http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2029184,00.html
Woman in vegetative state wakes for three days Associated Press Thursday March 8, 2007 Guardian Unlimited A woman who went into a vegetative state more than six years ago awoke this week for three days, spoke with her family and a local television station in Colorado Springs, before slipping back. "I'm fine," Christa Lilly told her mother on Sunday - her first words in eight months. She has awakened four other times for briefer periods since suffering a heart attack and stroke in November 2000. "I think it's wonderful. It makes me so happy," Ms Lilly, 49, told television station KKTV-TV. She also saw her youngest daughter, Chelcey, now 12 years old, and her three grandchildren. Before her relapse yesterday, Ms Lilly told the station her biggest frustration was learning how to talk again. After years of being fed from a tube, eating was no problem. "I've been eating cake," she said. Her neurologist, Randall Bjork, said he couldn't explain how or why she awoke. "I'm just not able to explain this on the basis of what we know about persistent vegetative states," he said. A vegetative state is much like a coma except Ms Lilly's eyes remained open. Dr Bjork said he had never seen a similar quality of awakening. He said that unlike the much publicised case of Terri Schiavo, Ms Lilly was minimally conscious. He said she could wake again. Ms Schiavo was a Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state who was at the centre of a legal battle between her parents and husband over whether to remove her feeding tube. Ms Schiavo's husband was allowed to have her feeding tube removed in March 2005, and she died a few days later. After Ms Lilly relapsed, her mother and caregiver, Minnie Smith, said: "The good Lord let me know she's all right, he brings her back to visit every so often and I'm thankful for that." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/hOt0.A/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
