ReadersDigestAustraliaNewZealand-April2018

April• 2018 | 53

READER’S DIGEST

his corner?Ablink.

First line?Two blinks.

his letter?Tw o bl i n k s.

Second line?Blink.

his letter?Tw o bl i n k s.

Everyword,slowlyspelledout.

Astoughasthedayswere,the

nights, after his family had gone

home, were hell. he staf didn’t use

theboard,norweretheyconstantly

around to take care of his every

need. Trapped, Richard was alone

andscared.Fluidsbuiltupinhis

throat,chokinghim,andnoonewas

aroundtosuctionthemoutforhim.

Hisroommateheardhimstruggling

tobreatheandusedhiscallbuttonto

get the nurses to help.

When his family arrived one morn-

ing,Richardlookedwildlyatthelet-

ter board. Slowly, he made his wishes

known:Get me out of here.

Days later, his wife moved him to a

hospital closer to their home. Physical

andoccupationaltherapistsstarted

to work with him more aggressively,

trying to get his body to function

fully again.

Days passed.

here’s no returning to normal.

hen weeks.

Hardest thing I’ve done in my life.

Then one day it happened –

Richardmovedthebigtoeonhis

leftfoot.Twoweekslater,hemoved

hisheadfromsidetoside.Dayslater,

hewiggledafoot.Afteranotherday

ortwohadpassed,hecouldshake

his legs. His family members cried,

With Liliana by his side, doctors

explainedthatRichardsuferedfrom

‘locked-in syndrome’, meaning he

wasliterallylockedinhisbody.

They asked him questions: blink

onceforyes,twiceforno.Ittookan

extraordinaryefortforRichardtoget

hiseyestowork.

Upto70percentofpeoplediag-

nosedwiththesyndromediewithin

a short period of time. Of those who

do survive, only a handful recover

enough to lead a normal life.

Butbeforehecouldevenhopefor

such an outcome, Richard would

have to endure new terrors.

R

ICHARD WAS MOVEDfrom

the ICU to a hospital where

specialists would let his body

decide the course of the treatment.

Becausehecouldnotswallow,doc-

torsperformedatracheotomy,mak-

ing an incision in his windpipe and

inserting a tube so Richard could

breathe and nurses could suction out

thesalivathatwouldotherwisedrain

into his lungs.

Horrible. But they know I’m here.

To he l p R ic h a r d c om mu n ic a t e

more easily, Liliana bought a letter

boardforthefamilytoholdinfrontof

him. he board had four quadrants,

each containing several lines with

ive letters in each line, and an empty

boxinthemiddletowritehismes-

sagein.Richardwouldlookatthe

board.Hisfamilywouldhavetofol-

low his eyes to the correct quadrant.