Man wakes from 6 month coma and makes sad realisation
John Pennington’s world was turned upside down at the age of 30 when he suffered life-altering injuries in a car crash, leaving him in a coma. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and collapsed lungs, amongst other serious injuries.
Recounting the moment he awoke on Reddit, the Las Vegas man said: “I woke up thinking it was time to go to work, but for some reason, found myself strapped to a bed in the hospital.
“When I met eyes with the attending nurse and asked if I could use the bathroom, she teared up and ran out of the room – only to come back a few minutes later to apologise and explain that for the past six months, I had been in a coma due to a very severe traumatic brain injury.”
The devastating news didn’t end there, as John was subsequently hit with an eye-watering $2.5m (about £2m) hospital bill, excluding the further costs of two rehabilitation stints.
Keen to shed light on his extraordinary ordeal, John launched a Q&A session on Reddit.
When one user asked whether he had experienced any notable personality changes following his traumatic experience, John responded: “I don’t believe I have any personality changes with the exception of going through this whole experience and the emotional and psychological effects it’s had on me.”
Another user asked: “What was the world event that happened while you were comatose that shocked you the most when you came to hear of it?”
In a heartbreaking revelation, he explained how upon waking, his immediate thoughts turned to his father, yet for weeks nobody would give him a straight answer.
He said: “It was tough feeling like I upset him or he couldn’t handle seeing me like that. My sister told me four weeks after waking up that our father had killed himself. He couldn’t handle everything going on and took his own life.
“That guilt followed me throughout my recovery […] I learned a bit more about suicide and it helped me finally forgive myself. Was there a reason to blame myself? No.
“Some drunk kid driving his father’s BMW with no headlights wrecked into my buddy and me causing the traumatic brain injury, but I couldn’t shake that feeling for some time.”
In a follow-up post, John explained that he had initially launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover his medical bills, though it proved unsuccessful.
Thankfully, his solicitor intervened to help manage the costs.
He added: “My lawyer did a great job getting everything paid though. I was relieved when he told me it worked out. I didn’t get rich, but if you consider how much I owed. I kinda did.”
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans. org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
