how can one be aware while dead?
Oh, come on, Bert! Be imaginative, don't think in the box so much.
After all, we all understand perfectly well that you can't catch Ebola while sitting next to someone on the bus, but that people who've had contact with Ebola patients shouldn't ride the bus because they might give it to someone.
After that one, being aware while dead is a snap.
Perhaps your inability to understand this - your "unawareness" if you will, is indicative of the fact that you are not dead, i.e. you are alive. :>) If so, don't worry, Resident Obola will take care of that soon.
None of them were brain-dead; none of them were dead.