10 Unbelievable Coma Stories

1

The little girl in coma who woke up singing Mamma Mia!

When young Layla Towsey fell into a coma after contracting meningitis, her family was told to give her a kiss goodbye. But it was far from the final curtain for the three-year-old, who awoke and began singing Abba's pop hit Mamma Mia!. The musical recovery came after she spent five days in coma, with mother Katy waiting only to see how disabled her daughter would be.

Layla was diagnosed with meningitis B and meningococcal septicaemia and spent the next five days unconscious in intensive care. But then Layla began singing the words to Mamma Mia!, having seen the film starring Meryl Streep. She was soon breathing by herself and only blood poisoning scars on her legs betrayed her ordeal. (Source)

2

The 3-year-old girl who started smoking and drinking after waking up from a coma.

A three-year-old has mysteriously picked up an addiction to smoking cigarettes and downing beers after surviving a road crash. Ya Wen has been smoking up to a pack a day since an accident where she was hit by a speeding van. Her parents say that her personality has changed since leaving hospital, where she recovered from five days in a coma and severe injuries. Her mother Gao said she has started acting like an adult. She found her daughter hiding in a toilet and smoking her father's cigarettes. At first she just thieved those, but now gets them on credit from a local shop. Mrs Gao, who lives in a shelter, said her daughter has now been addicted to smoking for a year and has also changed her preference in clothes. She only likes boy's clothes. 
Ya Wen's father has now stopped smoking and the family have moved to the other side of the city, but said she still cries for cigarettes whenever she sees them. (Source)

3

The Coma boy who told his mum to f*** off

A mother waited 41 days for her injured son to come out of a coma - only for him to tell her to 'f*** off'. It was his way of telling her he was going to be OK.

Joanne Hopkins leaned forward to hear son Joey whisper his first words since cheating death in a car smash. But, instead of a touching exchange, the 22-year-old swore at her. Mrs Hopkins, 39, said she 'cried with relief'. 'He had been trying to speak but hadn't managed to get any words out,' she said.

Mr Hopkins suffered serious head injuries and a broken neck and back in the accident in Portsmouth in June. He faces two years of rehabilitation but his mother is optimistic he will make a good recovery. (Source)

4

The mother to be who was coma induced to save her baby's life

A newborn's pinkish face just after birth is the first memory of their child for many new moms. But Valerie Leah doesn't have this memory, because her son Oliver was born while she was in a coma. Valerie, a 35 years old expectant mom, was sick with the swine flu while she was 27 weeks pregnant and in a desperate attempt to save both mother and child, the doctors decided to put her in coma and perform a C-section. It wasn't until 3 weeks after she had actually given birth that she was able to finally hold her newborn. 
The couple, who already has two sons, said the ordeal began when all members of the family were struck down with the H1N1 virus. Valerie was the last to catch the virus but her condition deteriorated fast and she was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties. When she didn't respond to treatment doctors decided to sedate her completely, and put her on life support. Baby Oliver later arrived by C-section weighing 2lb 10oz and was immediately whisked away to the special care nursery. When Valerie opened her eyes a week later she couldn't understand her flat stomach. Then the confusion changed to bewilderment knowing that she had delivered a baby boy. (Source)

5

The woman who forgot her life after being put into coma

She was in a coma for weeks and suffered brain damage. But brave Liz Sykes survived and vowed to fight back. Her remarkable story began in 2008 as she was driving the familiar short route to work in Golcar from her home at the time in Linthwaite. Suddenly her life was turned upside down when she became totally disorientated. She did not know where she was or how to get to work. A week later the 23-year-old was struck down by a series of violent and prolonged seizures. Her partner Shelton rushed her to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and she spent many days there while doctors tried to diagnose her illness. Doctors then took the drastic step of inducing Liz into a three-week coma to try and save her life.

She was eventually diagnosed with encephalitis, the illness causes inflammation of the brain and is caused by a virus, infection or mosquito bite. When Liz awoke from the coma, her memory had been totally wiped. She could no longer do the simplest of tasks – even walking and talking had to be relearned. She spent 11 months in special centres in Leeds and York alongside other victims of brain damage, including serving police officers and soldiers from Afghanistan. Liz still suffers from some short-term memory loss and lacks confidence in certain areas, but her recovery steps have won her a nomination for Most Determined Learner in the Kirklees Community Adult Learning Awards. (Source)

6

The woman who falls into coma every time she says: 'I love you'

A devoted mother is battling a rare medical condition that puts her into a coma every time she tells her children: 'I love you.' Wendy Richmond, 53, slips into a 'waking sleep' that leaves her almost paralyzed every time she becomes emotional or wants to laugh or cry. But drugs to treat the condition are expensive and not funded by her local NHS trust, meaning she has to shut off her emotions to avoid collapsing.

