Raising the dead. Part 1.

The first in a two-part series looking at people thought to be locked into an irreversible persistent vegetative state (PVS) who go on to show awareness. We hear the story of young mum Tracy Gourlay who was the vict in a hit-and-run accident which left her in a coma for 2 months and a PVS for a further 18 months, after which she miraculously woke up although is unable to walk, talk, eat or drink by herself. We follow her life and recovery 7 years after her initial accident. James Rogers was involved in a serious car accident which left him in a PVS for two years; his parents took him home as they believed he was showing signs of awareness. This was unconfirmed by medics but the family nursed him at home for the remaining 13 years of his life. Joseph T. Giacino of J.F.K. Medical centre speaks about the importance of differentiating between CVS and minimally conscious states; a distinction which was to prove life-changing for 32-year-old Scotty Conniff after he was involved in a car accident. 15 months after his accident he began to show signs of awareness and had slipped into a minimally conscious state, able to be very fractionally aware of their environment.