The post Man Declared Brain Dead Wakes Up Just Before They Harvest His Organs appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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A 28-year-old Navy veteran who had been declared brain dead after a traumatic injury awoke and began responding to simple commands just as his family prepared for organ donation and his funeral.
The crazy situation is what relatives are calling a miracle that preserved his life.
Ethan Preseau collapsed while moving into a new home with his girlfriend, Piper Wade, in Pensacola Beach. She found him lifeless, attempted CPR, and called 911. Paramedics arrived quickly and rushed him to Baptist Hospital.
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Doctors diagnosed a heart infection and traumatic brain injury. A brain MRI showed the thalamus as “black and dead,” leading physicians to declare him brain dead. His family initially had no hope for recovery.
Wade asked doctors to give him a fighting chance and wait 10 days before removing life support. During that time, the family made funeral arrangements, including folding the American flag in recognition of his military service.
Organ donation had been arranged according to Preseau’s prior wishes, though it could only proceed if his heart stopped within an hour of being unplugged.
On the tenth day, the family took part in an honor walk at the hospital and said their goodbyes as life support was disconnected and preparations advanced for what would have been organ harvesting.
After briefly leaving the hospital, they received a call to return. Upon returning, Preseau had awakened.
He followed his father’s movements with his eyes, smiled, stuck out his tongue on command, raised his arm, squeezed his father’s fingers, and attempted a thumbs-up. The two nurses who witnessed the moment had participated in the honor walk moments earlier.
Jeffrey Preseau described the scene: “When we walked in and saw that, I immediately got the nurse. … And he’s like, ‘Well, maybe he’s just doing this movement, you know, from this and that.’ And it was so funny. He came in. He’s like, ‘Ethan, Ethan, stick your tongue out for me.’ And he goes and stuck his tongue out and he turned and looked at me and his eyes was the size of silver dollars. And he’s like, ‘Hold on, I got to go get two nurses to witness this.’ So the two nurses he got were two of the nurses that did the honor walk with us. And he came in, asked him the same thing, stick out his tongue, and they started crying. They’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a miracle.’”
Stepmother Denice Preseau recalled the earlier prognosis: “When they did the brain MRI, the MRI showed that the thalamus was black and dead. So we had absolutely no hope.”
The family has described the sudden change as a miracle.
“We have witnessed a miracle! God obviously has more in store for Ethan, Piper and their newly bonded family,” they stated.
Preseau is now smiling, laughing at jokes, and responding to commands.
Doctors say recovery will be a long, slow process. He is expected to transfer to a specialty rehabilitation facility for traumatic brain injuries.
Jeffrey Preseau said of the road ahead: “It’s going to be a long, slow process for recovery, but we’ll take what we get. All of us are patient right now and we’re just trying to do little visits at the hospital and let him get his sleep so he can strengthen. But yeah, he’s doing his commands and stuff and it’s just, it’s unbelievable.”
By insisting on additional time despite the brain death declaration, the family gave Preseau the opportunity to awaken before organ harvesting could take place.
What medical staff had prepared as a final farewell instead became the start of his recovery.
The post Man Declared Brain Dead Wakes Up Just Before They Harvest His Organs appeared first on LifeNews.com.
