Longest coma to awake from

Terry Wallis (USA, b. 7 April 1964) spent 18 years 333 days in a coma before awakening: following a major automobile accident in Stone County, Arkansas, USA, on 13 July 1984, Terry suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him briefly in a coma and then in a minimally conscious state. He finally began speaking on 11 June 2003.

Terry Wallis's recovery was gradual, as he regained the ability to control some parts of his body and to speak. However, he remained disabled from injuries suffered during the accident that caused the coma.

Terry was in a Minimally Conscious State (MCS). This is a condition of severely altered consciousness; despite this, however, people in MCS show minimal but definite evidence of awareness of their state and/or the surrounding environment. This means, for instance, that they can show brief/small reaction(s) to external stimuli.