Snow White from Florida and her sad tale: how an American spent 42 years in a coma
'01.05.2021'
Source: Rambler
Medicine knows many amazing cases. Rambler will tell about one of them. This girl was nicknamed Snow White from Florida, although her tale turned out to be sad.
Edward O'Bara was born on March 27, 1953 in Pennsylvania, Johnstown. Her father Joe became a physical education teacher after World War II, where he served in the Marine Corps. Her mother, Katherine, worked as a math teacher. She also had a younger sister, Colin. Edward was named after her maternal grandfather who was mayor of Johnstown. Already at the age of 15, she was distinguished by her beauty, but she was going to connect her life with medicine, she wanted to become a pediatrician.
On December 20, 1969, Eduarda fell ill with pneumonia. For two weeks, her condition deteriorated continuously. On January 3, 1970, the girl complained of terrible pain due to insulin, which was not absorbed into the bloodstream, and fell into a diabetic coma. Before that, she asked her mother not to leave her. And Katherine kept her promise.
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At first, the family hoped that Edward would wake up. Parents quit and faithfully looked after their daughter. They fed her through a probe, read, talked, turned on the music. When it became clear that there was no hope of an early healing, and it became more and more difficult to pay bills, my father got three jobs right away. Such a regime brought him to a heart attack and in 1976 he died.
Mother continued caring for Eduarda until her death in 2008. By this time, the total amount of the family's debts was more than 200 thousand dollars. Catherine was repeatedly asked to disconnect Edward from life support. But she believed that this would be a betrayal in relation to her daughter. Until the end of her life, she believed in a miracle.
An amazing story of dedication and self-sacrifice made the O'Bar family famous throughout America. They were visited by thousands of guests, some believed that touching Edward heals many diseases. Later, writer Wayne Dyer dedicated the book "A Promise Is A Promise" to this story.
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After the death of her mother, Edward was looked after by her sister Colin. On November 21, 2012, Snow White Florida died at the age of 59. Colin said this on a personal website that they created in support of Eduard. She also said that before her death, her sister smiled.
In a coma, Eduard O'Bar spent 42 years, longer than any other patient, and entered the history of medicine.
