It’s every child’s worst nightmare.
When Steven found his 45-year-old mother, Lyndee, totally unconscious in their Arizona home, he panicked.
He immediately called 911, and Lyndee was rushed to the hospital.
But the doctors were helpless.
For five days, Lyndee suffered seizures and eventually fell into a coma, where she remained for 12 days, according to Mirror.
Lyndee’s husband Steve, daughter Amanda, and son Steven hoped for a miracle.
But doctors said there was nothing more they could do. Twelve heartbreaking days after the tragic event, her family was advised to turn off her life support.
It’s a decision that no family should have to make, but they knew that Lyndee wanted to be an organ donor, which made the decision a little easier.
“My family knows I am an avid organ donor so when my organs started to fail, they made the decision — it was time to make that decision,” Lyndee would later explain.
The tough decision was made to pull the plug, honoring what the family thought was Lyndee’s wishes.
One by one, each of the family members visited Lyndee to say goodbye.
Little did her family know, Lyndee heard every word. Because Lyndee wasn’t brain-dead.
Though she couldn’t move or speak, she was sometimes aware of some of what was going on around her — a phenomenon known as being ‘locked in’.
“I remember people talking to me,” Lyndee recalled. “I remember when people came to visit, my niece reading to me.”
Lyndee’s husband was the last on who was going to say goodbye, and he whispered to his wife: “You’re a fighter. I need you to fight.”
Lyndee, who couldn’t move, let alone talk, was fully aware of what was going on around her. She knew she had to speak up in order to save her own life, but she tried and failed.
“In my head, it was very clear what I was saying, but it wasn’t to them,” she explained.
And she wanted so badly to stay that she was finally able to get a few words out.
“I’m a fighter,” Lyndee whispered.
Her family was shocked.
Stunned, Steve quickly went to get the doctor.
“My husband said, ‘She is doing everything you said she wouldn’t do,’” Lyndee recalled.
Against all odds and medical predictions, Lyndee was back, awake, and responding, AZ Family reported.
They had just turned off life support, and now the beloved mother and wife was alive! It was nothing short of a miracle.
“I looked at her, and she just says, ‘Hi,’ and I just fell to my knees,” Lyndee’s daughter Amanda recalled tearfully, when she described how she melted down after receiving the shock of her life.
Lyndee could eventually left the hospital, but her journey back to a normal life wasn’t going to be easy.
First of all, she had to learn to walk and feed herself again.
Despite her amazing recovery, she suffered a number of health problems and complications.
“They released me with home healthcare to continue learning everything,” she said.
She also required four follow-up surgeries and hospitalizations , and she suffered PTSD from the experience.
Four years has passed, but Lyndee Brown Pellettiere-Swapp still have “no answers” as to why she first fell unconscious or how she made such a recovery.
But, there was one thing she was certain of that she needed others to know too.
“Just because you’re not conscious doesn’t mean you can’t hear,” she told CBS 5 Arizona.
“So you should talk to your loved ones if you are in that situation. They hear you.”
Her experience also left Lyndee’s family with an important message for others.
Everything can be taken away. You can wake up one day and everything is fine, and then your life is a mess.
“Keep your family close and don’t let them go. I don’t take for granted that I get to come home and kiss my mom”, Lyndee’s son Steven said.
“Every day I come home from work, seeing her and talking to her”, Steven continued.
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What a touching story. If you have a loved one in a coma and on life support remember they may be able to hear you. Tell them how much you love them and they need to fight.
And don’t forget to go and hug your loved ones, and remind others to do the same because you never know when it could be your last chance.
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