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BUFFALO---The brain-damaged firefighter who suddenly spoke last April after being in what had been termed a persistent vegetative state for 10 years, has died after being hospitalized on Sunday with pneumonia. His wife and four sons were with him when he died.
 Donald Herbert was fighting a house fire in December, 1995, when the roof collapsed, burying him under debris. After being deprived of oxygen for several minutes, he lapsed into a coma for about three months. When he emerged, he was in a state of faint consciousness in which he was virtually mute, blind and had little awareness of surroundings.
He spent more than seven years at a Buffalo nursing home, sitting silently in a wheelchair and watching a TV he could only vaguely see.
On April 30, 2005, he suddenly said, “I want to talk to my wife” and staff members at the nursing facility where he resided called his wife. For the next 14 hours he recognized and spoke with his wife, four sons and other family members. He thought he had only “been away” for three months. His sons were 14, 13, 11 and 3 at the time of the accident.
Herbert had been receiving therapy and three months after his doctor began giving him a combination of drugs which are normally used to treat Parkinson’s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression, Herbert suddenly asked to speak to his wife.
Since April, Herbert had continued to interact and speak but not at the same level as his initial revival last April. Reports say that as recently as last week, Herbert had been playing catch with his sons at the nursing home. 2-21-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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