Four Hours Before the Hospital Planned to Turn Off Her Ventilator, She Woke Up

International   |   Dave Andrusko   |   Feb 2, 2015   |   6:48PM   |   London, England

On December 12, 56-year-old Teri Roberts fell ill with flu-like symptoms which quickly turned serious.

Admitted to the hospital, the grandmother-of-five “was diagnosed with Group A streptococcus, which led to toxic shock syndrome,” The Daily Mail reported. Her condition steadily worsened.

“Her limbs turned black and developed gangrene, her face often contorted in pain, blisters started to erupt all over her body and her kidneys and liver began to fail,” Sophie Jane Evans reported for Daily Mail Online. “She was placed on dialysis.”

By December 21, doctors were telling the family there was no hope. According to a GoFundMe page set up to help Teri with her recovery, they delivered the news to Mrs. Roberts’s friends and family. Evans wrote

They gave her relatives a choice: Amputate her limbs or remove the ventilator and let her slip away in a hospice. After hours of emotion-fueled talks, Ryan and his father, Kent, decided to pull the plug.

But just hours before they planned to discontinue treatment, Mrs. Roberts’ eyes slowly opened. “She just magically woke up. Literally four hours before we moved to take her off life support,” said her son, Ryan.

teriroberts

However, her miraculous awakening is only half of Mrs. Roberts’ remarkable story.

Click here to sign up for daily pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com

A key part of the family’s decision making appeared to be not just that she might be in a coma indefinitely, but “how she would feel about living a life as a quadruple amputee,” Evans wrote (assuming she would awake).

Ryan’s father actually called him with the news that mom had awakened. Ryan told Evans, “He said, ‘Mom woke up. She doesn’t want to be with Andrea yet [a daughter who was brutally murdered in 2013]. She doesn’t care if she loses her hands and feet.’”

According to various accounts, including the GoFundMe page and the Daily News, Mrs. Roberts is already hard at work.

“Now, she is on the long road to recovery,” Evans wrote. “She will shortly be transferred from hospital to a rehabilitation center, where she will embark on a rigorous program to rebuild her strength.”

Ryan added, “She says she will walk again and she will drive.”

Likewise, according to the GoFundMe page, Mrs. Roberts “is working her way back,” adding, “Teri has gone from feeding thru IV’s to eating small bites of hamburger which helped increase her strength. Her response to her amputations?

“I’m just letting the other people finally catch up to me.

Which adds rich context to Ryan’s observation:

“I gave up on my mom, and she didn’t give up on herself.”

LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared at National Right to Life News Today.