Ark. Man Wakes After 19 Years in Coma

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. - The words began tumbling out - at first just a few nouns and eventually a torrent of phrases.

Terry Wallis, who had been in a coma since a 1984 car accident, regained consciousness last month to the surprise of doctors and the delight of his family, including his mother, who heard his first word in 19 years.

"He started out with 'Mom' and surprised her and then it was 'Pepsi' and then it was 'milk.' And now it's anything he wants to say," Stone County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center social director Alesha Badgley said Tuesday.

His mother, Angilee Wallis, called her son's return to consciousness a miracle: "I couldn't tell you my first thought, I just fell over on the floor," she said.

Terry Wallis, now 39, was riding with a friend in July 1984 when their car left the road and plunged into a creek. Wallis and his friend were found the next day underneath a bridge. The friend was dead and Wallis was comatose.

Wallis' daughter, Amber, was born shortly before the accident, and the coma dragged on for almost two decades. She is now 19 and her dad has said he wants to walk again, for her. He is a quadriplegic as a result of the crash.

"It's been hard dealing with it, it's been hard realizing the man I married can't be there," said Wallis' wife, Sandi. "We all, the whole family, missed out on his company."

The silence ended June 12 when Wallis uttered his first word. He was able to talk a little more a day later and has improved ever since.

Terry's father, Jerry Wallis, said his son talks almost nonstop now, but it seems as though time stopped for him after the wreck. Terry still believes Ronald Reagan is the president.

Terry has asked to speak to his grandmother, who died several years ago, and even recited her phone number - something everyone else in the family had forgotten.

Perry Wallis, Terry' brother, said "just to put it bluntly, it was pure hell to see your brother laying there, not knowing if you'll ever talk to him again."

"It's kind of peculiar. He wrecked on Friday the 13th and 19 years later he started talking on Friday the 13th," Jerry Wallis said.

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

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