Her mother, Catherine, remembered that day very well all her life - firstly, it was the 22nd anniversary of their wedding with Edward's father, and secondly, before the very moment of oblivion, her daughter managed to ask her mother not to leave her.

Edward O "Bara photography

And for Eduarda's parents, troubling days began. They all expected that their daughter was about to come out of a coma, but days passed, then weeks, then months, and Eduarda continued to be in a state of sleep.



No one knew then that this would be the longest coma in the history of medicine, which would last 42 years. And then the girl's parents were on duty day and night near her bed, turned her over to prevent bedsores, fed her through a tube and did not take their eyes off the apparatus, every minute expecting a miraculous awakening.

Edward O "Bara photography

Alas, Eduardo was inscribed on the stars to become the record holder for being in a coma. Keeping her promise, her mother continued to take care of her, and in order to pay the bills from the hospital, the girl's father had to work three jobs. But they still hoped, and in the end they kept their promise, not abandoning their daughter for the rest of their lives. So, first, Edward's father died in 1976, and Catherine died in 2008, leaving Eduarda in the care of her younger sister.

And Eduarda's fragile life continued, many media outlets had already written about her, and people who called Eduarda Sleeping Snow White began to come to Katherine's family home. It was reminiscent of a pilgrimage, as many believed that touching a sleeping Eduarda brought health and good luck.

Edward O "Bara photography

Edward O'Bara lived to be 59 years old and died in 2012, having spent 42 long years in a coma.

At various times, there was heated debate about the humanity of such a maintenance of life, but for Catherine, who devoted 35 years of her life to caring for her daughter, the question was never raised in this way. Firstly, she was bound by a promise that she made to her seriously ill daughter many years ago, and secondly, all these years both she and her husband lived in the hope that the coma would end sooner or later, and their Edward would be with them again ... However, she was with them - Catherine read aloud to her, put on records for her, arranged her birthdays, and did everything as if her daughter had just lay down to sleep. As time has shown, it was a very long dream that lasted more than four decades.

Edward O "Bara photography

A book was written based on the history of this family, and many celebrities and politicians have visited Catherine's house, including Bill Clinton; The media covered this story extensively. And Eduard O'Bara entered the history of medicine after spending 42 years in a diabetic coma.

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In a famous song it is sung: "There is only a moment between the past and the future." They call it our life. But what, even if a person spends this "moment" unconscious? Is it worth holding on to him in this case? No one will give an exact answer to this question. However, there are cases when a person was between life and death for decades and grabbed for this "moment". Let's talk about the longest coma that a person has been in.

A lifetime dream

The most debt coma was recorded in the United States. At the end of 1969, on New Year's Eve, a 16-year-old girl with pneumonia was admitted to the hospital. If this were a common case in medical practice, she would have undergone treatment and returned to a full life. But Edward O'Bara was diabetic. On January 3, insulin did not reach the circulatory system, and the girl lost consciousness for many years.

The last phrase of the modern "Snow White" was a request to her mother not to leave her. The woman kept her word: she spent thirty-five years at the bedside of her daughter. She celebrated all her birthdays, read her books and believed in the best. I only went to sleep and shower. In 2008, the mother passed away, and the sister of an unusual patient took over her burden.

In November 2012, at the age of 59, Snow White passed away. Thus, the longest coma lasted 42 years.

It is noteworthy that the poor thing spent all her unconscious years with open eyes. She did not see or hear those around her, did not react to anything. Eduard O'Bara could close her eyelids only on the day of her death.

Is there a chance to wake up after many years?

Until recently, doctors were sure that between life and death a person is only the first month. Then his return to consciousness is impossible. Some of the patients' relatives did not like this situation, and for years they waited at the bedside of a loved one until he woke up.

The longest coma, after which the patient began to react to others, lasted 20 years. That is how many years the American Sarah Scantlin spent unconscious after she was hit by a drunk driver in a car. To be precise, she spent 16 years unconscious. Then she began to communicate with loved ones using her eyes. After another 4 years, some reflexes and speech returned to her. True, after waking up, Sarah sincerely believed that she was still 18 years old.

In fact, the longest coma, after which a person woke up, happened to a resident of Poland - Jan Grzebski. The Pole spent 19 years unconscious. When Ian woke up, most of all he was amazed at the quantity and range of goods in stores. And for good reason. He "fell asleep" in the early eighties, when martial law was introduced in the country. Grzhebsky woke up in 2007.

