Ark. Man Wakes After 19 Years in Coma

"...19 years later"

I think we all owe Calypso Louis an apology. :{)

Kramer: Jerry, you gotta help me. Did you know it was possible to wake up from a coma?
Seinfeld: I didn't know it was possible NOT to know that!

Men are allowed to have sex in thier own homes.

This has to be one of the most amazing things I have read lately. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to one day be 19 years old....then wake up at 39!!! He missed out on so much of his life....as well as his daughters. I am amazed that they never gave up hope and the plug was never pulled.

Bear in mind that he's still 19 years old in every way except physically (such as maturity and experience).

He was still black in 1984!

Attempts to get Medicaid to pay proved fruitless."

They should have all gone to their local 'flea market' and bought the whole family Mexican Consular ID Cards for $5.00. They'd get all the free healthcare they wanted as long as our government thought they were here illegally.

The Dallas Morning News AP article, with pics:

Arkansas man wakes after 19 years in coma
What were patient's first words? 'Mom,' 'Pepsi,' 'milk'
07/10/2003
Associated Press
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. – The last time Terry Wallis was conscious of the world around him, Ronald Reagan was president, the United States was in a Cold War, and the World Trade Center still stood.
Thrown into a stupor after an auto accident in 1984, he recently spoke his first words in 19 years: "Mom." "Pepsi." "Milk."
Only in the last two weeks has the 39-year-old Mr. Wallis realized that Mr. Reagan no longer is president, answering "I don't know" when asked who is in office now, his physician James Zini said Wednesday.

AP
Terry Wallis, 39, who thought Ronald Reagan was still in office, was injured in 1984 when the car he was riding in plunged toward a river.

"He's beginning to realize he's in a different place now," Dr. Zini said. "We never thought he'd regain this kind of cognitive level."
Mr. Wallis and a friend were traveling by car on July 13, 1984, when it left the road and plunged toward a river. Both men were found beneath a bridge the next day; Mr. Wallis' friend died, and Mr. Wallis was injured so severely that his brain shut down fully for three months.
In the intervening years, Mr. Wallis could communicate only by blinking his eyes or grunting. On June 13, he called out "Mom" to his mother and later asked for a Pepsi. While home for a weekend from the nursing home where he lives, Mr. Wallis said he wanted milk with his breakfast. His vocabulary has steadily increased since then.
A speech therapist works with Mr. Wallis three days a week, and Dr. Zini wants to upgrade Mr. Wallis' physical therapy routine, believing his increased alertness would boost his ability to comply with instructions. Nurses have been told to ask Mr. Wallis open-ended questions to help him develop answers beyond just "Yes" and "No."
When he emerged fully from the coma, Mr. Wallis entered a world where so much was different and where much remains the same.
Terrorists struck on U.S. soil: Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City federal building, and Islamic fundamentalists brought down the World Trade Center and struck the Pentagon, killing more than 3,000 people. German citizens brought down the Berlin Wall, and Eastern Europe emerged from decades of communist rule.
The Internet in 1984 was a loose affiliation of computers of interest only to academicians. National League and American League baseball teams never played each other until October.
Mr. Wallis' daughter, Amber, was 6 weeks old when the accident occurred. Mr. Wallis says it is his goal to walk for her. During a visit with her last month, he was able to tell her "you're pretty" and "I love you."

AP
Angilee Wallis was stunned on June 13 when her comatose son, Terry Wallis, called out to her.

His long-term memory is keen. He remembered the telephone number of a long-dead grandmother and remembers driving a car whose forward gears had failed – so he had to drive to his friends' homes in reverse.
Over the last 19 years, the Wallis family would pick him up at the Stone County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and take him home or to other family functions.
Dr. Zini said that probably aided in a gradual recovery that began with him reacting to an increasing doctor's bill.
Eighteen years ago, Mr. Wallis began shaking his head violently when a doctor told the family that medical bills were running about $125,000 – as if to say the price wasn't acceptable, his father Jerry Wallis said.
Later in the coma, Mr. Wallis would react to Chevrolet's TV ads.
"He wouldn't drive a Chevrolet, and when the commercials would come on the TV he'd have a fit. He'd shake his head from one side to the other and give some kind of hollering," Jerry Wallis said.

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/071003dntexarcoma.9a205.html

Ah! He must be a Ford man, eh, Pest ??

Later in the coma, Mr. Wallis would react to Chevrolet's TV ads.
"He wouldn't drive a Chevrolet, and when the commercials would come on the TV he'd have a fit. He'd shake his head from one side to the other and give some kind of hollering," Jerry Wallis said.