Citizen wakes up from coma after 27 years

An Emirati woman lost consciousness and entered a coma without improving her condition for 27 years, during which she was transferred between hospitals inside and outside the country, but she remained unable to move or speak. After the doctors failed to treat her or wake her from the coma she entered, they informed her family that the condition was not improving, but she defied all expectations. In her last week in a German hospital, while preparing to return to the Emirates, she pronounced the name of her eldest son Omar and began to regain consciousness and speak.

Munira Omar Abdullah, a young Quran teacher, was involved in an accident in 1991 while returning with her eldest son, Omar, 4 years old, from a kindergarten in Al Ain, leaving behind her two infants at home, the eldest, a year and a half old, and the youngest, 4 months old. A passenger bus hit her car, resulting in serious injuries that put her in a coma, from which she did not emerge until 27 years later.

“I was four years old at the time, but I remember the accident very well. We were on our way back from kindergarten, when the school called my mother and told her that the buses were stopped today and that she had to come and pick me up. She was very happy and we were sitting in the back seat of the car, when a speeding bus came and hit us. My mother hugged me and protected me with her body, and she alone took the shock,” the patient’s eldest son, Omar Ahmed Mohammed Waber, told Emarat Al Youm.

“At that time, there were no mobile phones or quick means of communication to call for help. My mother remained injured on the road until the ambulance arrived after 4 hours. I remember the accident as if it happened yesterday. People were passing by us on the road and praying for her soul, thinking that she had died. After she was taken to the hospital, the doctors tried to treat her, but her condition was very critical. She was transferred to London, where she fell into a coma and could only move her eyes. She felt pain and could convey her feelings to us through the shape and movement of her eyes. She was returned to the country again,” Omar added.

“My mother is a rare case. She spent more than 27 years in a coma, unable to move anything but her eyes. We know what pain she feels through her facial expressions. Even food is given to her through a feeding tube. However, my sisters and I did not lose our determination and insistence to continue the journey and hold on to hope. What hurt us the most was watching our mother’s facial expressions reflecting her feelings of pain and the doctors giving her a painkiller because they did not know the reason for her complaint.”

Omar pointed out that his mother was working as a Quran teacher before the accident, so she was patient and endured the ordeal. He could sense her through the expression on her face as if she was reading the Quran, communing with God and praying to Him. He pointed out that her facial expressions were the same as when she was reading the Quran at home before the accident.

He pointed out that his mother woke up from her coma and started talking while they were in Germany. Before that, he had dreamt that she woke up and asked him to take her to the market. He told the doctors that he was certain that his mother would wake up from her coma, but they did not believe him. They told him that there was no benefit in her presence and that she was a unique case, especially since the longest period of coma recorded by them was 16 years, and his mother’s case had exceeded 27 years. He asked them to prepare a medical report on her current condition in preparation for their return to the country. During their last week in Germany, his mother suffered an epileptic seizure, and the day after this seizure she began to speak.

He said: “The first word she said was my name, and after that I started reading the Quran and praying. At that time, I could not believe myself when I heard her voice. I kept crying and kissing her hands, and she was crying too. She fell into a coma when we were children, and she came back to us when I was a man and my two sisters, one of whom is married and the other is a dentist. He pointed out that whenever he remembers the situation, he feels like he is flying in the sky with joy.”

Omar expressed his deepest thanks, appreciation and gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for his support to all citizens and residents, noting that His Highness’s court arranged for his mother to travel to Germany for treatment and covered all treatment and accommodation expenses as soon as they learned of her condition and without them having to submit a request for it.

He pointed out that his mother has been in hospital since the accident until now, and has never returned home, as she is currently in one of the medical rehabilitation centers in Abu Dhabi, especially since she can only move slowly due to the deformity of her limbs and muscles caused by her long stay in bed without movement.

Omar confirmed that during the period of his care for his mother, he faced many difficulties, at work due to being late at times as a result of his mother suffering from complications and having to be with her, in addition to the fact that he and his two sisters were studying their lessons and taking care of their mother at the same time, in addition to doing the housework, but their mother regaining consciousness made them forget all the troubles and restored their joy that had been lost for 30 years.

Omar called on all those who have patients to hold on to hope at all times and never despair of recovery and God’s vast mercy, and to be a support and help to the patient, because at this time he is in dire need of them, noting that he put his mother’s care first and foremost, so God rewarded him greatly.