Overnight, my beloved wife got in a vegetative state. She was assaulted by a passerby for no reason, and as she fell, she hit her head against the floor. When I rushed into the emergency room. the doctor said she could be brain-dead. I thought, would it feel like this at the end of the world? I fell into deep sorrow looking at her relying her life on a life-support device. The doctor suggested to donate organs but I couldn’t jump to a conclusion. Our three children were well growing up and I trusted her that she won’t leave us like this.
I was too hesitant in letting children see the way she was. So finally, a month after my wife was hospitalized, I took my children to the hospital. Our first and second children broke down sobbing and our two-year-old child who didn’t even know what was going on cried along snuggling into mother’s arms.
That’s when a miracle happened. My wife woke up. Her both eyes were still closed, but she was pulling up her patient’s clothes and starting to breastfed the youngest. We all wept together. It was a tear of joy.
Now she is improving day by day. Although her consciousness isn’t perfectly well yet, it is just amazing to see her stroking and taking care of her baby. The miracle that woke her up from a deep sleep was the power of motherhood.
* This is Martin Delgado’s story written in the first-person point of view, which happened in Argentina in 2019.