John Pennington, a resident of the United States, shared his incredible story on Reddit. After spending six months in a coma, he woke up fully conscious. “I woke up thinking I had to go to work,” he wrote on Reddit, where he shared his experience. He believed he had only slept for a few hours and thought he would continue his weekly routine. However, he had been hospitalized for half a year with machines and tubes.
In 2015, he was in a car accident that left him on the verge of death. He and a friend were hit by another car traveling at high speed. “A drunk teenager was driving without headlights. My friend drove through an intersection and never saw the kid coming, who was driving at about 188 km/h in a residential area,” he wrote on Reddit.
Pennington and his friend were rushed to the hospital. When he woke up, his arms and legs were tied to the bed. He started to panic before realizing he was in a hospital. He pressed the nurse’s call button, and the nurse who entered the room was surprised to see him awake. She started to cry and ran out of the room. She came back after a few minutes and apologized, explaining that he had been in a coma due to a brain injury.
Pennington also learned that his father had committed suicide while he was in a coma. His father was struggling with personal and family problems, including his other daughter’s drug addiction. “Losing my father was the hardest thing. Not the car, not my house, not my computer, but my dad,” he said.
Pennington underwent a rehabilitation program called the Nevada Community Enrichment Program for two years. “There I learned to function again as an adult while dealing with the disabilities that come with a traumatic brain injury,” he said. Despite his health problems, Pennington considers himself lucky and a fighter who never gives up.