Mrs Richmond, from Pitsmoor, Sheffield, has suffered from sleeprelated illnesses cataplexy and narcolepsy since her late teens but was diagnosed only in her 30s. Detailed figures on sufferers are rare because most cases go unrecognized or unreported. However, experts believe there could be up to 30,000 narcoleptics in Britain. (Source)

7

The Croatian girl who awoke from coma speaking fluent German

A teenager went into a coma and awoke speaking another language. The case of Sandra Ralic, 13, has doctors baffled. She spoke Croatian before, but since waking up from her 24 hour coma, she has been unable to speak Croatian, but is able to communicate perfectly in German. 

Her parents say she had only just started studying German at her school in Knin, southern Croatia. Local hospital chief Dujomir Marasovic said: "We are still trying to find out what caused the coma and why she has apparently forgotten how to speak Croatian." (Source)

8

The granddad who became a sex addict after waking up from coma

An 81-year-old granddad has been put under house arrest by his family after a bizarre accident turned him into a sex addict. Frail Angelo De Luca was in a coma for four days after he fell out of a plum tree at the family home in Biasca, Switzerland. But coming round from an operation his family was horrified to watch their devoted widower dad turn into a randy teenager again.

Sex mad Angelo blew £3,000 of his savings in one session at a local brothel after falling head over heels for a hooker young enough to be his granddaughter. His son Daniele has taken control of his dad's two houses and bank accounts after judges ruled that his sex addiction made him unfit to govern his own affairs. (Source)

9

The crash victim who woke up 19 years later

A man awoke from a coma after 19 years, turned to his mother who was at his bedside, and said: 'Mum.' Terry Wallis, 39, then uttered the word 'Pepsi', followed by 'milk'. 

Mr Wallis was 19 and had just celebrated the birth of his daughter when, on Friday 13 July 1984, the truck he was travelling in slewed through a road barrier and plunged 25ft into a creek. It was 24 hours before the truck was found. He was left paralyzed from the neck down and in a coma. Despite doctors giving him little chance of regaining consciousness, Mr Wallis's parents and his wife Sandi put him in a rehabilitation centre. Every other weekend they drove him to their farm 26 miles away, where they talked to him in the belief that familiar surroundings might restore him back to consciousness. Four weeks ago, Mrs Wallis went to the centre for what she believed would be a typical visit. It was then when her son opened his eyes and spoke. Mr Wallis, from Arkansas, is talking freely and getting to know his daughter, Amber, who is now 19.

The brain damage he suffered in the accident has left him with poor short term memory, and, perhaps inevitably, he remains stuck in 1984. When asked by his mother who the president was, he replied: 'Ronald Reagan.'

A peculiar fact: he wrecked on Friday the 13th and 19 years later he started talking on Friday the 13th. (Source)

10

The man who chose to be in coma

After years of excruciating pain that drove him to thoughts of suicide, John Roach decided to gamble on a controversial new treatment—a ketamine-induced coma. 

Suffering from a debilitating neuromuscular disorder called reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), John, 50, is one of about 100 chronic-pain patients resorting to a radical new treatment in search of relief—a medically induced coma using ketamine, a surgical anaesthetic and hallucinogen sold illegally as "Special K." Advocates say ketamine comas can be a godsend for some. Dr. Robert J. Schwartzman, neurology chairman at Philadelphia's Drexel University College of Medicine, sent more than 60 patients to Germany and Mexico, since coma therapy isn't FDA-approved. Some 200,000 people suffer from RSD, in which ordinary pain escalates to crippling levels. 

John, a jovial retired phone-company worker, had tried surgery, physical therapy and heavy doses of pain medication, including OxyContin, codeine and fentanyl. When nothing worked, he thought of ending it all. Back home now, John is amazed that he's been virtually pain-free. Getting regular ketamine booster injections (at non-coma levels) from his physicians, Schwartzman and Dr. Anthony Kirkpatrick, he has removed a protective compression sleeve he wore for years and can once again wear his watch and wedding ring. Best of all, he can walk hand in hand with Rosemary and scoop up his granddaughters for hugs. (Source)

9 Amazing Stories of Incredibly Brave People

Too often, when you check out the news it all seems to be so negative. There are some good people out there that we don't hear about. Incredibly brave souls who do things because it just seems like the right thing to do. People in the military, the police and firefighters – while some do get a bit of recognition, there are many others that don't and a true hero never asks for glory. 

Since this is a website that focuses on the strange, let's give a little of that glory to some of the more unconventionally brave people out there. Turn on the David Bowie song “Heroes” as a soundtrack and read this list about some truly inspiring people who have done incredibly brave things with no thought of getting anything back in return.

