Man wakes up after 19 years in coma in politically altered Poland

The Associated Press
Published: June 3, 2007

WARSAW, Poland: A Polish railway worker who woke up after 19 years in a coma is learning to live and to understand a politically altered Poland, Polish media reported.

[...]

Despite doctors' advice that he would not live, his wife Gertruda never gave up hope and took care of him at home.

[...]

In 1988, when Poland was still run by a communist government, Grzewski sustained head injuries as he was attaching two train carriages together. He fell into a coma. Doctors also found cancer in his brain and said he would not live, according to local daily Gazeta Dzialdowska, which broke the news of his recovery.

[...]

Last year, she noticed that he was trying to speak, Gazeta said. He returned to the hospital and came out of the coma some two months ago.

[...]

He said Grzewski was shocked to see the streets and shops in the town. "He remembered shelves filled with mustard and vinegar only" under communism, Pstragowski said.

Poland shed communism in 1989 and has developed democracy and a market economy.

"I am sure that without the dedication of his wife, the patient would not have reached us in the (good) shape that he did," Pstragowski said.

- International Tribune