Cases in Russia and Ukraine

In these countries, too, there are cases of a miraculous return to life. So, the Russian teenager Valera Narozhnigo came to his senses after 2.5 years of deep sleep. A 15-year-old boy found himself in a coma after receiving an electric shock.

A Ukrainian young man, Kostya Shalamaga, spent 2 years unconscious. He ended up in a hospital bed after an accident. A 14-year-old boy riding a bicycle was hit by a car.

Of course, both of these examples cannot take a place in the Guinness Book of Records in the "Longest Coma" category. But the parents probably did not want the boys to become famous in this way. In both cases, relatives say that the miracle happened because the relatives prayed and believed in it.

Life after "long sleep"

The longest coma that a person left has forced scientists to return to the study of this unconscious state. It is now known that the brain is able to repair itself. However, it is not yet clear how to "turn on" this mechanism.

African researchers believe there is a cure for the coma. According to them, it is possible to bring a person to consciousness temporarily already in our days. Some hypnotics have these properties. However, this issue has been little studied.

So far, according to observers, the most difficult thing for a person who has been between life and death is psychological adaptation. It is difficult for a patient to believe that he has grown older, his relatives have grown older, his children have grown, and the world itself has become different.

Some people, after returning from deep sleep, simply do not understand their loved ones. So, for example, the Englishwoman Linda Walker, waking up, began to speak in the Jamaican dialect. Doctors believe the case is related to genetic memory. Linda's ancestors may have been native speakers of this language.

Why do people fall into coma?

It is still not clear why some people fall into this state. But each case suggests that some kind of deviation has occurred in the body.

At the moment, more than 30 types of coma are known:

  • traumatic (road accident, injury);
  • thermal (hypothermia, overheating);
  • toxic (alcohol, drugs);
  • endocrine (diabetes), etc.

Any type of deep sleep is a dangerous state between life and death. In the cerebral cortex, inhibition occurs, the work of the nervous system and blood circulation is disrupted. A person's reflexes fade away. It looks more like a plant.

It used to be believed that in a coma, a person does not feel anything. Everything changed after the incident with Martin Pistorius. The young man fell into a coma due to angina, and lived in it for 12 years. After awakening in 2000, Martin said that he felt and understood everything, he simply could not give a signal. The man is currently married and works as a designer.

Hyperglycemic coma, symptoms and emergency care

Diabetic who should be singled out in a separate row. It was in it that the first heroine of our article was for 42 years. The main thing is that at the initial stage of this disease, a person can be helped.

When in the body with diabetes mellitus, the level of glucose in the blood rises and toxins accumulate, then the symptoms of the disease develop as follows:

  • weakness is growing;
  • constantly thirsty;
  • loss of appetite;
  • there is a frequent urge to go to the toilet;
  • drowsiness increases;
  • the skin turns red;
  • breathing quickens.

After these symptoms, a person can lose consciousness, fall into a coma and die. To prevent this from happening, you need to urgently inject insulin intravenously or intramuscularly. And also call an ambulance.

The main thing is not to confuse this view with hypoglycemia. With the last disease, blood sugar drops in the blood. In this case, insulin will only harm you.

A few days ago in Miami / Florida, USA /, at the age of fifty-nine, Edward O "Bara passed away./ Edwarda O "Bara /. At first glance, there is nothing special in this story about premature death, if not for one" but ": the woman was unconscious for forty-two years. into a diabetic coma.

The longest coma in the world

For these long decades, the woman was watched by her closest ones - her mother and sister. According to information from relatives, it is known that O "Bara was in high school when she suddenly fell down with a serious illness. The girl was sent to the hospital, where she asked her mother never to leave her, after which she soon fell into a coma.

So, the girl's mother fulfilled her own promise: she looked after and looked after her daughter for an agonizing thirty-seven years, until she herself died. In recent years, the burdens all fell on the shoulders of her sister. The story of Eduarda O "Bary became the basis of the work:" A promise is a promise: an almost implausible story of mother's selfless love and what it teaches us. "

It should be noted that before this incident with Eduarda, the longest period of a person's stay in a coma was thirty-seven years. The conversation is about an American woman who fell into such a state in August 1941 / after surgery to remove her appendix / and died in November 1978. During her coma, the girl even opened her eyes several times, but she was not destined to wake up completely.

