The Real Sleeping Beauty

I chose to watch yet another Netflix documentary called The Real Sleeping Beauty while looking for something I could watch with my family and complete my final neuro note on. The documentary was about a young girl right out of high school beginning her college career as a cheerleader. After making the squad, Sarah and a few of her friends went out drinking to celebrate. As they were crossing the street, Sarah was hit by 2 different cars and suffered severe trauma and slipped into a 20 year coma. Doctors told Sarah's parents she would never wake up and she was put into a long term care facility where she was semiconscious but still in a coma. 18 years later Sarah had a break through and began screaming when her parents and friends came to see her. It frightened them that Sarah was trying to communicate with them but couldn't express herself. 2 years later, Sarah spoke. Her mother received a telephone call from the care facility and on the other end she heard the words "Hi, mom!". None of the doctors understood what was happening as no one has ever woken from a coma after that long, much less be able to talk and communicate in full sentences. Sarah still had sever deficits, cognitively and physically. She is dependent in all ADLs and mobility. It was discussed that it is possible that doctors are writing theses patients off to soon saying there is no chance if they awake, but I think it's more possible that Sarah's case is a miracle and so unlikely to occur. They essentially drained their selves of money to supports Sarah's life, to keep their daughter potentially trapped in her own brain. When she came out of the coma, they say that Sarah is the same daughter they lost 20 years ago as she still had the same love of makeup and talking with friends. It would be incredible to work with a client like this and see her recover from first hand. She told her Dad her goal would be to walk again, but she can't support her trunk at all. Her last update said that she fed herself for the first time in 21 years.

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