Stig Broeckx in coma after serious crash involving motorbike

[GJB123]

Totally gutted. So sad to hearths news. One would hope that Stig was due some good luck after the horrible events for him this year.

 

[Jakub]

:-(

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Bad news. It's better to be dead than this condition.

No it's not. Stig is in a continuing vegetative state right now, meaning that recovery into a more conscious state is definitely still possible

He won't be the same as he was before the crash, but there's still hope that he'll be able to live a relatively normal life

 

[Kwibus]

There have been more 'miracles' in the past regarding people that were in a vegetative state for years sometimes. Ofcourse those are mostly exceptions to the rule I'm afraid.

Nevertheless this is just heartbraking news. Gutted... Just gutted....

 

[sir fly]

I thought the accident will develop in more usual way, with induced coma till the point of stability.
Now I hope his fitness will pull him out of unconsciousness.

 

[TMP402]

Such a nice young man.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

There have been more 'miracles' in the past regarding people that were in a vegetative state for years sometimes. Ofcourse those are mostly exceptions to the rule I'm afraid.

Nevertheless this is just heartbraking news. Gutted... Just gutted....

It's only been four weeks since a major trauma to his brain. He's still got decent chances of gaining awareness of his surroundings

 

[Escarabajo]

Bad news.

PremierAndrew, I don't understand gaining consciousness and being aware of the surrounding even though the doctors told us that he is in a vegetative state. Can you explain please?

thanks.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Bad news.

PremierAndrew, I don't understand gaining consciousness and being aware of the surrounding even though the doctors told us that he is in a vegetative state. Can you explain please?

thanks.

Scientiffically really difficult to answer, but afaik most of the people that had a miracle recovery mention being vagely aware of there surroundings.

I've been in an induced coma once and I'm not really sure whether I dreamt or that I just noticed stuff happening around me.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Terrible tragedie with such a young man. Can't think of a worse scenario.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Bad news.

PremierAndrew, I don't understand gaining consciousness and being aware of the surrounding even though the doctors told us that he is in a vegetative state. Can you explain please?

thanks.

So consciousness consists of two things: awareness and wakefulness.

Wakefulness is ability to open your eyes and some basic reflexes, such as swallowing, coughing, sneezing etc.
Awareness requires more mental activity, and includes reflexes such as following moving people/items with your eyes, moving your hand away when subjected to uncomfortably high pressure, etc.

Stig was previously in an induced coma, meaning he wasn't aware nor awake.
When he was then brought out of this induced coma, he entered a vegetative state, meaning that he is now awake, but with limited awareness. It's perfectly normal to be in a vegetative state after having been in a coma.

The problem is usually, the vegetative state is very short, and the person gains awareness, meaning they are now conscious. This is not the case with Stig, who is still in a vegetative state. However, given the impact he must have experienced, a vegetative state after four weeks is understandable, and is known as a continuing vegetative state. This basically just means he experienced a seriously large trauma, but it's still possible to recover.

If he spends over 12 months in a vegetative state, only then would it be known medically as a permanent vegetative state, which is very hard to recover from.

But there's still hope for Stig to gain his reflexes again.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Stig Broeckx in coma after serious crash involving motor

Not looking good. Fingers crossed.

 

[Escarabajo]

Thanks Andrew.

 

[gunara]

Re: Stig Broeckx in coma after serious crash involving motor

Just read the news, and...I haven't really known what to say, I was so stupid thinking he showed encouraging progress just some days ago, maybe I misread some news. Oh, Stig, man..this is horribly heartbreaking...

 

[RedheadDane]

Hope.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/stig-broeckx-remains-in-coma-but-shows-signs-of-recovery/

 

[barmaher]

What a tough period for him and his family. Really sad.

 

[MatParker117]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/more-positive-signs-of-recovery-for-stig-broeckx/

He's awake, he's aware of his surroundings and he has movement in at least one of his arms. Long way to go but this is some very good news.

 

[RedheadDane]

It's amazing.
Sure, it seems like no matter what he'll never be able to return as a rider, but - honestly - I don't really care about that.

 

[Red Rick]

Absolutely. Living a normal life is a lot more important than that. Hopefully he'll regain a lot more function

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/more-positive-signs-of-recovery-for-stig-broeckx/

He's awake, he's aware of his surroundings and he has movement in at least one of his arms. Long way to go but this is some very good news.

Wow. This is great news, I've got tears in my eyes. I expected the worst when I saw this thread had new posts. Really hope he recovers further.

 

[Roku]

Re: Stig Broeckx in coma after serious crash involving motor

Hope he continues to recover. Keep Fighting Stig.

