Asleep for months in a coma, the time during which her child was prematurely delivered, 20-year-old Sharista Giles woke up and got a glance at her baby boy.
After a car accident left Sharista in a coma, doctors told the family that the woman, then five months pregnant, would never wake up. The doctors gave up hope, but the family never did, said Beverly Giles, her mother.
"The doctors were telling us there was nothing else they could do," said Beverly.
Sharista's son, "Baby L," was delivered in January while Sharista was still in the coma. He is now up to six pounds and four ounces after weighing just two pounds at birth.
Although Sharista has awoken, it is still too early to determine her prognosis. There have been some encouraging signs, as she squeezed a relative's hands and her eyes briefly locked onto a picture of her son.
In other news, a comatose man awakened months after his wife defied medical advice and kept him on life support. The man was involved in a motorcycle accident in 2010, and the doctors said he would never wake up.
His wife of just seven months at the time took him to her mother's house and cared for him.
"If we've got to bring him home, let's make sure he has the best view in the world," the wife said in recalling a conversation with her mother. "If he's going to be a body in a bed, let's give him something to look at."
The man eventually woke up from the coma, and his wife has started to rehab him. There were some concerns that his personality had been lost, but his response to a question about a meal offered his wife some reassurance.
"I kid you not, he says, 'buffalo chicken wrap from Cheddar's,'" she said, pointing out that it was a favorite of his. "We all whipped around because we all knew what he said."
The man continues to rehab and is thankful for his wife.
"I'm sure glad I married her," said.
