Sarah Scantlin

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Sarah Scantlin was hit by a drunk driver as she walked through a Hutchinson, Kansas parking lot in 1984. The accident occurred when Scantlin was crossing the street in her hometown of Hutchinson, Kan. Judge Steven Becker of Reno County sentenced the drunken driver Doug Doman, then 22 years old, to a six-month jail term and to pay a hospital visit to Sarah.

Sarah suffered a massive brain injury and could not breathe on her own. Her injuries were so severe, she had to be airlifted to a hospital 45 minutes from their home. The injuries she sustained were critical and the doctors were unsure if she would survive. Her brain was injured so severely Sarah should have died, but did not. Sarah survived. She sustained no internal injuries which they would consider life-threatening. She existed in silence, minimally responsive, subsisting on a feeding tube, unable to do anything for herself. Her adult life was lived inside the walls of Diversicare of Hutchinson. Doctors said she would never wake up again. Sarah lay motionless for several weeks. When her eyes opened she did not seem awake, her expression blank. Not awake, not asleep. Days led to weeks and to months and the years slowly rolled on. SHe speechless, immobile, staring out the same window, and couldn't talk to the people who came to talk to her. She was in a minimally conscious coma-like state for 20 years.

In 2005, she suddenly began communicating. She surprised family, friends, and medical professionals alike when she began speaking. During at least part of her 20-year coma, Scantlin could see, hear and understand what was going on around her. She retained much of her long-term memory but did not comprehend that she was no longer 18-years-old. Time magazine featured her in a 2007 special edition that focused on the brain and the "mysteries of consciousness." In July 2007, she fed herself for the first time in 22 years. Sarah died of respiratory issues and failing blood pressure on May 20, 2016.

Sarah Scantlin

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