Posted: 16:09, 3 April 2022 | Updated: 16:23, 3 April 2022
A man from Arkansas who miraculously woke up after being in a coma for 19 years after a near-fatal car accident in 1984 that left him paralyzed, has died. Terry Wayne Wallis, 57, who rose to fame as “the man who slept for 19 years”, died Tuesday surrounded by friends and relatives at Advanced Care Hospital in Searcy, just a week before his 58th birthday. The cause of death was not immediately known. Wall Flat, from Big Flat, was involved in a horrific car accident just six weeks after the birth of his daughter, Amber, in July 1984. At the time, he was driving to Stone County before his truck slipped off a bridge and sank into a creek, killing a passenger. It was later found that he did not react and his truck, which had overturned in a dry riverbed, fell into a railing fence after falling almost 25 feet. The accident left the father of a quadriplegic in a coma. After surviving an almost fatal car accident in July 1984, Terry Wayne Wallis woke up 19 years later in 2003, before dying on Tuesday. Pictured: Family photo of Terry Wallis, 57, and his wife Sandra in March 1984. When Wallis woke up 19 years after a horrific car accident, he asked for his mother and his favorite drink – milk. Within a year of the accident, Wallis’s coma had stabilized, a condition that doctors believed was permanent. Contrary to all medical expectations, Wallis woke up in 2003 and asked his mother for his favorite drink. What started out as simple words like “milk” and “mom” evolved into whole sentences, until Wallis finally regained his ability to speak completely after his brain was reconnected from the near-fatal crash. He even regained the ability to move certain parts of his body, although he was permanently disabled from the injuries from the accident. The Wallis family described his awakening as a “miracle” at the time and was overwhelmed with emotion by Wallis’ recovery against all odds. Wallis appears in a 1979 archive photograph provided by the Wallis family in Marshall, Arkansas. Wallis, who was in a coma from a car accident in 1984, began talking and communicating in June 2003. Wallis, left, talking to his mother, Angilee Wallis, right. One’s father regained his speech and movement three years after waking up to “spontaneous re-wiring of his brain.” The issue of intense media coverage, Wallis referred to as “The man who slept for 19 years” by news agencies It was believed that the unwavering support and care of his loved ones helped Wallis get out of the coma. He was the subject of considerable media coverage and was referred to as the “Man who slept for 19 years” in newspapers and medical articles. After scanning his brain at Weil Cornell Medical Center in New York, the hypothesis was developed that “his brain reconnected the neurons that remained intact and formed new connections to bypass the damaged areas.” According to his obituary, Wallis “… enjoyed eating anything at any time … he enjoyed listening to live music … [and] it was a great teaser. ” He also “loved to drink Pepsi” and had a “great sense of humor”. Wallis was survived by his wife Sandi, Amber’s daughter and grandparents. His devoted mother, Angilee, died in 2018.
