It’s every child’s worst nightmare.
Steven panicked when he found his 45-year-old mother Lyndee totally unconscious in their Arizona home.
He immediately called 911 and Lyndee was rushed to the hospital.
But the doctors were helpless.
According to the Mirror, Lyndee suffered seizures for five days and eventually fell into a coma, where she remained for 12 days.
Lyndee Brown Pellettiere-Swapp with her children (Photo: Facebook)
Lyndee’s husband Steve, daughter Amanda, and son Steven hoped for a miracle.
But the doctors said there was nothing more they could do. Twelve heartbreaking days after this tragic event, her family was advised to turn off her life support.
It’s a decision no family should have to make, but they knew Lyndee wanted to be an organ donor, which made the decision a little easier.
“My family knows that I am an enthusiastic organ donor. When my organs started failing, they made the decision – it was time to make that decision,” Lyndee later explained.
The tough decision was made to pull the plug and honor what the family thought was Lyndee’s wishes.
Lyndee Brown Pellettiere-Swapp with her husband Steve (Photo: Facebook)
One by one, each family member visited Lyndee to say goodbye.
Her family didn’t know, Lyndee heard every word. Because Lyndee wasn’t brain dead.
Although she could not move or speak, she was sometimes aware of what was happening around her – a phenomenon known as being ‘locked in’.
“I remember people talking to me,” Lyndee recalled. “I remember when people came to visit, my niece reading to me.”
Lyndee’s husband was the last one to say goodbye and he whispered to his wife, “You are a fighter. I need you to fight.”
Lyndee, unable to move, let alone talk, was fully aware of what was going on around her. She knew she had to say something to save her own life, but she tried and failed.
Facebook / Lyndee Brown Pellettiere-Swapp
“In my head, what I was saying was very clear, but to them, it wasn’t,” she explained.
And she wanted to stay so much that she was finally able to get a few words out.
“I’m a fighter,” Lyndee whispered.
Her family was shocked.
Stunned, Steve quickly went to get the doctor.
“My husband said, ‘She is doing everything you said she wouldn’t do,’” Lyndee recalled.
Despite all odds and medical predictions, Lyndee was back, awake, and responding, AZ Family reported.
They had just turned off life support and now the beloved mother and wife were alive! It was nothing short of a miracle.
“I looked at her and she just said ‘Hello’ and I fell to my knees,” Lyndee’s daughter Amanda recalled in tears as she described how she melted down after receiving the shock of her life.
Facebook / Lyndee Brown Pellettiere-Swapp
Lyndee was finally able to leave the hospital, but her journey back to a normal life wasn’t going to be easy.
She first had to relearn how to walk and feed herself.
Despite her incredible recovery, she suffered numerous health problems and complications.
“They put me in home health care so I could continue to learn everything,” she said.
She also required four follow-up surgeries and hospitalizations, and she suffered PTSD from the experience.
Four years have passed, but Lyndee Brown Pellettiere-Swapp still has “no answers” as to why she first fell unconscious or how she made such a recovery.
But, there was one thing she was certain of that she needed others to know too.
“Just because you’re not conscious doesn’t mean you can’t hear,” she told CBS 5 Arizona.
Facebook / Lyndee Brown Pellettiere-Swapp
“That’s why you should talk to your loved ones if you are in that situation. They hear you.”
Her experience also left Lyndee’s family with an important message for others.
Everything can be taken away. You can wake up one day and everything is fine, and then your life is a mess.
“Keep your family close and don’t let them go. I don’t take for granted that I get to come home and kiss my mom”, Lyndee’s son Steven said.
“Every day I come home from work and see her and talk to her,” Steven continued.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=535968673273490
What a touching story. If you have a loved one in a coma and on life support remember they may be able to hear you. Tell them how much you love them and they need to fight.
And don’t forget to go and hug your loved ones, and remind others to do the same because you never know when it could be your last chance.
