Firefighter Awake and Talking Following Anoxic Brain Damage and Coma

It is gratifying to see the news out of Buffalo, New York concerning the brain injured firefighter who has emerged from a decade of silence and continues to show improvement following severe brain injury which led to something close to a persistent vegetative state.  For the latest information on this story click here.

If you haven't been following this story which broke yesterday, the firefighter was injured in 1995 fighting a house fire.  He suffered a head injury and was rendered unconscious after a roof collapsed and reportedly went without oxygen for several minutes, a condition known as anoxia resulting in anoxic brain damage.  He was then in a coma for about 2 1/2 months.  He then progressed to something near a persistent vegetative state.  After ten years, he suddenly regained consciousness and began to speak! 

What I find to be really impressive, is that his doctors and his family never gave up hope.  His family was with him every day, constantly talking to him and providing support.  His neurologist did not write him off and continued to try new and different drug combinations to increase his level of consciousness.

While the medical profession still cannot supply an answer as to why the sudden consciousness and ability to talk took place, there is some thinking that perhaps the new cocktail of drugs that his neurologist recently put him on was instrumental in this positive turn of events.