AcknowledgmentsI wish to especially acknowledge my dear family for suffering through
the hardest part of this experience, while I was in coma. To Holley, my
wife of thirty-one years, and our wonderful sons, Eben IV and Bond, who
all played central roles in bringing me back, and in helping me
comprehend my experience. Additional dear family and friends to thank
include my beloved parents Betty and Eben Alexander, Jr., and my sisters
Jean, Betsy, and Phyllis, who all participated in a pact (with Holley,
Bond, and Eben IV) to hold my hand 24/7 while I was in coma, assuring
that I always felt the touch of their love. Betsy and Phyllis did yeoman’s
work in spending nights with me during my full-blown ICU psychosis
(when I couldn’t sleep at all, ever) and in those first very tenuous days
and nights after I went to the Neuroscience Step-down Unit. Peggy Daly
(Holley’s sister) and Sylvia White (Holley’s friend of thirty years) were
also part of the constant vigil in my room on the ICU. I never could have
returned without their individual loving efforts to bring me back to this
world. To Dayton and Jack Slye, who did without their mother, Phyllis,
while she was with me. Holley, Eben IV, Mom, and Phyllis also helped in
editing and critiquing my story.
My heaven-sent birth family, and especially my departed sister, also
named Betsy, whom I never met in this world.
My blessed and capable doctors at Lynchburg General Hospital
(LGH), especially Drs. Scott Wade, Robert Brennan, Laura Potter,
Michael Milam, Charlie Joseph, Sarah and Tim Hellewell, and many
more.
The extraordinary nurses and staff at LGH: Rhae Newbill, Lisa
Flowers, Dana Andrews, Martha Vesterlund, Deanna Tomlin, Valerie
Walters, Janice Sonowski, Molly Mannis, Diane Newman, Joanne
Robinson, Janet Phillips, Christina Costello, Larry Bowen, Robin Price,
Amanda Decoursey, Brooke Reynolds, and Erica Stalkner. I was
comatose and had to get names from my family, so forgive me if you
were there and I have omitted your name.