Twins Are the Latest Miracles for Woman

As family crowded into a small room at UCLA Medical Center, a priest prepared to give Maria Lopez last rites. Pregnant with twins, she had been in a coma for almost a month, and neurosurgeons told her relatives she would never awake.

They advised her husband to withdraw life support.

The priest made the sign of the cross, and as he murmured “Pray for her,” Lopez opened her eyes. The relatives, stunned, crowded around. She then faintly shook her head.

Six weeks later, Lopez is awake and alert. Her twin girls are healthy, and vascular neurosurgeon John Frazee said her prospects for full recovery are excellent.

“I’ve seen thousands of patients with similar problems,” said Frazee, a professor of neurology at UCLA Medical School. “In my 17 years of working with these patients, this is the first time I’ve seen someone recover like this. This is one case where I’m very happy to be wrong.”

Lopez’s medical problems began in late April when she complained of a severe headache and nausea. Her husband, Antonio, a gardener, called an ambulance. On the way from their home in Colton to a San Bernardino hospital, Lopez slipped into a coma.

Lopez had a condition called arteriovenous malformation, in which the arteries to her brain were tangled and had ruptured, Frazee said. A neurosurgeon in San Bernardino operated on her, but he was unable to stop the hemorrhaging.

She was transferred to UCLA Medical Center, where she underwent embolization, in which doctors inject a glue-like substance to staunch the bleeding and prevent future ruptures.

“Normally, we would have operated on her,” Frazee said. “But she was in such bad shape, we thought she’d never recover.”

During the next three weeks, Frazee and other hospital staff counseled the family and told them they did not think Lopez would ever regain consciousness. She certainly would never be able to care for herself again, they said.

“I counseled them,” Frazee said, “to withdraw life support.”

The next week, the priest was called to her room.

“During the last rites, we were preparing to say our goodbyes to Maria and to just let go,” said her sister, Sylvia Hernandez. “We were all crying. But when she moved, we had hope for the first time.”

The nurses told Lopez’s family that her reaction was merely a reflex because her breathing tube was being suctioned at the time.

“We didn’t believe that,” Hernandez said. “We all saw her. We felt it was a sign from God.”

A few days later, she responded to Frazee for the first time. She held up a single finger.

After he saw her respond to a few commands, Frazee was convinced that she could recover. He immediately rescinded her “do not resuscitate” status.

Then Lopez had a setback. Doctors discovered fluid on her brain and had to operate. She slipped back into a coma. But she regained consciousness, and on June 15 gave birth to the twins.

“Since her babies were born, she’s really improved,” Hernandez said. “She kisses their feet, smiles and says ‘I love you’ in sign language.”

Frazee expects his patient, who now communicates with hand signals, to begin speaking when a tube is removed from her throat.

She will leave the hospital Friday and will spend a month or two at a rehabilitation facility.

“After that, she should be going home,” Frazee said. “I still have no medical explanation why she recovered. All I know now is that her outlook is fantastic. The sky’s the limit with her.”