Coma is a terrible complication of various diseases

Coma is a pathological inhibition of the central nervous system, which is characterized by a complete loss of consciousness and manifests itself in the absence of reactions to external stimuli, as well as a disorder in the regulation of vital vital functions of the body.

Coma is a formidable complication of various diseases. Violations of important functions in the body are determined by the nature and severity of the main pathological process and the rate of its development. They form very quickly and are often irreversible or develop gradually. About thirty types of lumps are known.

The pathogenesis of coma is heterogeneous. In any type of coma, dysfunctions of the cortex in the large brain of the subcortical structures, as well as the brainstem, are noted. The development of such disorders can be promoted by anemia, hypoxemia, cerebral circulation disorders, acidosis, blockade of respiratory enzymes, microcirculation disorders, electrolyte balance, and release of mediators. The most important pathogenetic significance is played by swelling, edema of the brain, its membranes, which lead to increased intracranial pressure, hemodynamic disorders.

The duration and depth of coma are considered the most significant predictors of prognosis. At the present time, in various states, scales have been developed that make it possible, based on the assessment of usual clinical symptoms, to fairly accurately determine the prognosis for coma. Back in 1981 A.R. Shakhnovich and a group of scientists proposed a scale that included fifty neurological signs - their severity was assessed in points. Changes in eye micromovements, clinical and physiological properties, an indicator of evoked stem and cortical potentials were taken into account.

The previous record of being in a coma was 37.5 years

The record, which is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, for being in a coma belongs to Elaine Esposito. She never woke up from the anesthesia performed for the appendectomy on August 6, 1941. Then the girl was only six years old. She died on November 25, 1978 at the age of forty-three years, three hundred and fifty-seven days, having been in a coma for thirty-seven years, one hundred and eleven days.

However, sometimes people can come out of coma after extended periods of time. After nineteen years - Terry Wallis, in a minimally conscious state, spontaneously began to speak and regained awareness of his surroundings. There is also a known case when Polish railroad worker Jan Grzebski woke up from a nineteen-year-old coma in 2007.

So, for many decades, medical professionals and scientists have been studying the properties of coma in order to determine the circumstances that provoke this phenomenon. The society attaches great importance to the direction - "brain death", since the majority of "industrialized states equates a coma with the death of a person." However, based on the opinion of scientists, "the death of a person is a special phenomenon characterized by the irreversible cessation of all vital functions / blood circulation, consciousness, respiration /".

Developments

Just the other day, in Miami, Florida, United States of America, a woman named Edwarda O "Bara died at the age of 59.

It would seem that, in this story of premature death there is nothing particularly unusual, if not for one "but" - O "Bara was unconscious for 42 years, after falling into the so-called diabetic coma in 1970.


The longest coma in the world

All these long decades, the insensitive woman was watched by her closest people - her mother and sister. It is said that O "Bara was already in her senior year of high school, when suddenly a serious illness dumped her... The girl was sent to the hospital, where she asked her mother never to leave her, after which she soon fell into a coma.


The girl's mother fulfilled her promise: she watched and looked after her daughter for a long 37 years, until she died herself. Last years all the hardships fell on the shoulders of Eduarda's sister... The story of O "Bary formed the basis of a literary work:" A promise is a promise: an almost implausible story of selfless motherly love and what it teaches us. "


I must say that before O "Bara, the longest period of a person's stay in a coma was 37 years. We are talking about an American woman who fell into this state. in August 1941 after surgery to remove the appendix, and departed to another world in November 1978. The girl even opened her eyes several times during her coma, but she was not destined to wake up completely.

The medical phenomenon of coma, unfortunately, is not fully understood by specialists. The reason why a person falls into such a state may be various abnormalities in the body. In total, there are about 30 types of coma: alcoholic, traumatic, diabetic, etc. It is not so important which form has deprived a person of the possibility of a full life, it is much more important than it ended. The longest coma after which a person woke up is a miracle that doctors cannot explain.

Sarah Scantlin

Sarah Scatlin, a young 18-year-old college student, has been in a coma for 20 long years. The reason for this state of a girl from the American state of Kansas was a drunk driver. After the accident, Sarah fell into a coma, and lived only thanks to the devices that support the vital functions of the body.

The traumatic brain injury was so serious that the girl did not show any signs of life for the first month, and her body was functioning with the help of an artificial respiration apparatus. A month later, the only thing Sarah could do was breathe and swallow food on her own. She was in this position for 16 years. After many years of being in a coma, a specialist began to work with her, trying to return the girl to real life. And the miracle did happen. After a year of such studies, Sarah began to show her first independent reflexes. She could communicate with others only with the help of eye movements.