1

The Polish man who volunteered for Auschwitz

There's no denying that life in Nazi concentration camps was truly hell. Located in southern Poland, the Auschwitz death camp was the largest of the concentration and extermination camps.

During World War II, millions of Jewish people and perceived enemies of the Nazis were sent to their deaths in concentration camps. Upon hearing about these atrocities, a 39-year-old veteran of the Polish-Soviet War and member of the resistance, Witold Pilecki, volunteered to be imprisoned at Auschwitz to secretly collect intelligence and then escape.

While in the concentration camp Pilecki was responsible for informing the Allies of the atrocities of Auschwitz and organizing a resistance movement.

In 1943, after three years in Auschwitz, Pilecki escaped. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 and served the London-based Polish government in exile, but was executed in 1948 by Stalin's police for “foreign imperialism.” 

Pilecki's exploits were suppressed by the Communists for years and it wasn't until 1989 that the world heard of this heroic man and his bravery.
(Source | Photo)

2

The three men who swam through Chernobyl's radioactive waters to stop a nuclear meltdown

In 1986, a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test destroyed Unit 4 of Chernobyl's nuclear power plant, spewing massive amounts of deadly radioactive material into the environment. The death toll was unknown and rumored to be anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand. 

While many perished, three clean-up volunteers – Alexi Ananenko, Valeri Bezpoalov and Boris Baronov – willingly met their fate.

During the well-documented disaster, a pool of water used for emergencies in case of a break in the cooling pumps or steam pipes became flooded with a highly radioactive liquid that was in danger of blowing up. These three men suited up in scuba gear and swam into the radioactive waters of the flooded chamber, knowing full well they would die as a result. They opened up a gate valve, which allowed the contaminated water to drain out.

Days after reaching the surface all three men succumbed to radiation poisoning and were buried in lead coffins. If not for the bravery of the “Chernobyl Suicide Squad” a thermal explosion would have taken place resulting in unfathomable disaster.
(Source | Photo)

3

The teens who chased a carjacker in hopes of rescuing two children

When two Tuscon, AZ teens – Roy Madril Jr. and Chris Martinez – stopped at a local gas station to fuel up, they heard a woman nearby screaming, “He has my kids! He's stealing my car!”

The woman pleading for help was a 27-year-old mother of two young children, ages two and six. The mother – known only as “Inna” – and her mother were chatting outside of the vehicle while the toddlers remained in the car. Seemingly out of nowhere, a man pushed the women aside, hopped in the car and sped off.

Madril and Martinez took matters into their own hands and pursued the carjacker themselves. As Martinez drove, Madril called 911 and gave a blow-by-blow account to the police. 

When the getaway car briefly stopped, the 6-year-old tumbled out. After arriving on the scene, police told the boys to stay back in case of gunfire and soon apprehended 34-year-old Tom Vallancourt. The carjacker ended up serving a 6 1/2-year sentence for kidnapping and auto theft.

The mayor of Tuscon and the Red Cross honored Madril and Martinez with a “Real Hero Award” while Inna gave the boys her eternal gratitude.
(Source | Photo)

4

The bedridden quadriplegic who started a magazine and nonprofit to help people with disabilities

Rajinder Johar was a senior occupational therapist at King George's Medical College in Lucknow, Uttar Prodesh, India. After arriving home from work one day his life was forever changed.

Johar was shot by three men demanding money during a home invasion robbery. He was rushed to the hospital where he and his family were devastated to learn that he would be forever paralyzed. One of the robber's bullets had irreparably damaged his spine.

Never one to feel sorry for himself, Johar learned to type using just two fingers and a thumb and started The Voice, a magazine that helped to create awareness for people with disabilities.

Johar then started a trust called Family of Disabled (FOD). FOD helps the physically challenged and the financially disadvantaged seek employment. He was especially proud when his daughter decided to work for FOD. She continues his good work to this day.
(Source | Photo)

5

The boy who protected a rape victim while his home was burning

Let's honor another young person for his bravery, one even younger than Madril and Martinez – 14-year-old Michigan resident James Persyn III. 

It was a cold January night in 2013 in the town of Shepherd, Michigan. Persyn was watching TV while his two younger siblings were playing in the living room. Their father, Angus Persyn Jr., had just left the house to pick up his fiance' who was working nearby.

What an exciting few moments those turned out to be! Right after his father left, James heard a loud banging at the door by a panicked woman. As the young boy later described, "Her voice was, like, she was going to die if I didn't open that door." 