 

[Echoes]

Re: Stig Broeckx in coma after serious crash involving motor

Het Laatste Nieuws is the only newspaper to give news of Stig this morning in the Dutch-Speaking part. The news even was front page.

"Our Son Recognises Us Again"

Stig can react again to stimuli, say his parents:

Via his eyes and his hands, he can answer to short questions and the most beautiful of it all: he can again smile a little bit

The article in Dutch: here and here

"This Smile of His is What We Miss the Most"

Stig's parents run a farm.

His father Peter says:

Since he has been transferred to the revalidation center in Overpelt he's gradually gone out of his vegetative situation and a bit of consciousness came back. Until 2 months ago Stig litterally reacted to nothing. He simply was ... a sleeping boy in his bed who did not show any sign of life. But the doctors said: "If consciousness comes back, you as the closest family will be the first to notice it."

His mother :

The first hope-giving signs we saw in Stig's eyes. One day we realised that his dim coma eyes changed into searching eyes wherein ou had glance again and he can express himself again with his eyes. Closing the eyes once is a "yes", twice is a "no". Another means of communication that they taught him in the revalidation centre is with his right arm. in the meantime he can also move and control it. That way he can put his thumb to say okay and make a fist if something is not okay.

And though these action are slow, at least they are there. It's still unclear what Stig understand from what we all say but he can answer small questions with his eyes and arm and we already see emotions again. Stig cannot use all his facial muscles again but when he's happy we see an attempt to a smile in him. We are so happy about that. Because Stig was known for his smile. This smile of his is what I miss the most. Though he cannot speak yet we have learnt his body language. When in his room Stig points to a photograph of Stien, the 1.5 year old daughter of his sister with a finger of his right arm, then we know that he's asking about this child. Then we take his eye call the other day with us for a visit and we se that he's happy. We also notice this happiness when he sees his girlfriend Tilly. The way he the looks is special. We are full of admiration for our daughter-in-law because she so unconditionally keeps believing in recovery, never loses courage and visits him on a daily basis. How hard it sometimes is for her. She's a fantastic madame and already almost 5 years a perfect match for our Stig.

Neither do father and mother Broeckx miss a visit. His father:

Our days are fully organised around that visit. If there's too much work in the farm, Marie-An [the mother] goes there first and I join her later on but we must have seen him every day. Our two other sons and our daughter visit him whenever they can. We need it all as family. We ry to look as normal as possible with Stig. [Part I cannot translate] We tell him about daily things. About the farm home, about the rest of the family, about Stientje. These are enough incentive to work up. Too many incentives quickly brings chaos in his mind and he then gets uneasy. So we try to avoid that. [...] The therapy that he follows whole day long is already exhausting enough for him and he needs his rest.

His mother:

Stig really needs to learn everything again with his therapy and it's true, the small things that he already does again are keeping us up. Absolutely! But they don't put insecurity away. Because his situation till this very day remains serious. It remains a fact that our son is not mobile again yet, cannot yet fully express himself, is dependent on everything and needs care for everything. I fear the day Stig realises where he's landed in. It does not constantly goes in a progressive line with him either. In recent months, Stig has had three pneumonias and he got so weak from them that for weeks he showed no signs of improvement.

The father:

Stig and only Stig defines the rhythm. of course we hope that it will turn out as best as possible but we don't know what we may expect and we don't even ask the doctors about it. It doesn't even make any sense. We don't even think about what he'll be able to do or not in the future. We can't hope about things that might never come back. We are taking days as they come, are happy with the little signs of improvement, we don't give up and most of all try to stay positive.

The mother:

And of course, we feel impotence for what has been taken away from Stig for whatever the future brings it will never be the same again. There'll always be a "before" and an "after". But resentment doesn't solve anything. Neither does anger. Nor complaining. After the crash we've learnt not to go growling about things you anyway cannot change. Bad weather? bad milk prices? We don't worry about all that anymore. Plus we realise very well that some people have had even worse experiences than we have as family.

The father:

Only now we notice the boards about killed children alongside the road. We didn't think about them before. With Stig's crash we realise that there's a name on it. We realise: "That's the name of somebody's child." We now understand the plight of these people better and that that is so much worse than when you still have your child.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Thanks for the info, Echoes. Great to read

 

[Flamin]

Must be an amazing feeling for his parents. Come on Stig, you can do it.

Btw Echoes, how many newspapers are you subscribed to?

 

[dusty red roads]

Thanks for that, it's so great to read! I wish for his continued recovery!