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Student Awakens from Coma Hours Before Organ Donation

by Dr. Trupti Shirole on Dec 26 2011 3:21 PM

 Student Awakens from Coma Hours Before Organ Donation
Sam Schmid, a 21-year old student at the University of Arizona, who was believed to be brain dead awoke from a coma shortly before he was being prepared for organ donation.
In October, Sam was critically hurt in a Tucson car accident. He suffered injuries which could not be treated by the local hospital so he was airlifted to the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Phoenix where doctors performed surgery for a potentially lethal brain aneurysm. With no responsive signs, the staff discussed taking Schmid off life support and spoke to his family about organ donation.

However, just hours before doctors were considering taking Schid off life support, he began to respond, holding up two fingers on command. Now he is walking with the aid of a walker, and his speech, although slow, has improved.

Schmid's doctor, Dr. Robert Spetzler said, "His recovery was really remarkable considering the extent of his lethal injuries."

Schmid still has a long recovery ahead of him to regain full speech, balance and memory abilities.

Source-Medindia


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