Brain-injured firefighter's brief awakening
16-hour burst of lucidity after 10 years treasured by family, told in book
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Firefighters waited in the hospital's hallways, the campfire smell of their last call still heavy on their turnout gear. Word had spread quickly among the Buffalo department's ranks. Donny Herbert wasn't doing well.
It was February 2006, but as Linda Herbert watched her husband slip away, it was as if the sun was finally setting on a day that dawned more than a decade earlier.
Four days after Christmas in 1995, Herbert had nearly died in a roof collapse that robbed his brain of oxygen. He was without air for more than six minutes when he was trapped in the attic of a burning house. Colleagues pulled him from the rubble and he survived, but barely.
For most of the next 9 1/2 years, he was minimally conscious, unaware of his surroundings and unable to communicate.
Until one day.
That single day — April 30, 2005 — means everything to Linda Herbert and her family, and it's the subject of a new book.
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For those of you that may have further interest, here is the link to the rest of the story.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22279449/I was touched by this and will no doubt go out and get this book. Just so happens that my son is a Firefighter/EMT.
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Ron
It's the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us the freedom of the press.
It's the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us the freedom of speech.
It's the Soldier, not the politicians
That ensures our right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
It's the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag.
