A British teenager who has been in a coma for 10 months, has awakened but is still largely unaware of the scale of the COVID pandemic.
Joseph Flavill, 19, was hit by a car while walking on 1 March 2020, which was three weeks before the UK entered into its first national lockdown. Having suffered a traumatic brain injury, he has since been in a coma but is now making a slow recovery and is responsive. Ironically, he has caught COVID twice while in hospital but had recovered both times.
His aunt, Sally Flavill Smith, told the Guardian: “He won’t know anything about the pandemic as he’s been asleep for 10 months. His awareness is starting to improve now but we just don’t know what he knows.
“I just don’t know where to start with it. A year ago if someone had told me what was going to happen over the last year, I don’t think I would have believed it. I’ve got no idea how Joseph’s going to come to understand what we’ve all been through.”
He is now able to respond to commands, such as touching his left or right ear, respond with yes/no by blinking, and is able to smile.
His family had trained to explain in video calls why they can’t see him in person due to COVID restrictions, but had not tried to convey the scale of the pandemic. She says that they will try to explain it to him when they are able to visit him in person. His mother was able to see him in December, wearing full PPE, but he was not as aware as he is now. The family has put together a fundraiser to help his recovery.
Source: The Guardian