In 2005, after twenty years in a coma, the girl woke up and gradually began to remember her loved ones. She could only move with the help of a wheelchair. Not a single doctor could explain such a "awakening", according to their statements, this case is rather a happy exception to the rule than a regularity. The only thing that confused Sarah's family was that she still considered herself 18 years old. Gradually her speech and some motor reflexes returned to her.


Gary Dockery

The longest awakening coma was recorded in Tennessee. Gary Dockery was 33 years old when he was wounded in the head while trying with a partner to apprehend a bandit. The trauma resulting from the injury was so severe that doctors had to remove about 20% of the brain matter. After such manipulations, the former police officer spent seven years unconscious.

And when the hope left his family, he suddenly came to his senses and even remembered the members of his family, despite the fact that his sons had become very big. He did not remember anything about the day when he was injured and his work. Unfortunately, Gary left this world a year after coming out of the coma. The cause was a blood clot in the lungs.

Martin Pistorius

The story of this young man, who had to be unconscious for 12 years, is very unusual. As a rule, people in a coma do not feel anything, while Martin, on the contrary, understood everything, he simply could not react to what was happening, being, as if, in captivity. The reason for this condition of the boy was a banal sore throat, which gave complications to his legs, and later his vision began to disappear.


Doctors made an assumption about cryptococcal meningitis, but they could not make an accurate diagnosis. Since the hospital could no longer help Martin, he was discharged home. Doctors assumed that the boy, who was then only 8 years old, would not live long.

But fate decreed quite differently. Thanks to the love and care of his parents, and above all, his father, after 12 years the young man came to his senses. During this time, his father took the boy to a special rehabilitation center every day, still hoping that a miracle would happen. As Martin himself later recalled, he was very annoyed by the cartoons that were shown to children in this institution, but he could not help and say about it.


After coming out of a coma, Martin Pistorius learned to write and read, went to college, where he received the profession of a programmer, and later a job in one of the state-owned companies. Today Martin has a good, caring wife and, despite the fact that he moves in a wheelchair, he lives a full life. The case of this South African teenager is, unfortunately, one of the few happy examples of coming out of a coma.


Yang Liying

In 1996, a Beijing resident fell into a coma as a result of gas poisoning. At that time he was 51 years old, and no one hoped that after 13 years of unconscious existence a man would be able to wake up. All these years there was a devoted wife next to him, thanks to whose efforts, perhaps, this miracle happened.

It was her name that Yang Liying suddenly came to his senses. After many years of coma, he has to learn to eat and talk in a new way, as well as to get acquainted with the world, which has changed a lot during his "absence".

Terry Wallace

This man from the American town of Cornell spent about 17 years in a coma. In 1984, at the age of 19, he was involved in a car accident and only miraculously survived. His friend, who was in the car at the time of the tragedy with him, died immediately, and Terry fell into a coma. None of the doctors gave comforting predictions about his condition.


In 2001, he began to show the first signs of intelligent behavior and tried to communicate with the clinic staff with gestures and facial expressions. Two years later, Terry began to speak, and what is most surprising, practically in three days he learned to walk again. The hardest thing for him was to remember his relatives (his daughter at that time was already 20 years old) and the circumstances that happened to him almost 2 decades ago.

Edward O'Bar

The record holder for the duration of unconscious existence is Eduard O'Bara, who was dubbed "Sleeping Snow White" by journalists. How long did the longest coma last, which, unfortunately, did not end as happily as the previous examples? Almost half a century - this woman spent 42 years in a coma and passed away in 2012. She fell into this state after a diabetic coma, and despite the fact that her eyes were open, she did not feel anything and did not understand what was happening around.


For many years, her mother, Kay, was with her, who for 35 years selflessly looked after her daughter. She arranged birthdays for her, washed and fed her, and also talked to her. In 2008, when her mother passed away, her sister, Colin, took over all the responsibilities of caring for the sick Eduarda. She says she was able to learn a lot from her sister, even though it was impossible to communicate with her. After 4 years, Eduarda left after her mother.


Such examples of love and fidelity towards their loved ones should make many people appreciate the time while our loved ones are healthy, and even in the most hopeless cases not to despair and not betray them.