Waking up from a coma is a long and difficult process, but it can be a joy. This joy is, for example, a slight blink of an eye, a movement of the head or a straight leg. Walking or skiing is pure happiness, but such happiness also happens after waking up from a coma.
Klaudia and Mrs. Ewa talk for hours, although only Mrs. Ewa speaks. Klaudia and six other children, she created a foster family in a small village in Kashubia. It was beautiful until the car with four of them in it “grabbed” the roadside and rolled over. Klaudia is still coming back from her coma. – We are happy with every blink, every straightening of the leg – admits Ewa Dąbrowska, Klaudia Krzewińska's foster mother.
Waking up from a coma is, above all, hard work
There is nothing spectacular about waking up from a coma. Just hard work. – Awakening takes many months and this process is multi-stage – explains Dr. Wojciech Szal, a neurologist from the Polish Center for Functional Rehabilitation Votum in Sawice. – Learning from scratch, both in terms of physical activities. Learning to sit and walk – adds Gabriela Mielniczek, a physiotherapist from the Polish Center for Functional Rehabilitation Votum in Krakow.
Six years after the accident and a year in a coma, Mr. Maciek skis, swims, runs in the Alps and gives hope to those who wake up. – Don't give up – appeals Maciek Czarnecki, a patient who woke up from a coma.
In turn, Mrs. Karolina, her son and husband – after the accident, they all fell into a coma. Mrs. Karolina now jokes that after giving birth to two children, she had to sleep it off. I remember waking up vaguely – I was crying or trying to say something. I knew I couldn't do that and I couldn't do that, and I saw that I had some diapers and I thought I was a baby – recalls Karolina Kaczmarczyk, a patient who woke up from a coma.
Every year, up to several thousand people fall into a coma in Poland
April 18 is Coma Patient Day in Poland. Karolina came to Sawice – the rehabilitation center where she was woken up – to thank and encourage others who are still waiting. – We are convinced that he hears us and that he really wants to be between us – says Renata Leszczyńska, sister of Michał, a patient in a coma.
Every year, up to several thousand people fall into a coma in Poland. The center in Sawice, which runs a program under the National Health Fund, wakes up an average of 10 people a year.
– It is said that every fourth person has a chance. We give every person a chance, but our result confirms that this is what it is – says Małgorzata Rodzień, director of rehabilitation at the Polish Center for Functional Rehabilitation Votum.
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Mrs. Ewa calls Klaudia “our princess”. In a few days they will return from the Krakow branch of the rehabilitation center to Kashubia. Doctors say that Klaudia will walk one day, so they can't stop the fight. Hence the collection for the rehabilitation of Mrs. Ewa's charges, victims of that accident: Klaudia and Dominik, who has already woken up.
– The worst thing in all this is that we (guardians – editor's note) are getting older and the children are orphans. They have no one to return to, says Ewa Dąbrowska. – I only have one dream. For the children to recover, he adds.
Main photo source: TVN24