A woman described how she listened to the life-or-death conversation between the doctors and her husband as she lay in a medically-induced coma after collapsing from a rare condition, the Guillain-Barre syndrome, where the immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system, leaving the brain unable to control muscles.
Jenny Bone, who was feared to have catastrophic brain damage after going into cardiac arrest, recalled her husband John ruling out ending her life.
“I was aware of conversations around me. The most frequent one was being turned in the bed. A familiar “ready, steady, turn” would come from the nurses,” she said.
“However, the most alarming dialogue was between a doctor and my husband inquiring as to my wishes regarding being kept alive on a ventilator and that they were unsure whether my mental ability had been impaired due to lack of oxygen while they were attempting to restart my heart,” she added.
“I was not even responding to a basic reflex test, which is why the doctor thought I was not going to have a chance of recovery,” she explained, expressing her joy that her husband refused to end her life.
While in intensive care Mrs Bone was finally diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. Doctors realized she had a chance of surviving if kept in the coma to allow her body to repair itself. She was given intravenous immunoglobulin and had a plasma exchange.
Shortly after returning home she began taking her five-year-old son, David, to school with the aid of a walking frame. Now, one year on, she is back at work and has completed a 5km charity run, negotiating the course while leaning on a walking stick.