A man with locked-in syndrome remembered the emotional discussions his wife had with doctors while he was hospitalized.
In 2009, Richard Marsh experienced a life-altering stroke, which resulted in him developing locked-in syndrome.
Locked-in syndrome (LiS) is defined by the Cleveland Clinic as ‘a rare and serious neurological disorder that occurs when a part of your brainstem is damaged, usually due to a stroke’.
Individuals with LiS are completely paralyzed but maintain normal cognitive functions.
Considering this, Richard was aware of every conversation between his wife and the medical staff when he fell ill.
According to the doctors, Richard, who was believed to be in his late 50s at the time, had only a two percent chance of survival, and they recommended turning off his life support.
Reflecting on the time he regained consciousness in intensive care, Richard shared with The Guardian: “All I could do when I woke up in ICU was blink my eyes.
“I was on life support with a breathing machine, with tubes and wires on every part of my body, and a breathing tube down my throat. I was in a severe locked-in state for some time. Things looked pretty dire.”
Recalling the distressing conversation between his wife, Lili, and the doctors, Richard continued: “The doctors had just finished telling Lili that I had a two percent chance of survival and if I should survive I would be a vegetable.
“I could hear the conversation and in my mind I was screaming ‘No!'”
Thankfully, a doctor discovered that Richard could communicate by blinking, leading to the decision to keep his life support machine on.
Three days following his severe stroke, a doctor looked at Richard and said: “You know, I think he might still be there. Let’s see.”
Fast forward four months, and Richard remarkably beat the odds and left the long-term care facility on his own two feet.
By 2012, he had recovered 95 percent of his functionality, and was living a mostly normal life once again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYvKxFaDaEo
While Richard was fortunate, not everyone with locked-in syndrome regains their physical abilities.
This didn’t stop Howard Wicks, though.
Howard, a 29-year-old from Dartmouth, UK, experienced a stroke in 2011, which left him fully paralyzed, with the ability only to move his eyes.
Despite his condition, Howard has managed to write a book using an eye-controlled communication device. The book spans 50,000 pages and took him 18 months to complete.
The book, titled Hope: Facing the Depths of Adversity: A Life with Locked-In Syndrome, narrates the first four years of his life following the stroke.