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.
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Thanks!
GP Blanco said:Bad news. It's better to be dead than this condition.
Kwibus said: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....
Escarabajo said: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.
Escarabajo said: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.
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.MatParker117 said: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.
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
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.