Every year, several thousand Poles fall into a cerebral coma without regaining consciousness even for several years. Meanwhile, progressing medical knowledge shows that the vast majority of people, whose condition was considered hopeless, remain conscious and even try to break through the imprisoned body to us in order to let us know about their needs and make contact.
The problem is that the healthcare system washes their hands on patients who have been saved and remain in a vegetative state. The family struggles with the burden of caring for the sick. Often without knowledge and preparation, without support and financial help, in situations where loved ones could be helped, but no one knows how and there is no money. This is euthanasia in white gloves, do not hide the caretakers of sleepers.
On May 15, 2006, in the afternoon, Elżbieta Dyks from Bydgoszcz was sitting in the small kitchen of her apartment block. She was lighting a cigarette. My husband, Janusz, was watching TV in his room. The only son, twenty-year-old Jarek, went with the girl to a friend.
Suddenly I heard some wild screams. I looked out the window. I saw a horde of young people running through the yard. Janusz, there’s a bustle on the estate !, I ran into my husband. I grabbed the phone to call Jarek. My son always got calls from me. This time he didn’t …
While Elżbieta and Janusz nervously ran down the stairs to see what was happening, Jarek was lying in a pool of blood right next to the allotments, just a few hundred meters from his apartment block. One of the hooligans was kicking his shoe with the last kick. The boy’s face was distorted by numerous blows, he gasped. Within a dozen or so seconds, nine blockers from the adjacent housing estate stuck his head off. With a shoe and bare fists, they deliberately hit the skull and face to make the victim unconscious.
Before Janusz reached his son, the perpetrators scattered around the area, but there were enough witnesses for the police to identify the perpetrators.
– Jarek came to me for rehabilitation seven and a half months after the event – says Dr. Stanisław Krajewski – He had a quadriplegia and very increased muscle tension leading to an unnatural position of the trunk and limbs, no physiological reflexes, and excessive pathological reflexes. He was lying, without contact (trace reactions to what is happening in the surroundings), the inability to direct my eyes and keep my eyes on the observed object, he gave the impression of being blind to me. However, I knew from the peasant’s parents that this was not always the case. From the beginning, they had shown a superhuman determination to get their son fit again. When we met, they entrusted me with Jarek with confidence and hope that I will help him. No pressure or expectation of a miracle. They started working with me, which after five years resulted in who Jarek is now. What he can do, how he communicates. The boy, who could be expected to fall into a long-term vegetative state, began to breathe on his own, swallow food, and communicate with the environment. In his own way, he is back.
After just a month in the hospital, Jarek started sending signals that he could hear me – says Ela. – I distinguished between the phases of sleep and wakefulness. Jarek opened his eyes and tried to follow his gaze. He was disconnected from the food court, catheter, respirator. He could breathe on his own, tried to eat from a spoon. The hematomas in the brain are reabsorbed. I remember how he fixed his eyes on me … But then came the crash. High fever. Doctors tried unsuccessfully to choose the right antibiotic and diagnose the focus of the infection.
Only after some time did we find out that our son had caught sepsis in the hospital. That it was because of her that he almost died again – says the boy’s father. Unfortunately, the sepsis was followed by a devastating setback. The son again fell into a deep coma. We’ve lost contact with him. What he had achieved in the first month after the accident was lost.
– If the problem concerns the brain, the first minutes and hours are the most important (there are talk of golden minutes after a stroke, but this also applies to an injury) – explains Dr. Stanisław Krajewski. – This is the starting point for what will happen next. Of course, it is also important what happens later, whether there are complications. Sometimes the initial state gives hope, followed by epilepsy, hydrocephalus or sepsis, which can ruin everything. Older rehabilitation textbooks give certain dates when something can be achieved. Today, it is rather abandoned, because practice has contradicted it.
To this day, I rehabilitate a patient who was in a coma for several months after a stroke, and after four years I managed to teach him how, with the help of his wife, he can transfer to a pram and go back to bed. I wanted to let go. However, after another year, he could walk a kilometer on two crutches in an hour (with rests, of course). These are great little miracles. Situations that restore hope and mobilization. When the impossible becomes possible, even if outwardly, for a healthy mower, for a man who has never dealt with a person in an apalic state, it seems like an insignificant achievement.
