Featured Image Credit: Channel 7 Miami News
Topics: World News, Health, Mental Health
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: World News, Health, Mental Health
'Florida's sleeping Snow White' Edwarda O'Bara said her final words to her mom before falling into a coma for 42 years and then passing away.
On January 3, 1970, Edwarda O'Bara's family rushed her to hospital in Miami, Florida, after the 16-year-old was left 'shaking and in great pain'.
The teenager had previously been diagnosed with diabetes and prescribed oral insulin medication, but falling ill with the flu and experiencing vomiting prevented the medication from being as effective.
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This caused the sugar to build up in her system and she ended up falling unconscious and slipping into a diabetic coma.
Just before she fell unconscious and ended up in a coma for 42 years, Edwarda reportedly told her mom: "Promise you won't leave me."
According to the Miami Herald, her mom replied: "Of course not, I would never leave you, darling, I promise. And a promise is a promise!"
And her family never did, meticulously caring for Edwarda day in, day out over the years.
Her parents read to her, played music, made sure she was turned every two hours, bathed her, gave her insulin and tube fed her - until their 1976 and 2008 deaths, respectively - and after that her sister, Colleen, took over.
Edwarda's story inspired the 2001 book A Promise Is A Promise: An Almost Unbelievable Story of a Mother’s Unconditional Love and What It Can Teach Us and a song called 'My Blessed Child.'
People from around the world traveled to the 'real life Snow White's' home and Miami Herald columnist, Charles Whited claimed in 1983 she woke up and reportedly said 'Hey' two nights in a row, but then she never spoke again.
Her sister told the Herald: "She taught me so much, and I’m talking about now - after she was in the coma. She taught me so much about unconditional love that I couldn’t say I had it before. She taught me about patience that I didn’t have before."
After 42 years in a coma, Edwarda sadly passed away in 2012, her passing announced by her sister.
Colleen wrote: "Yesterday while taking care of Edwarda I noticed her looking directly at me and gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen.
"She then closed her eyes and joined my Mom in Heaven."
A Reddit thread discussing her life paid tribute to her and her family, with one user writing: "I can't imagine how hard it is to hold onto that hope for so long and it to not mean anything in the end. People have been crushed by so much less.
"Nothing but sympathy for a mother who never stopped loving her daughter."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact GrieveWell on (734) 975-0238, or email [email protected].