Jolene

Your huckleberry friend

Age 27
Female
Seen September 25th, 2012
Posted September 25th, 2012
1,287 posts
13.8 Years
I just read a really scary news report about a man who was in a coma for 23 years, but he was conscious the entire time.


Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years
For 23 years Rom Houben was ­imprisoned in his own body. He saw his doctors and nurses as they visited him during their daily rounds; he listened to the conversations of his carers; he heard his mother deliver the news to him that his father had died. But he could do nothing. He was unable to communicate with his doctors or family. He could not move his head or weep, he could only listen.

Doctors presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983. They believed he could feel nothing and hear nothing. For 23 years.


What do you think about this? I think it's probably the worst thing that could ever happen to a person.

What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Joliet is the sun!

Anxiety.

Walking on sunshine.

Birmingham, England.
Seen February 5th, 2011
Posted June 16th, 2010
1,669 posts
15.6 Years
Thats the scariest thought ever. Being trapped inside your body for 23 years. No way of communicating, no movement. A vegtable, trapped in its own body, just waiting to die - and that didn't even happen.

I think the worst is having someone tell you someone important to you has died, and you cant even cry about it.

There are fates worse than death. This is one of them.
-[Inject Me]-
-

gummybarz

Age 28
Male
☉☽☿ ♀ ⊕ ♁ ♂ ♃ ♄♅ ♆ ♇ ⚳ ☄
Seen September 23rd, 2016
Posted January 10th, 2016
783 posts
14.3 Years
That's pretty scary. If I was in his shoes and I finally could awaken from the coma, I don't think I could live in this world.
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Esper

California
Seen June 30th, 2018
Posted June 30th, 2018
So how did they discover he was conscious after all this time? :\
This article says they did a scan of his brain and saw something that told them he was still in there.

What scares me most is the thought that there are probably a lot of other people like him out there and no one knows it.

22sa

ロミオとシンデレ �� �� �� �� �� �� �� ��

Male
Canada
Seen January 11th, 2023
Posted November 9th, 2022
8,421 posts
19.7 Years
This article says they did a scan of his brain and saw something that told them he was still in there.

What scares me most is the thought that there are probably a lot of other people like him out there and no one knows it.
I see. True, I can't imagine their states of mind just lying there all the time when awake. x_X

. きみさえ~ いれば

helix

tea-binger.

Age 31
Male
Seen January 21st, 2016
Posted October 7th, 2012
439 posts
15.4 Years
I read it and I had to think that that man must be very spiritually and emotionally aware, with no one but himself to talk with and contemplate with for twenty-three years. Still, nobody should have to bear that kind of loneliness. : (

Hopefully, the striking revelation that he has had to suffer this awful situation for over two decades and that there are more suffering like him out there will prompt us to search for a way to fix this.
Male
Seen September 16th, 2017
Posted November 4th, 2011
1,050 posts
14.6 Years
Oh... Poor guy...
That's a really scary situation. I didn't read the article, but without reading even, there are a lot of questions in my mind.
It's really been a painful experience, and the loneliness and sadness of not being able to express your feelings must be overwhelmingly bad...

560cool.

An old timer?

Age 24
Male
Eastern Europe
Seen March 29th, 2021
Posted March 9th, 2021
2,002 posts
13.7 Years
I also read it from Yahoo Insider .

And I had a nightmare that night that I was seeing my mum fall down from a cliff but I could not do anything .

I felt horrible then woke up...
Well, okay. I'm here just to chat with people. Don't really care about signatures and stuff.



twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen

Age 32
Male
Michigan
Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years
I wonder what he would have done had he suddenly regained control of his body instead of have someone discover his state. Talk to his family? Maybe. I'd probably want a nice meal first, personally. Twenty-three years of whatever they were feeding him must have been nightmarish.
VNs are superior to anime, don't @ me

ruby

Female
Seen 4 Weeks Ago
Posted May 13th, 2020
1,389 posts
19.2 Years
I can't imagine how horrible that must've been at the start, I mean I know it must've been awful the whole time but after a while I would imagine he became quite detached from reality. :|

Agent Cobalt

Proud U.S. Army Soldier

Age 33
Male
New Jersey
Seen December 11th, 2009
Posted December 10th, 2009
191 posts
14.9 Years
This kinda stuff is why I lean towards atheism sometimes.
lolwut? :\

If anything this strengthens my belief in protecting God-given rights of patients like the right to life, my opposition to euthanasia, and support of the modern day Hippocratic Oath.