(HUB) – Terry Wallis had been unable to respond to the world since 1984, when the truck he was riding in veered off an Arkansas bridge and crashed, tires up, into the creek bed below. Wallis spent two weeks in a coma, a state of prolonged unconsciousness, then lived most of the next 19 years in a minimally conscious state in which he could not communicate with words or gestures.
But in 2003, at the age of 39, Wallis surprised both doctors and his family with his first word—”Mom”—followed by many others. Studies later found that Wallis’ brain had continued to repair itself. Tests done 18 months after he emerged showed that Wallis had regained some motor function, strength, and fluency of speech, while brain scans showed more connectivity in damaged parts of the brain. CONTINUE