Sarah's Story

Woman's Improvement After Brain Injury An Example Of The Mysteries Of Conciousness

(CBS) 
Scientists now believe Sarah was in a minimally conscious state, a recent designation described as having a very low level of awareness but conscious nonetheless.

Sarah's case differs from Terry Schiavo's case, where a lack of oxygen caused damage to the entire brain, resulting in what doctors call persistent vegetative state. In Sarah's case, parts of the brain were severely damaged in the accident, but other parts that were not damaged struggled to make new connections.

"Minimally conscious is a challenging state, because we don't exactly know what is going on within an individual's brain," said Dr. Bill Brooks, Director of the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center.

Sarah told Smith she felt "trapped" not asleep.

"Clearly much of Sarah's brain is still working at some level," Brooks said.

Brooks took an MRI scan of Smith's brain to compare with Sarah's existing cat scan.

"What we see on quite a few slices is a substantial injury," Brooks said, pointing to a dark portion of Sarah's scan, the damaged portion. "The holy grail of all this is how do we make this stuff do the work that this stuff used to do?"

Sarah seems to recall things from the days at the edge of consciousness.

"I asked her about Oklahoma City and she said 'children, fire,'" Betsy Scantlin said.

"When I mentioned 9/11 what comes to your mind? And she says 'planes hit the building and it went up in smoke,'" Trammell said.

"Clearly, there's a different level of attention and involvement in those, just extraordinary, events that took place on those days," Brooks said. "Perhaps, in Sarah's case, it was enough to get through the fog."

Sarah's short term memory is impaired, but her long term memory is eerily intact. She is 40, but without a concept of time passing, she thinks she's 18.

"Who's cuter, Scott Baio or Rob Lowe?" Smith asked.

"Rob Lowe," was Sarah's reply.

In some ways its like a baby learning her first words, But Sarah bears the remnants of a sophisticated mind trying to re-connect. Improvements are slow and small, but mighty. No one can tell what's next.

"I've said for years hope is a dangerous thing because with Sarah we had no hope," Jim Scantlin said. "You know, just the mere fact that she can say goodbye and say hello and I love you and give me a kiss. It's just amazing."

Unfortunately, Sarah is the rarest of cases. Experts say her age played a part. Also, the level of care she got was exceptional. Everyone from the nurses to the cleaning staff talked to Sarah every day.

[cgrundmeyer]

Sarah, you've given us more hope. Our daughter Jennifer had a severe brain injury in 1995, I pray every day she will talk someday. Great, God Bless you.

[liz19792006]

For Sarah way to go honey you keep on trying....And for SLMaxwell you just keep trying as well your daughter will see how much you love her and she will not give up neither...and that goes for all of you never give-up....

[twin66-2009]

SARAH YOU GO GIRL!I AM PROUD OF YOU.YOU KEEP TRYING TO DO THINGS AND LET GOD HANDLE THE REST!!!

[catt42701]

I told a family that had a severly brain damaged daughter once to talk to her all the time, exercise her limbs, put high top tennis shoes on her feet to prevent foot drop, play her favorite music and favorite TV shoes. She got better, able to walk with help and able to communicate. With excellent care and communication they can bet better but it takes work, committed long term work by everyone in contact with that person.

[twin66-2009]

I am very excited for Sarah's family and for her. My granddaughter was diagnosed with severe cerebral atrophy about 18 months ago, and we were told that she would never do anything for herself. She is only 2. Now she can sit up for a few minutes by herself, and she understands most of what you tell her to do (simple tasks) she has begun to yell out just like Sarah. That is the most encouraging thing I have heard in a long time. Sarah keep up the hard work. You and my granddaughter are both a true miracle.

[britthawkey]

I am happy for her family. They have their daughter and sister back, but the whole fact of the matter is what is Sarah going to do, how is her mind and body going to react when she finally does come through with the connection that she is not 18, she is 40. I would be more worried about her mind set for that situation then in her mind set of holding a conversation w her about boys she used to like. I can understand and am truly happy for her family but at the same time think about tomorrow too.

[teeus]

"I'm really curious about those women with prostate cancer. "

Bwah. No fair making me choke on my soda at work.

Good catch.

[godofredo29]

Did anyone catch this line in Eve Conant's Newsweek article on the gender gap in cancer deaths? "While both genders saw dramatic declines in deaths attributed to three major cancers%u2014breast, prostate and colorectal...." I'm really curious about those women with prostate cancer.

[getserious1]

mgpm: There is a HUGE difference between this case and that of Terry S. In this case, there was evidence of brain activity, but none in Terry's case for years and years. The autopsy of Terry clearly showed that her brain had been destroyed and would never been able to recover such as in Sarah's case. These two are not related. The tragedy in Terry's case wasn't that she was finally allowed to die, but that it took so long to be allowed in the first place.

[matt2h]

The editing on this article is atrocious.

[slmaxwell-2009]

My daughter was in a terrible car accident one month ago. She had no other injuries except severe head trama. She was able to come home after 1 week in the hospital, but with impaired speech, and no stamina, her mouth is contantly dry and one eye won't tear up when she cries, and she can't open her mouth very wide. We were told the same things, no brain injury is the same, there is no prognosis for brain injury. She is doing better everyday, just alot slower than before the accident.

[mgpm-2009]

I've worked with mentally impaired people. The plain fact is we do not know what anyone who is impaired can take in, especially if they cannot respond to us. This is precisely why we must NOT treat people like nor call people "vegatables." Terry Schivo had people who cared for her and she responded to those people. She should not have been euthanized or allowed to starve. That was cruel. Life is life.

How do we know "Sarah is the rarest of cases?" Because she can talk? Because she can say "I love you?" This line of thinking is ridiculous.