The 26-year-old was injured and comatose for more than 80 days when he was awakened by a miracle

Long or short life is full of all kinds of accidents, how will you cherish the people around you, how will you express not to give up easily? For Shao Hui's (pseudonym) family, not giving up is to insist on turning him over, wiping his back, massaging his body, and calling his name in his ear during the days when he was in a state of unconsciousness for more than 80 days, until he was suddenly able to respond, from the corner of his mouth moving slightly, to nodding and shaking his head, to crying, smiling, making a little progress, to being able to sit up, to be able to be helped to do difficult rehabilitation exercises...

If it were not for the accident half a year ago, Shao Hui, a 26-year-old sunshine boy, might still run, shoot, sweat and get into the bottle on the court every day. Now, once judged to be "hopeless to wake up", he woke up, and he can still be like a child, from swallowing and speaking to raising his hand and looking up, and re-learning every step, which is the greatest comfort for their family. This is the miracle of life brought about by not abandoning.

"We don't give up, because even on the days when he was in a coma with his eyes open, I felt like there was light in his eyes." Aunt Shao Jing (pseudonym), who has feelings for Shao Hui, a nephew, said.

On the eve of the second "World Coma Day" on March 22, Shao Jing shared Shao Hui's story with reporters in the Rehabilitation Department of Pearl River Hospital of Southern Medical University.

Life is hit by an accident when the pause button is pressed

Shao Hui graduated from the university majoring in sports, and before he graduated from college, he was favored by the tennis club where he now works and became a tennis coach. Such a boy who loves sports, has an optimistic personality, is physically strong, and is in a good year, the "star coach" of the children, the sunshine boy in the eyes of relatives and friends and colleagues, but he was suddenly pressed the "pause button" of life half a year ago.

On the afternoon of August 21, 2021, Shao Hui was walking in a small area of Panyu where he lived, when he was accidentally knocked down by an electric car delivering a courier and landed on his head. Half an hour later, 120 ambulances took him to a nearby hospital and was diagnosed with multiple intracranial hemorrhage, brainstem hemorrhage, cerebral contusion and so on.

The hospital performed a random emergency surgery, but the postoperative situation was still more serious. On August 27, Shao Hui was transferred to the ICU of a third-class hospital in the city, and although the cerebral edema had gradually subsided, there were constant lung infections, and the whole person always showed a severe open-eye coma. The doctor judged that there was basically no possibility of waking up, and also said to Shao Jing euphemistically, "It is useless to save it like this." ”

"Can't give up, there's light in his eyes"

The eldest son of the family suddenly suffered such a senseless disaster, and Shao Hui's parents, who rushed from their rural homes to Guangzhou, felt that the sky had collapsed. "At that time, my brother and sister-in-law could say that they were really completely at a loss. They don't know what to do, what to do to decide well. Shao Jing recalled. But as an aunt, for this nephew who has always been very speculative and affectionate, Shao Jing can't give up.

"I think there's light in his eyes." Shao Jing graduated from the medical university, but she believes that her judgment is not derived from her medical professional background, but from the concern and careful observation of her family.

At Shao Jing's insistence, on September 14, 2021, Shao Hui was transferred to the Department of Neurology of Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, when Shao Hui's EEG was not even a waveform, and the infection made him have a high fever of more than 40 degrees. After a series of anti-infection and other treatments, half a month later, on September 30, Shao Hui was transferred to the rehabilitation medicine department of the hospital, and deputy director Xie Qiuyou took over the responsibility.

In the rehabilitation department, Shao Hui received hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and Xie Qiuyou also decided to remove the tracheostomy tube and urinary catheter to reduce the risk of repeated infection.

For comatose patients, careful observation and patient care by family members are essential.

During that time, Shao Hui's mother took care of him in the hospital, and Shao Jing instructed her to pat her son on the back, turn over once every half an hour, move his limbs, massage muscles, and even help him up and sit down. Shao's father is responsible for logistics support, delivering food and cooking. In the later period, the son's nutritional supply is through a nasogastric tube, which directly injects the liquid food broken by the wall breaker into the intestine.

"A lot of care can actually be given to a caregiver, but we feel that it is important for him to be personally accompanied by his family. There is no substitute for this support. Shao Jing said.

Looking forward to the miracle of the restart of life, he learned everything like a child

For a long time, the family's life revolved around the comatose son. Don't give up the hope of awakening, but the constant coma makes people almost desperate.

