Posted on 02/13/2005 5:35:46 PM PST by TaxRelief
Hutchinson-- For 20 years, Sarah Scantlin has been mostly oblivious to the world around her -- the victim of a drunken driver who struck her down as she walked to her car. Today, after a remarkable recovery, she can talk again.
Scantlin's father knows she will never fully recover, but her newfound ability to speak and her returning memories have given him his daughter back. For years, she could only blink her eyes -- one blink for "no," two blinks for "yes" -- to respond to questions that no one knew for sure she understood.
"I am astonished how primal communication is. It is a key element of humanity," Jim Scantlin said.
Sarah Scantlin was an 18-year-old college freshman on Sept. 22, 1984, when she was hit by a drunken driver as she walked to her car after celebrating with friends at a teen club.
The driver who struck Scantlin served six months in jail for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.
Scantlin still suffers constantly from the effects of the accident. She habitually crosses her arms across her chest, her fists clenched under her chin. Her legs constantly spasm and thrash.
But on Saturday, she was a debutante of sorts as her thrilled family had an open house to introduce her to nearly 200 of her friends, family and media who gathered at the nursing home to see her.
Dressed in a blue warm-up suit, Sarah mostly answered questions in a single word.
Is she happy she can talk? "Yeah," she replied.
And what does she tell her parents when they leave, someone else prompted. "I love you," she said.
Family members say they are at times surprised now that she is talking about how much she grasped of life from the news and soap operas.
Her brother, named Jim like his father, asked whether she knew what a CD was. Sarah said she knew it had music on it.
But when he asked her how old she was, Sarah guessed she was 22. When her brother gently told her she was 38 years old now, she just stared silently back at him. The nurses say she thinks it is still the 1980s.
Scantlin started talking in mid-January but asked staff members not to tell her parents until Valentine's Day to surprise them, Trammell said. But last week she could not wait any longer to talk to them.
Scantlin's doctor, Bradley Scheel, said physicians were not sure why she suddenly began talking but believed critical pathways in the brain may have regenerated.
Dear President Bush. I pray to our Lord that you read about this woman who recovered and do something to save the life of Terry Schiavo in Florida.
In Christ,
Xzins
Chaplain (Ret) US Army
Ordained Elder, United Methodist Church
That is ridiculous. She totally lost 20 years, and will never have a normal life again.
People do come out of "comas" ping!
It would be interesting to know if the drunken driver has had any more accidents/arrests for the same crime. Too bad the laws against drunk driving aren't stiffer.
The nurses say she thinks it is still the 1980s."
..... Hey not a bad decade to be stuck in.
Actually, I bet she'll probably recover a lot more than this. I saw a bit on the news tonight of her being moved out of the facility where she has spent 20 years.
Her large muscles have contracted and she is clearly having trouble controlling her face, but these are all things that can be recovered with training. She won't be the way she would have been if the accident had never happened, but she might still end up being a daughter to her mother and just another fellow citizen to the rest of us. And she'll die when it's time for her to die, and not when the judiciary has gotten tired of her.
Yes, maybe she'll think Rap Music will just be a short lived fad.
culture of life alert.
"Woman hit by car in '84 regains speech"
"Woman silent for 20 years calls to say 'Hi, Mom'"
"Injured daughter can speak after 20 years of silence"
"Mute for 20 years, woman says 'OK'"
"After 20 years, brain-injured woman begins talking"
"After 20 years, accident victim speaks"
...but not one headline says: "Woman recovers from Permanent Vegetative State".
As a parent and grandparent, I guarantee that hearing those words is worth many times the strain and effort of maintaining "PVS" care for 20 years!
Just ask Terry Schiavo's parents....
HUTCHINSON, Kan. The father of a woman unable to talk for more than two decades says he's gone "from despair to joy."
Sarah Scantlin has begun to regain her memory and form words for the first time since a drunken driver hit her in 1984. She was 18 at the time of the accident.Since then, she's been unable to make any sounds other than loud crying. A month ago, she told staff members at the Kansas health center where she lives "O-K, O-K." Workers say she's now forming other words, counting and remembering people and places.The administrator of the Golden Plains Health Care Center says "nobody really knows why" Scantlin has regained speech.Family and friends plan a celebration at the health center tomorrow. Jim Scantlin tells C-N-N his daughter is "100 percent Sarah again."WQAD
When in seminary, I worked at a local VA hospital as an assistant chaplain and had responsibility for visitation on 3 wards, one of which was the comatose ward. Sunday after Sunday, I'd hold service for folks in beds or chairs who were perhaps totally oblivious to everything I said.
I wasn't there long enough for it to happen on my watch, but one of our senior chaplains there would tell the story of a comatose patient who awakened.
We were taught always to assume that the patient knew exactly what you were saying, singing, preaching, praying....
I've heard stories of folks who heard and completely understood their relatives discussing "pulling the plug" but were unable to speak.
That has to be right up there amongst Horribles.
A friend of mine was in a coma for a week, as they thought - but he was perfectly aware of everything going on around him, he just couldn't respond. He didn't hear anything awful, but still . . .
bump. Now if they can just get her out of that nursing home or whatever. That's not her home. Puleez.
Life Ping!
Thanks for the ping, TR!
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