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A friend and former co-worker of mine is fighting for his life against another onset of cancer. He had surgery two weeks ago to have his colon removed. The surgery seemed to go well, but things went badly a few days ago. Elevated blood pressure, erratic heart, 104 temperature, and he went into a coma. More surgery to find out what's wrong is needed, but can't happen until he is stable. Slight improvement in the last two days. Leonard needs your prayer power.

Doctor Wolfgang Koller said on Friday that it took nearly 50 minutes to reanimate the prince, who is the second son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. MRI scans have showed his brain suffered "massive damage" in the avalanche in Lech on Feb. 17 in which he was buried for at last 15 minutes. "It is clear that the oxygen starvation has caused massive brain damage to the patient," he said. "At the moment, it cannot be predicted if he will ever regain consciousness." Prince Friso, 43, who is married and has two young daughters, will be moved at a...

Sam Schmid, an Arizona college student believed to be brain dead and poised to be an organ donor, miraculously recovered just hours before doctors were considering taking him off life support. Schmid, a junior and business major at the University of Arizona, was critically wounded in an Oct. 19 five-car accident in Tucson. The 21-year-old's brain injuries were so severe that the local hospital could not treat him. He was airlifted to the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Phoenix, where specialists performed surgery for a life-threatening aneurysm. As hospital officials began palliative care and broached the...

21-Year-Old Man Wakes From Coma Before Doctors Take Organs Tucson, AZ -- A 21-year-old man has awaken from a coma just hours before doctors were ready to shut off life support and take his organs for donation purposes. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/12/22/21-year-old-man-wakes-from-coma-before-doctors-take-organs/

AP Interview: French doctor says he treated comatose Kim Jong Il in 2008, confirms stroke By Associated Press, PARIS — A French neurosurgeon confirmed Monday that Kim Jong Il had a debilitating stroke in 2008, and described secretly treating the reclusive dictator while the North Korean public and world remained unaware of his condition. /snip Roux, the chief of neurosurgery at Sainte Anne Hospital in Paris, said he was urgently flown to North Korea in August 2008 to examine Kim who was unconscious and “in a bad way” and in intensive care at Pyongyang’s Red Cross Hospital, in the communist...

Former Egyptian president, 83, due to stand trial for the killing of protesters and abuse of power on August 3; news of cardiac arrest follows reports that he's suffering from cancer. Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak suffered a cardiac arrest and is currently in a coma, his attorney said on Thursday. Last month, Mubarak's lawyer said the ousted Egyptian leader was suffering from cancer. Mubarak, 83, was forced from office in February after a popular uprising. He is due to stand trial on Aug. 3. for the killing of protesters and abuse of power, charges he denies. He has been...

Gloria Cruz, 56, underwent brain surgery after a tumor was discovered when she suffered a stroke on March 7 and was rushed to the Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin, Northern Territory. Doctors told her husband Tani Cruz, 51, the case was “hopeless” and she would probably die within 48 hours following the surgery. After two weeks, a breathing tube was inserted in Mrs Cruz's mouth and the ventilator was turned off. Hospital staff were stunned when she woke from her coma three days later.

Hidden Debt Makes Governments Insolvent: Bear Posted By: Patrick Allen | CNBC EMEA Head of News CNBC.com | 07 Mar 2011 | 12:13 AM ET /snip On top of these, a mountain of debt is growing but because it is off governments' balance sheets it has been so far ignored, one man who worries perhaps more than most, Albert Edwards from the global strategy team at Societe Generale, said. One of the world's most famous bears, Edwards is adamant the global economy and financial markets are not in a good place. "The global economy is critically ill. The fact that...

King County has settled with the family of a man who was severely injured by sheriff's deputies in 2009 for $10 million. Christopher Sean Harris, from Edmonds, suffered permanent brain damage when he was tackled by deputies in May 2009. Harris' family filed a civil lawsuit against King County, claiming deputies used unnecessary force when they arrested him after a chase, knocking his head into a wall. John Cobb, the senior prosecutor on the case for the county, confirmed the settlement five days after the civil trial began on January 20. The settlement is believed to be the largest of...

