Jesus Creed
Sam Schmid, an Arizona college student believed to be brain dead and poised to be an organ donor, miraculously recovered just hours before doctors were considering taking him off life support.
Schmid, a junior and business major at the University of Arizona, was critically wounded in an Oct. 19 five-car accident in Tucson.
The 21-year-old’s brain injuries were so severe that the local hospital could not treat him. He was airlifted to the Barrow Neurological Instituteat St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix, where specialists performed surgery for a life-threatening aneurysm.
As hospital officials began palliative care and broached the subject of organ donation with his family, Schmid began to respond, holding up two fingers on command. Today, he is walking with the aid of a walker, and his speech, although slow, has improved.
Doctors say he will likely have a complete recovery. He even hopes to get a day pass from the hospital to celebrate the holidays with his large extended family.
“Nobody could ever give me a better Christmas present than this — ever, ever, ever,” said his mother, Susan Regan, who is vice-president of the insurance company Lovitt-Touche.
“I tell everyone, if they want to call it a modern-day miracle, this is a miracle,” said Regan, 59, and a Catholic. “I have friends who are atheists who have called me and said, ‘I am going back to church.'”
Schmid’s doctor, renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Spetzler, agreed that his recovery was miraculous.
“I am dumbfounded with his incredible recovery in such a short time,” said Spetzler. “His recovery was really remarkable considering the extent of his lethal injuries.”…
For days Schmid didn’t seem to be responding, but what puzzled his doctor was that he did not see fatal injuries on the MRI scan. So he decided to keep Schmid on life support longer.
“There was plenty wrong — he had a hemorrhage, an aneurysm and a stroke from the part of the aneurysm,” Spetzler said. “But he didn’t have a blood clot in the most vital part of his brain, which we know he can’t recover from. And he didn’t have a massive stroke that would predict no chance of a useful existence.”
So while the family was given a realistic picture of Schmid’s poor chances for survival, Spetzler ordered one more MRI to see if the critical areas of the brain had turned dark, indicating brain death…
The MRI came back with encouraging news during the day and by evening Schmid “inexplicably” followed the doctors’ commands, holding up two fingers.
“It was like fireworks all going off at the same time,” said Spetzler.
Today, Schmid — his speech clear and sounding upbeat — told ABCNews.com, “I feel fine. I’m in a wheelchair, but I am getting lots of help.”
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In