The Hindu : International : Firefighter's recovery amazes doctors

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 05, 2005

International

International

Firefighter's recovery amazes doctors

NEW YORK: A firefighter left brain-damaged and mostly mute by an accident nearly 10 years ago stunned doctors at the weekend when he looked up suddenly and asked for his wife. Donald Herbert (43) went into a 10-week coma in 1995 after a burning roof buried him under debris and left him without air for several minutes. Since then he has been nearly blind and displayed little, if any, memory, ability to communicate or awareness of his surroundings. Then out of the blue, on Saturday, he woke up in the nursing home where he has been for the last seven years and said: ``I want to talk to my wife,'' sending the nurses at the care home in suburban Buffalo, New York, racing out to call his wife, Linda. But it was his youngest son, Nicholas (13), who picked up the phone, the New York Times reported. ``That can't be,'' Mr. Herbert said. ``He's just a baby. He can't talk.'' Mr. Manka said, ``The extent and duration of his recovery is not known at this time. However, we can tell you he did recognise several family members and friends and did call them by name.'' Dr. Rose Lynn Sherr, of New York University medical centre, said when patients recover from brain injuries, they usually do so within two or three years. ``It's almost unheard of after 10 years,'' she said. ``But sometimes things do happen and people suddenly improve and we don't understand why.'' —

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