– Before their relatives realize that their beloved child, husband, maybe mother, or brother after a brain injury and a coma will never be the same, it takes a long time – says Ela. – The first stage is displacement. Man does not allow himself to think that it will never be like it used to be. I, in this first stage, discovered the power of the Titan within myself. I believed that my efforts, prayers, determination and total dedication to Jarek would restore his fitness and health. Now that 6 years have passed since the brutal beating, I know that something has passed forever, that it will not happen again, but my son survived and I can see how much effort it takes to be what he is today. That he makes this enormous effort for us because he loves us.
– Man will never really be reconciled to the end. I tried to process this trauma somehow, to sort it out rationally, but how to rationally explain the fact that in one moment you see your only healthy child, when he leaves the apartment, smiles, throws a perfunctory ata, and in a few minutes you try to bring him back to life? because a bunch of kids decide to torture him. For no reason. Without hesitation and aimlessly. With premeditation. That with this unimaginable act of bestiality, not only your and the tortured child’s life changes, but the whole family, friends and acquaintances – adds Janusz.
Ela and Janusz are over 50. After her son’s accident, Ela went on a pension. Janusz receives PLN 540 of care allowance for my son. They both look after Jarek day and night. They are afraid for the future that they will lose their strength over the years.
– For six years we have not lived to make amends for the harm done to our son. It took four years for the court to convict the perpetrators – says Ela. – Three of them went to prison for several years. Two received suspended sentences. Ridiculously low. Two of the most brutal perpetrators, including the son of a policeman, managed to flee the police abroad. Only my private investigation led to the capture of one of them in Braunschweig. I wonder who is protected by the law in our country – the victim of a crime or a criminal? The justice system that I trusted has failed me. We are currently fighting for compensation in court. We have huge debts, we live from day to day. No foundation wants to financially support such an old man (Jarek will turn 26 in August). I would like to spend the compensation on the treatment and further rehabilitation of my son, but I am afraid that I will never see this money with my eyes. I am asking what shall we do when the harder days and years come? When will we get older? When will our son live to be thirty or forty? Will they lock him up in some facility where he will die forgotten? Or maybe throw Jarek to the train in advance?
– A comatose person can live for many years. It depends on the vegetative state, i.e. how well the body is coping with basic life functions. It is then important to prevent complications of the respiratory and urinary systems, because the most common causes of death in such people are pneumonia and kidney failure – says Dr. Stanisław Krajewski.
– Daily concern for completely elementary matters is also extremely important – hygiene, nutrition, watering, paying attention to any disorders, symptoms indicating health problems. It is also necessary to build and deepen understanding and cooperation with the relatives of the patient who are based on non-verbal contact and are able to learn a lot from their relatives. This is the foundation on which the rest can be built.
– On the other hand, erroneous and repetitive behavior involves the use of various healers. I have been working in the profession for 26 years, I have seen hundreds of sick people who have benefited from the help of such people and I have not seen a single case where this helps. I do not condemn these people (parents and guardians) because I do not know what I would do if I was in their shoes, when medicine did not give me hope for a cure. Another problem is the equipment that is bought (or obtained) to be helpful in dealing with the sick person. There are quite a few missed purchases. Sometimes these are inevitable mistakes, because you have to try first to see if it will work.
Rehabilitation costs are also a serious challenge, and they are enormous. Holidays – from a few to several thousand in a month. Home rehabilitation under the National Health Fund is insufficient, and the rates for privately performed procedures – depending on the city – range from several dozen to several dozen zlotys. Fortunately, there is quite a lot of funding for hygiene and orthopedic supplies. Many types of equipment are available for free. But even so, if you want to provide the patient with everything he needs, it is an annual expenditure of several dozen thousand zlotys.
The family fights for compensation for Jarek Dyks. The situation seems hopeless. The civil law route allows for efforts, but it may be difficult to collect money from the perpetrators. In such cases, the perpetrators often show a lack of property and income. They don’t feel responsible! The family is afraid of this situation.
If you want to help Jarek, donate 1% of your tax, this is a chance for Jarek to continue his rehabilitation.
KRS number 0000 18 6434 for Jarek Dyks 29 / D
Joanna Weyna Szczepańska