Lock up your Fathers  Pricey ... OAP spent savings in brothel sessions     By MATT QUINTON Published: Today AN 81-year-old granddad has been put under house arrest by his family after a bizarre accident turned him into a sex addict. Frail Angelo De Luca was in a coma for four days after he fell out of a plum tree at the family home in Biasca, Switzerland. But coming round from an operation his family were horrified to watch their devoted widower dad turn into a randy teenager again. Sex mad Angelo blew £3,000 of his savings in one session...

BOURNEMOUTH, England, April 10 (UPI) -- A British mother, her son in a coma, thought she was saying goodbye to him for the last time -- until he woke up and opened his eyes, observers say. Nick Verron, 26, was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver during an unprovoked attack last July 4 in coastal Bournemouth, England, The Daily Telegraph reported. Verron's mother, Sue Vincent, had given permission to doctors to stop the drugs that they believed were keeping her son alive. Instead of dying, Verron started breathing independently, opened his eyes and within weeks was able to sit...

This raises some interesting issues regarding how we care for those in vegetative states. A new study observed the brain of an unconscious patient responding to yes and no questions just like a normal person. Well, almost. Of 54 test subjects in the New England Journal of Medicine study, one man who was diagnosed as being in a vegetative state five years earlier actually answered yes or no questions. And did so accurately. The answers came from a brain scan conducted by an MRI machine. Answering “yes” and “no” shows activity in different parts of the brain. For instance the...

Trace of Thought Is Found in ‘Vegetative’ Patient BENEDICT CAREY February 3, 2010 He emerged from the car accident alive but alone, there and not there: a young man whose eyes opened yet whose brain seemed shut down. For five years he lay mute and immobile beneath a diagnosis — “vegetative state” — that all but ruled out the possibility of thought, much less recovery. But in recent months at a clinic in Liège, Belgium, the patient, now 29, showed traces of brain activity in response to commands from doctors. Now, according to a new report, he has begun to...

Patients In 'Vegetative' State Can Think And Communicate Patients left in a “vegetative” state after suffering devastating brain damage are able to understand and communicate, groundbreaking research suggests. By Richard Alleyne and Martin Beckford 03 Feb 2010 'Vegetative state' brain scan images:: the fMRI images which were used as part of the study by Dr Adrian Owen [Pics in URL] Experts using brain scans have discovered for the first time that the victims, who show no outward signs of awareness, can not only comprehend what people are saying to them but also answer simple questions. They were able to give...

A car crash victim who was believed to have been in a coma for the past 23 years has been conscious the whole time. Rom Houben was paralysed but could not let doctors know that he could hear every word they were saying, reports the Daily Mail. "I dreamed myself away," said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state. Doctors conducted a series of coma tests before concluding that his consciousness was "extinct". But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. Mr Houben said: "All that...

Brussels, Belgium (LifeNews.com) -- No sooner did Rom Houben make international headlines than skeptics and euthanasia advocates attempt to discredit the story of a man who says he was falsely tagged as being in a coma for 23 years. Houben has been embraced by those who say physicians are too quick to label patients as in a vegetative state. As LifeNews.com noted, Houben shared his story this week of how he is now able to talk with the world now that a scientists retested him, found his brain to be functioning normally, and provided him with therapy allowing him...

A car crash victim has spoken of the horror he endured for 23 years after he was misdiagnosed as being in a coma when he was conscious the whole time.Rom Houben, trapped in his paralysed body after a car crash, described his real-life nightmare as he screamed to doctors that he could hear them - but could make no sound. 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state.'I dreamed myself away,' he added, tapping his tale out with the aid of a computer. Doctors used a...

Man in 23-Year-Long Coma Speaks, Says He Was Always Conscious London, England -- After he was the victim of an automobile accident, doctors said 23-year-old Rom Houben was in a comatose state and unable to communicate with those around him. Now, 23 years later, the 46-year-old says he felt trapped as he was conscious the entire time and attempted to communicate. http://www.LifeNews.com/bio3007.html

A car crash victim diagnosed as being in a coma for the past 23 years has been conscious the whole time. Rom Houben was paralysed but had no way of letting doctors know that he could hear every word they were saying. 'I dreamed myself away,' said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state. He added: 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear.' ...

A man thought by doctors to be in a vegetative state for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time, it was revealed last night. Student Rom Houben was misdiagnosed after a car crash left him totally paralysed. He had no way of letting experts, family or friends know he could hear every word they said. Rom Houben was trapped in a coma for 23 years and had no way of letting anyone know he could hear what they were saying (pictured posed by model) 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46.