MassCops - Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network, A Mass Police Web Portal

Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Pages: 1

Main Page Brain-Damaged Firefighter Talks Again After 10 Years
(Click here to view the original thread on the MassCops Message Board)

Posted by: USMCMP5811

Brain-Damaged Firefighter Talks Again After 10 Years

POSTED: 3:41 pm EDT May 2, 2005
UPDATED: 4:59 pm EDT May 2, 2005

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The last thing he remembers was 10 years ago, but a Buffalo firefighter has started talking again after nearly a decade in a brain-damaged state.

Donald Herbert suffered severe injuries when a roof collapsed on him while he was fighting a fire in December 1995. The injury left him brain-damaged and unable to speak.

Herbert has been at a Buffalo-area nursing home for the past several years, but relatives said that over the weekend he started talking again and his memory returned.

Friends and former colleagues said he has talked with his family and with former co-workers.

Posted by: kttref

Ohmigod. But would you want to come back after 10 years of missing everything?

My husband and I have talked about it, we don't want to live in a vegetative state for that long. Even if there is a chance I could survive, I don't know if I'd want to.

Posted by: CJIS

That's was a wonderful story. Just one more reason to always have hope.

Posted by: USMCMP5811

Quote:

Originally Posted by kttref";p=&quot

Ohmigod. But would you want to come back after 10 years of missing everything?

My husband and I have talked about it, we don't want to live in a vegetative state for that long. Even if there is a chance I could survive, I don't know if I'd want to.

I don't know kttref, I think if I were ever to be in a vegitative state with no chance of recovery, I'd say pull the plug and let my Family and friends greive for a little while then get on with their lives rather than put them through hell for years on end. But if there were a chance of pullin through, then the Doc's better do what they can.

Posted by: kttref

Quote:

Originally Posted by USMCMP5811";p=&quot

Yes, I agree with that. But do you want your family to grieve for 10 years for just a "hope"?? If the doctors couldn't do anything in the first couple of years do you really want your familys income drained on you for the "hope" that you may recover? I know I don't. I would want them to grieve when I die, yes, but then move on. I don't want them to suffer too.

Posted by: USMCMP5811

Just an update I found on this story or at least more details....

edited by rpd931 - I took out the advertisement junk..

After 9 1/2 years, brain-damaged man perks up
Ex-firefighter asks, 'How long have I been away?'
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:30 p.m. ET May 3, 2005ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - Nearly 9½ years after a firefighter was left brain-damaged and mostly mute during a 1995 roof collapse, he did something that shocked his family and doctors: He asked for his wife.

Staff members of the nursing home where Donald Herbert has lived for more than seven years raced to get Linda Herbert on the telephone.

It was the first of many conversations the patient had with his wife, four sons and other family and friends Saturday during a 14-hour stretch, Herbert’s uncle Simon Manka said.

“How long have I been away?” Herbert asked.

“We told him almost 10 years,” the uncle said. “He thought it was only three months.”

Herbert, who will turn 44 Saturday, was fighting a house fire Dec. 29, 1995, when the roof collapsed, burying him under debris. After going without air for several minutes, Herbert was comatose for 2 1/2 months and has undergone therapy ever since.

Seeking privacy
News accounts in the days and years after his injury describe Herbert as blind and with little, if any, memory. Video shows him receiving physical therapy but apparently unable to communicate and with little awareness of his surroundings.

Manka declined Monday to discuss his nephew’s current condition, or whether the apparent progress was continuing this week. The family was seeking privacy while doctors evaluated Herbert, he said.

“He’s resting comfortably,” the uncle said.

As word of Herbert’s progress spread, a steady stream of visitors arrived at the Father Baker Manor nursing home in this Buffalo suburb.

“He stayed up ’til early morning talking with his boys and catching up on what they’ve been doing over the last several years,” firefighter Anthony Liberatore told WIVB-TV.

Herbert’s sons were 14, 13, 11 and 3 when he was injured.

Staff members at the nursing facility recognized the change in Herbert, Manka said, when they heard him speaking and “making specific requests.”

“The word of the day was ‘amazing,”’ he said.

'Almost unheard of' recovery
Dr. Rose Lynn Sherr of New York University Medical Center said when patients recover from brain injuries, they usually do so within two or three years.

“It’s almost unheard of after 10 years,” she said, “but sometimes things do happen and people suddenly improve and we don’t understand why.”

Manka said visitors let Herbert set the pace of the conversations and did not bring up the fire in which he was injured.

“The extent and duration of his recovery is not known at this time,” Manka said. “However we can tell you he did recognize several family members and friends and did call them by name.”

There have been a few other widely publicized examples of brain-damage patients showing sudden improvement after a number of years.

In 2003, an Arkansas man, Terry Wallis, returned to consciousness 19 years after he was injured in a car accident, stunning his mother by saying “Mom” and then asking for a Pepsi. His brain function remained limited, his family said months later.

Tennessee police officer Gary Dockery, who was brain damaged in a 1988 shooting, began speaking to his family one day in 1996, telling jokes and recounting annual winter camping trips. But after 18 hours, he never repeated the unbridled conversation of that day, though he remained more alert than he had been. He died the following year of a blood clot on his lung.

Posted by: stm4710

Honestly this is not really impressive. I know guys that have been brain dead for over 20 years and are still on the fire department. :P

We call them Chiefs......

ma police, boston ma police, massachusetts police, massachusetts police, mass state police, mass police, ma, mass, massachusetts, massachusetts, massachutes, massachusetts law, massachusetts polece, police, officer, police officer, cops, police gear, law enforcement, police duty gear, state police, sheriff, law, police supply, police agency directory, police agency, police department, traffic officer, police dept, state trooper, dispatcher, massachusetts county sheriff, massachusetts sheriff, massachusetts department of corrections, ma doc, doc, dept of corrections, police information, civil service, ma civil service, massachusetts crime, police training, police academy, ma police academy, massachusetts officers, masscop, masscops, mpa, bpa, ibpoa, police association, massachusetts police news, massachusetts crime news, mass most wanted, police career information, police patrol, police administration, police books, crime scene training, police discussion, crime discussions, cops

About MassCops, the home for Massachusetts law enforcement.

The Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network opened in 1998 and is now a part of the New England Police Network The site is a pro-police discussion forum intended for sworn police officers and civilian law enforcement officials as well as those interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement here in Massachusetts.

The goal of The Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network is to provide an informal network of law enforcement officials here in Massachusetts for educational and informational purposes.

The forum covers many topics such as Police Related News Articles, Agency & Profession Discussions, Police Training as well as Law Enforcement Career Information.

The Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network and The New England Police Network (NEPN) and it's network sites are privately owned websites/domains and are not affiliated with or endorsed by any government association or agency.

MassCops (masscops.com) and (masscop.com) are privately owned are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Massachusetts Coalition of Police (masscop.org)

3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 49 50 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108