© OrganFacts.net

… The truth behind organ donation & organ transplants

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Carina Melchior , a 19 year old student, suffered severe injuries after crashing her car. Doctors said she would soon be “brain dead” and convinced her family to consent to organ donation. But, as doctors gathered around her bed to prep her for organ donation, she suddenly opened her eyes and moved her legs. Now she is making a full recovery. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Steven Thorpe , 17 year old Warwickshire youth, was declared “brain dead” by four doctors, but his parents did not give up on him, and insisted on another opinion from an independent GP and a neurosurgeon. Steven made an unexpected recovery and left hospital alive seven weeks later. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Zach Dunlap , a 21 year old Oklahoma man, was “feeling pretty good” four months after he was diagnosed as “brain dead”. Ironically, Zach heard the doctors pronounce him dead, but was unable to do anything about it. A few days later, he revived and spoke to his family. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Sam Schmid , a 21 year old Arizona college student, was critically wounded in a five-car accident. Surgeons thought he had no hope of recovery and broached organ donation with his family. Sam was poised to ‘donate’ his vital organs, when he suddenly emerged from a coma. He has since had rehabilitation and walks with the aid of a walker. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Val Thomas , 59 year old West Virginia woman, came back to life, after being clinically “brain dead” for 17 hours. Attempts to revive her after a heart attack had failed, and doctors diagnosed her as “brain dead”. Later “she moved her arm, coughed and asked for her son.” ... she was alive. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Gloria Cruz , 56 year old Northern Territory woman, was declared “brain dead” and expected to ‘die’ within 48 hours. A doctor, a social worker and a ‘patient advocate’ urged her husband to remove the ventilator and let her ‘die’. But he refused and 3 days later, Gloria revived, awoke from her coma and was getting around hospital in a wheelchair. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Madeleine Gauron , a 76 year old Quebec woman, was diagnosed by medical staff as “brain dead”, with no hope of recovery. Doctors asked if the family would agree to organ donation, but the family asked for more medical tests. The next day, astonishingly, she awakened and sat up in bed and ate yogurt. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Rae Kupferschmidt , 65 year old Minnesota woman, suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage and doctors diagnosed her as “brain dead”. She was taken home to die and her family began making funeral arrangements. When Rae spontaneously sucked an ice cube offered by her daughter, she was found to be alive. She later walked. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Suzanne Chin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed into unconsciousness. Taken to hospital, she remained in a coma and the head of ICU, two neurologists & a cardiologist said she was brain-dead with no hope of recovery. But her husband refused to turn of her life support. 3 days later, Suzanne revived & is now well & very much ALIVE. [more]

The Nasty Side of Organ Transplanting

Back Stop Forward

Was Not Dead!

Rom Houben

A Belgian man diagnosed as comatose for 23 years was in fact awake and conscious the whole time, doctors have revealed.

Rom Houben, 46, had no way to tell his family and doctors he could see them and hear what they were saying after waking up following a bad car accident in 1983.

He spent more than two decades in excruciating isolation until a neurologist realised he was not in a coma — just unable to communicate. “I dreamt myself away,” Mr Houben was quoted as saying in British newspapers.

“I became a witness to my own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with me until they gave up all hope.”

The former engineering student and martial arts enthusiast, now 46, told German newspaper, Der Spiegel that he meditated to pass the long years trapped in his own body.

He remains haunted by the moment he first woke from the accident and realised something was wrong.

Using a specially-adapted computer to type messages, Mr Houben has been able to describe the ordeal he endured for more than two decades. “I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,” he said.

“I became a witness to my own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with me until they gave up all hope.”

“I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me – it was my second birth. All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt.”

Doctors at the time diagnosed Mr Houben as being in a persistent vegetative state after running eye, verbal and motor tests and finding him unresponsive. The diagnosis remained unchallenged until 2006 when neurologist Steven Laureys conducted hi-tech scans and found Mr Houben’s brain was functioning normally.

The case is only being reported now because Dr Laureys has published it in a medical journal, believing other cases may exist where people have been diagnosed incorrectly.

But until Laureys’ research moves out of the experimental phase and into standard testing at hospitals, experts say there may be some rare situations where doctors still miss the signs that someone is completely paralyzed but fully aware.

“If there’s anything we’ve learned in the past couple of years, is that we have to be very cautious about prognosticating; providing a severe prognosis early on,” said Dr. Michael DeGeorgia, director of the Neurocritical Care Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. ...

DeGeorgia said determining a person’s state of consciousness after a severe brain injury can be a subtle and difficult process, especially shortly after an accident when people are often on heavy pain medication.

(Editor: This is another case that calls into question the readiness of doctors to write people off because of severe brain injuries or supposed “brain death”. Clearly, with suitable care and treatment, such persons can recuperate. (NB: My emphasis in certain paragraphs)

(From “Belgian coma man was awake for 23 years.” By ninemsn staff and wires, Nov 24 2009, NineMSN.com. Viewed Feb 10, 2012 at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/975201/belgian-coma-man-was-awake-for-23-years/ )

(plus “Conscious man ‘in coma’ for 23 years” by Allan Hall at The Telegraph (UK). Viewed Feb 10, 2012 at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/6632518/Conscious-man-in-coma-for-23-years.html ) )

(plus “Paralyzed Man Was Awake for 23 Years, Not in Vegetative State” by By Lauren Cox, ABC News Medical Unit at ABC Good Morning America. Viewed Feb 10, 2012 at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/doctors-find-vegetative-paralyzed-man-awake-23-years/story?id=9159555 ) )