Good morning, Jan!

June 2, 2007 8:41 PM

65-year-old Jan Grzebski, hit by a train in 1988, awoke recently from a 19 year coma to find that communism is no longer the order of the day in his native Poland. Oh, and he also found that during his little nap, his 4 children had given him 11 grandchildren. Now, Jan's wasn't the world's longest coma (apparently 37 years is the record) although that person, er, never woke up. Canadian Anne Shapiro, on the other hand, woke up after 30 years to find, well, a few things changed.
posted by flapjax at midnite (20 comments total)

God bless his wife:

"Mrs. Grzebski is reported to have moved her husband every hour to prevent bed sores. 'I cried a lot, and I prayed a lot,' Mrs. Grzebski said...'Those who came to see us kept asking: when is he going to die? But he's not dead.'"

True, true love and commitment.posted by ericb at 8:54 PM on June 2, 2007 [3 favorites]

Seconding the praise for his wife's commitment to caring for him.
posted by amyms at 8:59 PM on June 2, 2007

Sounds like they stole the plot from Goodbye Lenin.

Good movie.
posted by kiltedtaco at 9:06 PM on June 2, 2007

The ICE... is gonna BREAK!
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 9:14 PM on June 2, 2007

Wow...

To sleep through so much of your life and wake to grandchildren...

Fate's pretty wyrd...
posted by taosbat at 10:28 PM on June 2, 2007

For two years, Shapiro was totally paralysed with her eyes wide open, a condition known as "Dolls Eyes". Her husband, Martin, then 51, put drops into her eyes every two hours around the clock to prevent them drying out, and went on to do it for the 30 years she slept.

Um. Wow.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 10:57 PM on June 2, 2007

Taping people's eyes shut is very difficult (mine won't stay shut that way), but you'd think someone would have built something to, say, blow moist air over her eyes so the guy could get some uninterrupted sleep.

I know they have DNRs, but do they have anything like, "Look, if it's over two months, or a prolonged Glasgow of under seven, just get Dr. Jack to show up and rig something so it'll look accidental"? Personally, I think I'd feel horribly guilty just ... laying there and sucking up people's lives. I guess it's heartening for some people, but I plan on checking out as soon as I'm no longer able to care for myself. I hate the thought of a spouse and kids with their lives more or less on hold, waiting for me to get on with it.
posted by adipocere at 11:03 PM on June 2, 2007

That guy has been asleep the entire time I have been alive.

I have nothing to add, but I mean, that really puts the whole thing in perspective for me. Every day that I've experienced, this guy has not.

Jeez.

Welcome back.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 12:37 AM on June 3, 2007 [6 favorites]

Seeing both of these patients express how much better their surroundings became in their absence is a nice contrast to the more common theme in movies/ficion about waking up into a dystopia (even if you've only been in the coma a few months, as in the movie 28 Days Later).

The article quotes the Polish man: "What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning. I've got nothing to complain about."
posted by allterrainbrain at 3:33 AM on June 3, 2007

That guy has been asleep the entire time I have been alive

That's a nice way of putting it.
posted by hadjiboy at 4:41 AM on June 3, 2007

I, too, am more amazed by the dedication shown by loved one's diligence and patience. I don't know that I would be able to do it.
posted by absalom at 6:53 AM on June 3, 2007

How wrecked are you after a 10-year plus coma?
posted by smackfu at 7:16 AM on June 3, 2007

Poland has changed so much, he must feel like he is living in a different world.
posted by fire&wings at 7:18 AM on June 3, 2007

Sometimes I feel like I've been asleep the entire time I've been alive.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:23 AM on June 3, 2007

I know this is hugely crass and cynical of me but, when I see stories like this one, I can't help but think about what their medical bill would look like here in the states.

There is no way an insurer here in the US wouldn't quickly find a loophole in order to drop the coverage somewhere along the line.

On a brighter note...Bless his wife. That's what a real marriage is all about, folks.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:31 AM on June 3, 2007

It's easy to stay married when one side isn't doing anything annoying. Plus you can cheat on them with impunity.
posted by smackfu at 7:46 AM on June 3, 2007

It's easy to stay married when one side isn't doing anything annoying.

I posit that some might find sleeping for years on end more than a little annoying.
posted by psmealey at 8:27 AM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]

Despite being the type of human interest story that any local newspaper would love to run, the Anne Shapiro saga is suspiciously absent from the web. Googling "Anne Shapiro" and "coma" turns up just seven hits - basically nothing other than the Jamaica Observer story and a passing reference in a Maxim article (where she is described as a Florida woman).

As a result, I'm inclined to believe it was made up. Semi-clever and wholly lazy journalist cranks out a story nicely matched to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination (witnessing which on TV supposedly being the catalyst for her coma). Nice easy to grasp elements: enduring love vs relentless passage of time, oh how our society has changed, etc etc.
posted by senor biggles at 11:21 AM on June 3, 2007

Also, hip replacement and cataract operations on a comatose woman? A nationwide apron shop franchise?

A little digging turned up some more hits, including sceptical Freepers and Jehovah's Witnesses, both of which groups saw it as a hoax around the time of the Terry Schiavo case. Others note that the byline "Ron Laytner" seems to be associated with junk news.
posted by senor biggles at 11:40 AM on June 3, 2007

Well, Reba did make a TV movie called Forever Love. It's said to be based on a real story -- but not even Variety seems to know which one. I couldn't find anything confirming the story in mainstream media in or out of Canada.
posted by dhartung at 7:21 PM on June 3, 2007