The earliest faint starlight was lit on September 25. In the morning, aunt Shao Jing, who was not in the ward, tried to interact with Shao Hui through mobile phone video as usual. After calling out his name, Shao Jing suddenly saw the corner of his nephew's mouth at the end of the screen move slightly, like a long-lost smile. "The magnitude was small, but it was a surprise enough that we observed him smile like seeing a beam of light in the dark." Shao Jing said that since then, the situation has improved little by little.

Family members called out to him, occasionally getting a wink in response. "At that time, we thought, just hope that he can wake up, as long as he can wake up, everything will be fine, we have no more luxury,"

On November 3, when his physical condition was relatively stable, the Neurosurgery Department performed skull repair surgery for Shao Hui.

This time the skull repair is likely to have had a great positive impact on Shao Hui's perception.

On November 9, the family waited for a moment that could be called the day of the clouds - Shao Hui could clearly understand his family's words and make a definite response. "I say 'yes,' you blink when you hear it, I say 'no,' and you blink twice." Shao Jing issued a command to Shao Hui, and Shao Hui on the hospital bed correctly completed the blinking motion. "He really understands!"

"Your name is Shao Hui, isn't it?" He blinked.

After the doctor's assessment, Shao Hui, who had been in a coma for 80 days, finally officially regained consciousness.

This was followed by intensive rehabilitation. Swallowing training helped him regain his autonomy as early as possible, and choritic training helped him learn to speak again... On November 12, the two syllables of "Mom" were pronounced with difficulty and jerkiness, making the eyes of the family moist.

Although he was conscious, due to brain injury, he was in a coma for more than 80 days, and Shao Hui had to start learning again like a child at every step from eating, talking to physical activity, even more difficult than a child, and each exercise may be accompanied by unbearable pain throughout the body. A simple head-up movement, it took 2 months of training to successfully do it. "Along the way, the family has been supported by faith."

Today's rehabilitation training is like "punching in to work" for Shao Hui. Every morning at 7:50 a.m., hyperbaric oxygen therapy begins, limb training, orthophoto training begins at 9:30 a.m. I can move my limbs, I can easily communicate with my family, and sometimes I can make jokes. He lost fragments of his memories and was sensitive to his current situation. When it's hard, he can cry, but more often than not, he's still the big boy who is optimistic and smiles.

"I can't see the distant future, but I can see every step forward in the present"

Since Shao Hui began rehabilitation training, his four-year-old brother has also joined the ranks of taking care of his brother full-time, after all, moving his brother's tall body is a manual work, and his mother has already exhausted his physical strength.

Shao Jing said that although her nephew still had to rely on a wheelchair to move, the whole family was already very happy to watch him get better and better every day. As long as you continue to cooperate with the doctor's treatment and actively do rehabilitation, I believe that he will be able to stand up.

From the beginning, I only hope that he can wake up, to watch him slowly progress and regain his function, and then there will be a little more hope, hoping that he can sit up, stand up, and even regain self-care and control his life in the future.

This year's World Coma Day is themed "Awakened Hope". We often see classic plots in film and television stories, such as the protagonist in the coma hears the call of his lover, and a tear oozes from the corner of his eye; in thousands of hopeless calls, the comatose person moves his fingers. We'll also see stories of celebrities falling into a coma, regaining consciousness, etc. on the news, such as racing drivers, musicians, and so on. Only when these plots appear in the living reality and appear around yourself can you truly feel the multiplication of hardships behind you.

As one of the authors of the 2020 edition of the "Diagnosis of Chronic Consciousness Disorders in the Treatment of Chinese Expert Consensus", Xie Qiuyou, deputy director of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, said that with the advancement of medicine, the ability of severe treatment has been greatly improved, and more and more unconscious patients can be rescued and have the hope of life, and early scientific evaluation, reasonable treatment strategy choices and correct interventions are very important for further decision-making. At the same time, these people with mental disorders also need strong support from their families and more attention from society.

Awakening is only the first step, how to restore the functions of swallowing, speech, movement and even higher cognition in the future, so that patients can achieve self-care and return to integrate into society, there is still a long way to go, and it needs the comprehensive support of society, family and medical treatment.

Text, photo/Guangzhou Daily, Xinhuacheng Reporter: Zhou Jieying Correspondent: Wu Xiaodan

Guangzhou Daily Xinhuacheng Editor: Li Jin