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| Donald Herbert was badly injured in a December 1995 fire.
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And it seems very few reporters of the MSM mentioned the Terri Schiavo correlation. I know Commie Couric and Matt Lauer never mentioned it. There's over 250 articles out there and a few mention Terri
| No explanation for firefighter's recovery |
| Firefighter recovers from a 10-year coma |
| Firefighter Regains Memory |
Silent since 1995, firefighter talks
It happened early Saturday afternoon, at about 1:30 or 2. Buffalo Firefighter Donald Herbert, sitting in a wheelchair in the hallway of his Orchard Park nursing home, looked out the window and asked where his wife, Linda, was.
Staff members couldn't have been more stunned.
For more than nine years, Herbert has suffered from a profound brain injury after being badly injured in a December 1995 fire, when a roof collapsed on him. Buried under debris and without air for six minutes, he lapsed into a coma for the next 21/2 months.
Since then, he has been unable to see, verbally recognize loved ones' voices or carry on any kind of meaningful conversation.
That all changed Saturday and early Sunday. For about 16 hours, until roughly 6 a.m. Sunday, the 43-year-old Herbert remained awake. He visited with his wife and sons, some fellow firefighters and other close friends who rushed to his room in Father Baker Manor.
He kept asking where and how his wife and four sons were. He recognized the voices of loved ones. And he was responsive.
"Donny, you feel OK?" one relative asked him.
"I feel great," he replied.
At another point, Herbert asked how long he had been "under" and was told it had been almost 10 years.
"I thought it was three months," he replied.
Relatives were thrilled - but extremely cautious - Monday, stressing that doctors have to examine Herbert, to see what this means.
"He was cognizant, able to recognize people's voices and recall who his family members and friends were," Simon F. Manka, his uncle and the family spokesman, said Monday. "But there's still room for a lot of improvement."
Family members said that after the 16-hour interaction with his loved ones, Herbert fell into an almost uninterrupted sleep, for at least the next 30 hours.
What really stunned Herbert's family and friends was the suddenness of the change.
"From what I understand, this is a sea change that is not incremental, but something that is light-switch different," said attorney Thomas H. Burton, a family friend who represented Linda Herbert in the family's personal-injury lawsuit. "What has occurred is so stunning, I don't know how you can call it anything but a miracle."
Medical experts say it's impossible to say, and way too early to tell, what the consequences are for Herbert.
Dr. Michael A. Meyer, a University at Buffalo professor of clinical neurology at Jacobs Neurological Institute, said such changes are both encouraging and rare. But they do occur.
"After that many years, it's unusual to see that dramatic a change," he said. "But we do hear about it anecdotally."
In most similar cases, Meyer said, the progress reaches a plateau at some point.
"In rare cases like this, there may be improvement over months or years," he said. "But where the plateau is, is anybody's guess."
Manka talked about how emotional it was, after all these years, to have his nephew recognize his voice and call him by name. Family members were trying to stay on an even keel.
Despite the family's caution, speculation already began to surface Monday about Herbert's possible recovery being used as a miracle in the bid to make Father Nelson Baker of Lackawanna a saint. There were unconfirmed reports that Herbert has at least one photo or other artifact of Father Baker in his room.
Monsignor Robert C. Wurtz, the local leader of the Father Baker canonization bid, said he had no information on the situation, other than what he has heard indirectly. For anything to happen, the family would have to come forward.
"I'm open to meet with them," Wurtz said.
At a brief news conference Monday at the nursing home, Manka issued this plea to the public about Herbert's condition:
"Keep praying, please wait while we have him evaluated and respect his family's privacy," he said.
As Burton said of the dramatic change, "If this is something that took place through divine intervention, I'm doing my best to help it along with a lot of prayer."