by: Marty Chrisman

As one of the aides was doing his nightly care, she commented to Bo that Luke seemed restless that evening. And it was true, Luke had began making more random movements, including moving his head from side to side in the past few days. Which was what he was doing while the aide did his personal care. He stopped when Bo stepped up beside him, gently put a hand on his shoulder and said “Its okay, Luke. I’m right here.”

“That’s amazing.” The aide told Bo with a grateful smile as she finished her work. “The way he responds to you like that.”

“Actually I think he’s upset cause there’s a pretty girl touching him and he can’t touch her back.” Bo teased the aide with a grin. The girl giggled and blushed. Gathering up her things, she quickly left the room. Bo glanced at his older cousin and smiled gently. “Time to get some sleep, cuz…..unless you wanna open your eyes. Then we can stay up talking all night.” Bo meant it as joke but he felt a jolt of excitement when he saw Luke’s eyelids flutter. He held his breath for a minute, then grabbed Luke’s hand and held it tightly. “Come on, Luke…” he coaxed “Open your eyes. Wake up for me!” Luke’s eyelids fluttered again but remained closed.

For the next hour, Bo tried to get Luke to open his eyes but to no avail. Bo sensed that he was right on the edge of waking up but still couldn’t cross over. Not yet anyway. Finally Bo sighed and gently squeezed Luke’s hand “Okay, we’ll try again tomorrow. Good night, cuz…” Bo walked over to the other bed, stripped down to his shorts and climbed in, pulling the blankets over himself.

Sometime late that night, while Bo was sleeping soundly, Luke opened his eyes and tired to figure out where he was. He saw Bo sleeping in the bed next to him but he knew that they weren’t back home on the farm. His heart beat loudly as he tried to figure out what had happened to him and why he was in this unfamiliar room. He had only a vague memory of the accident. Too tired to try and figure it out, he closed his eyes and drifted into a natural sleep instead of the coma that had been holding him in it’s grip for so long.

Bo awoke early the next morning from force of habit and quickly dressed. He knew the aide would be in soon to do Luke’s morning care and to bring Bo’s breakfast tray. He glanced over at his cousin and frowned. There was something different about Luke this morning but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Something about the sound of his breathing or maybe it was the relaxed position of his body but there was definitely something different.

Bo walked over to Luke’s side and gently reached out to take his hand. Just like he’d done every morning for almost two months, he said “Morning, cuz…” Bo gasped when Luke responded to his voice by turning his head towards the sound of Bo’s voice and slowly opened his eyes. “Luke?” Bo said in a broken voice, unable to believe that Luke had finally opened his eyes. “Luke, can you hear me?” Instead of speaking, Luke nodded his head, not much but enough that Bo knew he was actually awake and alert.  Bo grabbed the call button and rang for the nurse as tears gathered in his eyes and fell without shame down his face. “Welcome back, cuz…” Bo said his voice filled with such deep emotion that Luke looked at him with a puzzled expression in his eyes.

As a nurse hurried into the room, Bo told her that Luke was awake. When the nurse saw for herself that Luke really did have his eyes open, she hurried from the room to find Cindy and the staff doctor. Cindy arrived first. She grinned happily when she saw that Luke had his eyes open and found herself thinking how beautiful those sapphire blue eyes looked. “Hi, Luke.” She said quietly “I’m Cindy and I’m your physical therapist. Do you know where you are?”

Luke looked at her but didn’t answer. Instead he turned his head and looked back at Bo. “It’s okay, Luke.” Bo told him “You were hurt. The plane crashed. Do you remember?”

After several long minutes, Luke nodded and said in a barely audible voice that was hoarse and raspy from not being used for so long “Yes…..”

“You were in a hospital for awhile and then they sent you here.”

“Where….” Luke managed to say, although it was obvious that it was an effort for him to speak.

“Our facility is called Indian Falls. We’re just outside of Atlanta.” Cindy told Luke “We’re a long term care facility for comatose patients.” Luke eyes filled with anxiety and fear. Cindy reached out to touch his hand reassuringly, it was oblivious that he knew what the word comatose meant. “You’ve been in a coma for almost two months.” She told him “But you’re awake now and we can start working on getting you out of here and back home where you belong.”

“Home…” Luke repeated, looking back at Bo again.

“You bet, cuz.” Bo told him “Just as soon as you’re strong enough.” Cindy motioned with a slight turn of her head for Bo to step into the hall with her for a moment. Bo nodded to let her know he understood, then he looked back at Luke and said quietly “I’ll be right back…I’m just gonna step outside for a minute to talk to this little lady, okay?”

“K….” Luke said, closing his eyes and drifting back to sleep, exhausted from the effort of talking and trying to make sense of what was happening to him.

Bo stepped out into the hallway with Cindy. She looked at him with a smile and said “Now that he’s awake, you should see significant changes in his condition. He’s still confused and disoriented but that’s to be expected after being in a coma for so long. It should clear up quickly. Just stay with him and reassure him that he’s okay and he’s safe. The doctor should be here soon to examine him. I’m gonna make sure he checks his legs. We did find a dislocated disk in his lower back but that can be fixed.” Bo nodded and then went back into the room to be with Luke. Luke was still sleeping, so Bo sat down beside him and let him sleep.

The doctor arrived shortly after that. Luke woke up as the doctor started examining him. More alert, he was able to answer the doctor’s questions, correctly telling him his name, his age, and his birthday. Bo watched anxiously as the doctor moved to the foot of the bed and ran the edge of penlight across the bottom of Luke’s foot. Luke didn’t respond to the pressure.

“Luke, can you feel that?” the doctor asked. Luke looked at the doctor, then Bo, and then back at the doctor. Finally, he shook his head.  “Alright,” the doctor said, “Luke, I’m gonna poke you a little and I want you tell me when you can feel it, okay?”

Luke nodded to show the doctor that he understood. Bo took his hand and held it reassuringly as for the next few minutes, the doctor poked Luke’s leg with a pin all the way up to his waist before Luke said he felt it. Then he checked the other side with the same results. The doctor looked at Luke solemnly and said, “We did X-rays of your back when you were first brought here and they do show a dislocated disc in your lower back. That’s more than likely the problem. It’s probably putting pressure on the spinal cord and causing the paralysis. Now, we can fix the problem with surgery but it’ll be a few weeks before we’ll know if the paralysis is permanent or not.” Luke nodded, indicating that he understood, but he had no expression on his face, his feelings carefully hidden from this stranger. He remembered the terror he’d felt in the plane when he realized he couldn’t move his legs or feel anything from his waist down and he felt that same terror now.