For nearly five years, Jennifer Flewellen lay in her hospital bed, silent and comatose, with her mother, Peggy Means, faithfully sitting nearby. Peggy would sing, talk and read books aloud, desperately wishing that Jennifer would respond. Even though doctors said the Niles, Mich., mother of three would probably never wake up from the coma caused by head injuries she sustained in a car crash, "something just told me," says Peggy, 60, "this was what I've got to do."
Then, in August 2022, the seemingly impossible happened: As Peggy told her daughter a joke ("My boyfriend said, 'I'm losing my butt, but it's growing out front""), Jennifer began to chuckle. "I was in awe," Peggy recalls. "Then it was like, 'Get the phone!"" Giddy over hearing her outgoing daughter's laugh for the first time in half a decade, Peggy recorded video of the moment. "It was beyond words."
This story is from the January 15, 2024 edition of People US.
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This story is from the January 15, 2024 edition of People US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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