Man Ends 19 Years In Coma

The Evening Times (UK) reports:

A PATIENT woke up from a coma after 19 years and greeted his mother who was at his bedside.

Terry Wallis, 39, had been unconscious since a car crash in July 1984.
"He started out with 'Mom' and surprised her and then it was 'Pepsi' and then it was 'milk' and now it's anything he wants to say," said Alesha Badgley, social director of Stone County Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre, in Mountain View, Arkansas.

Mr Wallis was injured when the car he was in plunged into a creek. He was comatose and his friend, who was also in the vehicle, was dead when the pair were found underneath a bridge the following day.

His wife, Sandi, said: "It's been hard dealing with it, it's been hard realising the man I married can't be there.

"We all, the whole family, missed out on his company."

The Wallises daughter, Amber, was born shortly before the accident.
She is now 19 and Mr Wallis, who was left a quadriplegic as a result of the crash, said that he wants to walk again, for her.

His mother, Angilee Wallis, said that her son's return to consciousness was a miracle.

She said: "I couldn't tell you my first thought, I just fell over on the floor."
Mr Wallis has spent most of his time at the rehabilitation centre but his family took him out for weekends and special occasions.

Sandi said: "The doctor said that's why he remembers things. We might have kept his mind going."

Mr Wallis regained consciousness around two weeks ago.