The woman was a student at Central Michigan University who had been raped by a 30-year-old ex-con, Eric Ramsey. She had clear packing tape wrapped around her body and was covered with bruises. James let her in and after she was safe inside he locked all the doors, turned out the lights, got a knife and took everyone to hide in the bathroom. 

The rapist soon found out where his victim was hiding. Ramsey approached the house and shouted, “Let me in or I'll kill you.” James called his dad who in turn called 911. 

Unable to get into the house, Ramsey doused it with gasoline, lit it on fire and left. Angus arrived home just in time and stopped the fire from spreading further. 

The Persyns and the CMU student all ended up safe – the rapist who was shot and killed by police soon after.
(Source | Photo)

6

The woman who led Burma in non-violent protest against a ruthless dictator

With the recent death of the National League for Democracy's co-founder Win Tin in Myanmar (also known as Burma), we are also reminded of the nation's symbol of democracy for the country, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The daughter of liberation movement leader Aung San, Aung San Suu Ki spent years studying abroad. Upon her return she witnessed the appalling slaughter of protesters under the savage rule of the country's dictator, U Ne Win. 

Suu Kyi led the opposition against the savage dictator and – along with Tin – was one of the founders of the National League for Democracy. She called for change by practicing non-violence, much like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Prize for peace in 1991. After being a political prisoner for almost 20 years, she was finally released in 2010. We tip our hats to you both, Suu Kyi and Win Tin!

So, let me get this straight, we practically see what Kim Kardashian had for lunch every night on TV, but has anyone seen any reports on Win Tin's recent death on the news?
(Source | Photo)

7

The incredibly brave teachers who gave their lives to protect the students of Sandy Hook

Like astronauts, every good teacher is a hero. It bears repeating that the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary should never be forgotten. 

On December 14, 2012, 26 people – 20 students and 6 adult staff members – were shot and killed at Sandy Hook in Newtown, CT. 

A 27-year old teacher, Victoria Soto, sacrificed her life when she hid her students in a closet to protect them from crazed gunman Adam Lanza. When Lanza entered her classroom, she told him that the students were in the gym. The terrified kids started running from the closet and Lanza began shooting. Soto threw herself in front of the children and was killed. The last moments of her life were spent protecting her young students by using her body as a shield against bullets from the deranged madman's gun.

Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach sprung into action, but were killed when trying to keep Lanza from entering the building. Teacher Lauren Rousseau hid her students in the bathroom in her attempt to protect the children and also died while doing so. 

District Superintendent Janet Robinson noted these and other "incredible acts of heroism" that "ultimately saved so many lives."

(Source | Photo)

8

The neurologist who boiled his own penis in the name of science

I've heard of donating your body for science, but this guy “donated” his body in several astounding ways while he was alive! 

In the early 1900s, neurologist Sir Henry Head experimented on himself in the name of science. Sir Henry conducted “a human experiment in nerve division." Frustrated with difficulties he encountered in testing sensory loss in patients with peripheral nerve injuries, he persuaded a colleague to divide two cutaneous nerves in his left forearm to study how sensations change when those cut nerves were left to regenerate. At the time, this was a considered a courageous act that was to earn him unsought publicity.

After operating on his own arm, Head even dipped his penis into extremely hot water in another nerve experiment. He concluded that the tip could feel no sensation of heat, but could still feel pain and cold. This is one case of truly having a lot of nerve, don't you think?

Hey, come to think of it, I've heard of Frank Zappa's Burnt Weenie Sandwich, but this is ridiculous! Anyway, we salute you, Sir Head!
(Source 1 | Source 2 | Photo)

9

The band who caused a riot at a Beatles convention

Let's end this list on a lighter note. Here is a whole different type of bravery for you. The best way to describe the next group of people on our list is “having balls.”

All over the world many people celebrate their love of The Beatles by attending Beatlefest. Beatlefest attendees watch films, meet “celebrities” associated with the Fab Four, buy Beatle merchandise and participate in playing music by the lads from Liverpool.

The 1988 Beatlefest at the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles proved to be a little different than the rest. On this occasion, a one-time “supergroup” called Tater Totz played (members included former teen idol Jimmy Jimmy McNichol on percussion, Redd Kross' Steve McDonald on bass, the late, great Bill Bartell – a.k.a. Pat Fear of White Flag – on guitar and Jennifer Schwartz from the classic cult film, Desperate Teenage Love Dolls on vocals.) Instead of doing a Beatles song at the 'fest's Battle Of The Bands competition, the Totz decided to perform Yoko Ono's infamous song, “Don't Worry, Kyoko.” 

Beatle fans in the audience were not pleased and started to riot. The band was escorted off of the property for their safety by security. 

The proceedings were recorded and released on vinyl. To this day, Live Hate At Beatlefest remains a classic. Well, at least by me.