Brain damaged man recovers, Terry Schiavo still dead

Sorry to be so blunt, but these are the kind of miracle families pray for.... ORCHARD PARK, New York (AP) -- Ten years after a firefighter was left brain-damaged and mostly mute during a 1995 roof collapse, he did something that shocked his family and doctors: He perked up. "I want to talk to my wife," Donald Herbert said out of the blue Saturday. Staff members of the nursing home where he has lived for more than seven years raced to get Linda Herbert on the telephone. It was the first of many conversations the 44-year-old patient had with his wife, four sons and other family and friends during a 14-hour stretch, Herbert's uncle, Simon Manka said. "How long have I been away?" Herbert asked. "We told him almost 10 years," the uncle said. "He thought it was only three months." Herbert was fighting a house fire December 29, 1995, when the roof collapsed, burying him under debris. After going without air for several minutes, Herbert was comatose for 2 1/2 months and has undergone therapy ever since. [...] Dr. Rose Lynn Sherr of New York University Medical Center said when patients recover from brain injuries, they usually do so within two or three years. "It's almost unheard of after 10 years," she said, "but sometimes things do happen and people suddenly improve and we don't understand why." And if he lived in Florida, or in Europe, he'd have either been starved to death or euthanized because the judges didn't think he had a great quality of life. Read the story and tell me what his quality of life is now. (Hat tip to Ryanne for the link)