Mom Slips into Coma at 34 Weeks Pregnant, Still in Coma 5 Years after Son's Birth
Sean and Heather Brown first met on a blind date. And although Sean was hesitant at first, the two immediately clicked.
Nearly one month after that dinner date, the pair decided to move in together. They were married the following year.
“We would stay up until the wee hours talking, and about a month later, we moved in with each other,” Sean, 38, said. “We got married the following year. I guess she was willing to put up with me for the rest of her life.”
When the Browns decided it was time to make their family bigger, however, they struggled for over seven years to conceive.
But finally, in 2012, they learned that they were pregnant with a beautiful baby boy.
“We wanted this so badly,” Sean said. “Doctors told her that she would never be fertile, so when we got the great news, it didn’t sink in at first. We were in awe and shock.”
Sean went away to serve with the National Guard in Afghanistan, and soon Heather was 34 weeks pregnant.
One day, she went into the hospital with a headache and back pain. But out of nowhere, Heather began to have seizures as a result of a massive brain bleed.
Doctors were forced to perform an immediate C-section. Heather soon slipped into a coma and the baby was taken to a neighboring hospital’s NICU for care.
Later that night, Sean received an email from Heather’s aunt. After talking with her on the phone, he raced to get back home.
“I hitchhiked on different planes to get home,” he said. “It took three days, but I finally got to them.”
After those three days without communication, Sean arrived and was given a police escort to the hospital.
He first visited his newborn baby, John Michael Thomas Brown, and recalled the bittersweet moment he held him for the first time.
He then went to his wife’s side, where doctors told him she may never recover from the coma.
After a year in the hospital, she came home. Gradually, Heather showed signs of progress and continues to today.
In recent years, Heather has made efforts to speak and move extremities at will.
Sean has posted videos of her improvements on a Facebook page dedicated to the family’s recovery.
John, now 5 years old, loves spending time by Heather’s side and longs for the day that his mother can finally get to know him.
And while the future is uncertain, the Brown family is relying on prayers and hope that Heather will pull through.
“But we know our God is in the business of miracles,” the Facebook page says. “We believe through the power of prayer, Heather will wake up, and we believe this Brown is coming home, too.”
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