Dead Woman Comes Back to Life

Dead Woman Comes Back to Life

bluestarchronicles.com

Val Thomas had several heart attacks and had no life signs for 17 1/2 hours, rigor mortis had set in and the family was discussing organ donation. The organ donation issue is why she’s alive now. She was kept on a respirator even though she had not had any brain wave activity for hours. She was put on other machines as well to keep her organs healthy while the organ donation process continued.

It wasn’t until the nurses started removing her from the oxygen that she came back to life. She has no heart blockage and appears she’s going to be just fine.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
youtube.com

This story was on the Yahoo main page and on the local news yesterday. Other then that it hasn't been picked up much by the media?

bluestarchronicles.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow! I wonder is this the first time this has happened to someone, or is it usual in some cases?

Makes you wonder how many people could have came back to life if only they'd been kept on life support longer.

What we can draw from this is this: If you offer organ donation, it might just save your life!

I'm unclear as to why rigor mortis would have set in if she was only brain dead? The rest of her body was functioning so I don't see why her body would have started to suffer from rigor mortis, as metabolic functions would still be ongoing.

Inability to correlate and maintain neccesary functions? If she was braindead, all systems are left unattended without instruction. So maybe it was just out of confusion.

reply to post by stumason
That's what I was thinking when I read it. I'm no doctor, but isn't rigor the actual start of decomposition? I was wondering what it felt like to come back into a decaying body... I would assume it wasn't pleasurable.

I think it's amazing how she came back, and wonderful that she's going to be fine. The lack of brain waves could be read to mean the lack of detectable brain waves (meaning we simply don't know enough yet to understand the brain), or it could be a miracle from God. But that one slip makes me question the entire article's (and the site's) accuracy.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by stumason
I'm unclear as to why rigor mortis would have set in if she was only brain dead? The rest of her body was functioning so I don't see why her body would have started to suffer from rigor mortis, as metabolic functions would still be ongoing.

That struck me as odd as well. If she were in rigomortis her organs would've been utterly usless for donating. Sounds like she was just in a coma or something. I remember not too long ago someone woke from a coma after being "brain dead". they were about to switch his machine off and I think his cousin ran a knife across his foot and he woke up? [I'll look for it..] In any case I think alot of people have probably had their organs donated while still alive.. I do not trust the way they measure time of death when it comes to harvesting organs. A scene out of Meaning of Life comes to mind..


[edit on 24-5-2008 by riley]

Temperature most likely had something to do with it. You keep a person cold (usually near freezing) and they can be revived hours later.

They've cryogenically preserved pigs with total brain death for over 2 days and then revived them later: www.wired.com...

I remember reading a story about a man who drowned in Lake Superior during the winter when the ambient water temp. was around -25C. They pulled him out, he was frozen stiff, no vitals, not breathing, presumed dead.

They put him on life support immediately, a few hours later when his body temperature returns the guy wakes up, good as new and actually remembered everything that occurred up until he lost consciousness and even said he experienced vivid dreams during the time he was unconscious, some doctors said his brain was still functioning even without proper blood flow because the of the extremely cold temperature.

reply to post by Howie47


this was not covered by the media as there are plans to actually consider that everyone who dies is an organ donor by default unless he/she expressed the wish to NOT donate organs during the life - time.

The part about rigor mortis setting in made me do a double take as well! Here's another link to the story.. I had to have some confirmation.

Article

reply to post by LLoyd45


Thanks for the help, Lloyd45.
This article explains what they met by rigor mortis.

"Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled. Death had set in," said son Jim Thomas.

Hmm... Methinks perhaps their brain scanner might not be functioning.

However, the thought of a cryogenic state did come to mind. Almost as if her life was slowed to a crawl just enough that she was hibernating almost.

Great case though. But wouldn't blood have stopped circulating even with a respirator? The brain mediates the heart, so she would have needed some help pumping blood as well, no? Or does a respirator also keep the heart going?

Rigor mortis begins to manifest after about 3 hours after death, and lasts about 72 hours. It then disappears.

Just a thought ........ If she was truly 'dead', all the blood would flow to the lowest points of the body, ie, her back, buttocks etc. Its quite an obvious sign as well as waxing of the skin. I have seen my fair share of the deceased to know.

I agree with Wotan. There's no mention of post-mortem lividity.

Rigor is a matter of the chemistry of the body at the time it shuts down. She was probably loaded with adrenaline, etc., because they were attempting to resuscitate her.

I'd question their equipment as well. I think that hospital needs to be reviewed.

This is definitely a medical curiosity that should be pursued. She may have some answers that can help us advance medicine and redefine death.

reply to post by LLoyd45
Thanks for the confirmation Lloyd.

And thanks to Wotan for the medical info. I'm really wondering what it must be like to wake up to a body in rigor now...

I guess I'll just have to chalk this one up to a miracle.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by SantaClaus
Great case though. But wouldn't blood have stopped circulating even with a respirator? The brain mediates the heart, so she would have needed some help pumping blood as well, no? Or does a respirator also keep the heart going?

You can be brain dead and still have perfectly functioning organs. The brain stem controls all the vital functions, even if higher brain functions have ceased, but life support machines can also help out if the brain can't be arsed.

Originally posted by stumason

Originally posted by SantaClaus
Great case though. But wouldn't blood have stopped circulating even with a respirator? The brain mediates the heart, so she would have needed some help pumping blood as well, no? Or does a respirator also keep the heart going?

You can be brain dead and still have perfectly functioning organs. The brain stem controls all the vital functions, even if higher brain functions have ceased, but life support machines can also help out if the brain can't be arsed.

Right but doesn't the medula oblongata keep the heart moving? Total brain failure should result in a stopped heart, which would lead to no blood flow and the organs would die. Again, no expert or even a student of medicine, so if the MO isn't needed then I was misinformed.

First off let me tell you. CAMC is the worse hospital in the USA> I'm not lying. Trust me!!!! It should be state of the art, or they want you to believe that. But, I lived there all my life. So I know how bad this hospital is. You are not a patient there. You are only a number. That's it.

I almost lost my life and my son's life there given birth even. This is not a nice hospital that cares for its patients.

However, I would say this lady was not dead. Just calmly resting. I don’t know why her fingers or toes would be curled unless its arthritis. Maybe she was in a lot of pain. Who knows.

But, I would say she was not dead but that someone wanted her organs!!!

[edit on 25-5-2008 by Shar]

reply to post by SantaClaus


I suppose that depends on the definition of brain dead. Some of what I've read just points to higher brain functions, others have stated the medulla oblongata also dies, with machines providing total life support. I suppose in that case, blood pressure would be maintained by a cardiac bypass machine.