Injured Man Who Spoke After a 10-Year Stupor Dies at 44

A brain-injured firefighter who suddenly spoke after nearly a decade in a stupor, giving hope to families of countless other patients, died Tuesday. He was 44.

Donald Herbert was injured in December 1995, when the roof of a burning home collapsed on him. Deprived of oxygen for several minutes, he ended up blind, was largely mute and showed little awareness of his surroundings for years.

But on April 30, 2005, he shocked his family with a 14-hour talking jag. Since then, he spoke only sporadically, his progress hampered by a fall out of bed that caused bleeding on his brain, his doctor said.

Herbert was rehospitalized Sunday with an infection.

“Don fought very long and hard ... right to the end,” Fire Commissioner Michael L. Lombardo said.

His breakthrough came three months after his doctor began giving him drugs normally used to treat Parkinson’s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression. Dr. Jamil Ahmed said at the time that the medications had shown promise with more recently brain-damaged patients.

“I’m hoping and expecting to work on many patients,” Ahmed said Tuesday. “It’s worth trying when the families are willing.”