Can Coma

Not asleep but not yet awake, Brisa Alfaro could hear her doctors' prognosis: She might never walk or talk again, and she may never eat or breathe on her own. Maybe -- just maybe -- she would show involuntary movement, she heard them say. She couldn't ...

Not asleep but not yet awake, Brisa Alfaro could hear her doctors' prognosis: She might never walk or talk again, and she may never eat or breathe on her own. Maybe -- just maybe -- she would show involuntary movement, she heard them say. She couldn't ...

A BRAVE Greenock girl has such a rare metabolic disorder that she could slip into a coma by eating a chicken nugget. Little Kaitlyn Branchfield was diagnosed with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency when she was just 15 months old — a ...

Barry Czeisler, who was one of Alfaro's doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, said locked-in syndrome is a condition that can occur when there is damage to the brain stem, disconnecting the brain from the body. "They can only move their eyes up ...

A BRAVE Greenock girl has such a rare metabolic disorder that she could slip into a coma by eating a chicken nugget. Little Kaitlyn Branchfield was diagnosed with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency when she was just 15 months old — a ...

"Imagine if you're a patient," he said, "you're conscious -- fully aware - and you can hear doctors talking about your current condition and prognosis without knowing you can hear them. Imagine how anxiety provoking that is." Alfaro was in a coma only ...