A man who was declared brain-dead before his life support was turned off has made an incredible recovery.
61-year-old T. Scott Marr was found lying in his bed, unresponsive but breathing on December 12. He is believed to have suffered a stroke.
Rushed to Methodist Hospital in Omaha, the father-of-four was put into intensive care and was given support for his breathing. His family returned the following day (December 13).
Marr concerned medical staff as he showed no signs of neurological improvement with brain swelling, mainly in the back of his brain.
As reported by The Daily Mail, Dr Rebecca Runge told a press conference it didn’t look good for Marr, explaining:
We were worried in this case that this was not a reversible process and that it was going to proceed to brain death.
With Marr not expected to recover, his family faced a harsh reality and a tough decision.
Marr’s daughter Preston explained her dad had told the family he didn’t want them seeing him ‘lying in a hospital bed’ or ‘lying in a nursing home’, and so they decided to remove him from life support.
She said:
They told us he was on his way to brain death, so we said our goodbyes before extubating him, all the monitors were shut off and we waited by his side.
But Marr kept breathing and continued to do so on his own the next morning when his children returned to the hospital, skipping a scheduled appointment at a funeral home.
Preston explained how her dad was also responsive saying:
I asked him to move his thumbs, and he slowly moved his thumbs, and I asked him to wiggle his toes, and he wiggled all his toes really slightly.
Telling doctors the news, another test was ordered which showed Marr was suffering from a rare condition known as posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, commonly caused by high blood pressure but there are many possible contributing factors.
The swelling Marr experienced is not typical of the syndrome hence why a stroke was originally considered the cause of his hospitalisation.
Following weeks of therapy Marr is now well. His family now call him the ‘miracle man’.
Crediting faith for his survival, Marr said ‘I don’t want to make this into a huge religious thing but I’ll tell you what: It was pretty much a miracle’.
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