Woman wakes up from five-year coma by laughing at her mom’s joke
A mom has spoken out after her daughter woke up from a five-year coma laughing at one of her jokes.
After being involved in a horrific car crash on 25 September 2017, Jennifer Flewellen from Niles, Michigan was rushed to hospital and ended up in a coma at the age of 35.
The now-41-year-old remained in a coma for four years and 11 months, however, on 25 August 2022, she woke up with her mom, Peggy Means, by her side.
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Flewellen had been driving along the M139 in Niles when she ended up colliding with a utility pole.
Paramedics found her unconscious and she was rushed to hospital where she ended up in a coma, her mom telling WNDU at the time that doctors didn't 'expect her to wake up'.
"We were told all along that she has anoxia and that the brain damage, she’ll never wake up, but you never say never," she said.
Indeed, despite doctors' concerns, Flewellen defied the odds and woke from her coma nearly five years on and the moment occurred just after her mom told her a joke.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Means reveals she realised her daughter was beginning to wake up out of her coma because in response to her joke, she began to laugh.
The mom reflected how hearing her daughter laugh 'scared' her 'at first' because she'd 'never done that' before.
However, Means continued: "Every dream came true. Today's the day I said, 'That door that was closed, that kept us apart, had just opened. We were back'."
She notes Flewellen 'didn't completely' wake up as a result of the joke as she 'couldn't speak' still, but the mom explains her daughter 'was nodding' which was an amazing sign.
Since then, Flewellen has been getting 'stronger,' so much so she was able to go to her son's football game in October last year.
And Means hopes her daughter will be back to speaking and walking again soon, the family having since started a GoFundMe to help cover the expenses needed to help Flewellen recover both while she's at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and in the future.
The GoFundMe details plans to get a handicap van which could help Flewellen travel to appointments, therapy and getting 'back out in the world after being confined to a bed for years'.
It adds: "We also would try and make her home more accessible for handicap as a bathroom remodel would be first and foremost. She has been home for several months now and you take for granted how easy it is to just get in the shower.
"She has and is continuing to amaze so many people in her journey to recovery and its not stopping now regardless just trying to make it easier."
Poppy Bilderbeck