There's just no words," mother Betsy Scantlin told a CBS television news show. "I've just laughed ever since because it's just so amazing."
Doctors said Sarah Scantlin has been improving every day since her remarkable awakening. They have no explanation for the sudden improvement in her condition.
Although Scantlin started making indiscernible noises a couple of years ago, she remained unresponsive except for the ability to make eye contact.
bttt
WHO won the world series?.....you got to be kidding!!!!!!
So much for the aging "Material Girl's" attempts to constantly reinvent herself, and stay in the spotlight.....and in the current popculture lexicon.
Perhaps she will go the way of Cher......dear God, I hope so!
please put me on your Catholic list, thanks
Goodnight Terri bump with a prayer!
Would you care to make a guess at what possible motive the husband might have to take her off life support?
I Heard this today on my Favorite Christian Radio Program, and was Rejoicing! : )
LOL
Wow.
"Would you care to make a guess at what possible motive the husband might have to take her off life support?"
750,000 dollar settlement - minus all the lawyer fes trying to kill her off against the parents wishes. and of course - the girlfriend. Then - we don't want Terry waking up and remembering he beat her either.
My MS stock is worth WHAT?
Yes, that would be a side benefit, but how awful to discover you had basically slept through your youth.
Nic, have you seen this?
I heard about this...quite amazing, isn't it?
I hope it makes a difference for Terri.
A Hutchinson woman who suffered a critical head injury and has been verbally unresponsive since she was hit by a car 20 years ago has begun to form words and is regaining her memory.
Sarah Scantlin, 18 at the time of the Sept 22, 1984, pedestrian hit-and-run accident, has been bedfast at Golden Plains Health Care Center since mid-1985.
"It's like a miracle has happened," Golden Plains Administrator Sharon Kuepker said of Scantlin's recent progress.
While she had been cognizant of what was going on around her, until about a month ago, the only sound Scantlin had made was crying out in a loud voice - something she started in the last few years, said Jennifer Trammell, Golden Plains Social Services staff member.
In her two decades at Golden Plains, the staff always has talked to Sarah when they were in her room - as a part of her plan of care, Kuepker said.
Scantlin had been placed in small group settings before, but a month ago Pat Rincon, Golden Plains activity director, was working with her in a small group she responded with an 'OK, OK.'
"It just happened one day, and nobody really knows why," Kuepker said. "She had been in that group before, and it was just like all of a sudden something happened. It just came out real plain."
From that point on, Rincon started working harder on communication, Kuepker said.
"It was like a red flag that Sarah understood and repeated it," she said.
Since that time, Scantlin, the daughter of Betsy and Jim Scantlin, has progressed to the point she is forming additional words, is counting and is remembering people and places.
The past two decades have been an emotional turmoil for them, Jim Scantlin said. "It's been a profound conflict between a deep sorrow and self-pity."
On open house at the nursing home for friends and family to visit and celebrate the change in her condition is set for Saturday.
On the night of the accident, her daughter was out celebrating with friends, Betsy Scantlin said. A Nickerson High School graduate in the Class of 1984, she was commuting to Hutchinson Community College, where she had enrolled as a freshman.
"That week, she had a new job at Wiley's and had been named a member of the HCC drill team," Betsy Scantlin said. "They were celebrating all the good things that happened."
Scantlin and her friends had left the J. W. Tappens Club in the 2100 block of East 11th Avenue at about midnight and were walking to their cars when a passing car struck her.
The driver of the car left the scene without reporting the accident. He later was identified as Douglas D. Doman II, 24. He was convicted of driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an injury accident and served six months in jail.
It's a good thing they didn't just starve her to death, huh?
I certainly do as well, sl. Have you seen this post by FL_engineer? It's a great recap of events concerning Terri, as well as some pics of Terri shown before her husband in name only received the million dollar jury award to take care of Terri, as he swore under oath, "for the rest of HIS life."
She hates time, make it stop and when did Motely Crue become classic rock? And when did Ozzy become an actor..please make it stop, stop..and bring back Springsteen
Bowling for Soup '1985'
The Clinton is going to be impossible to describe to her
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