BRITISH BOY EMERGING FROM NEARLY YEAR-LONG COMA UNAWARE OF PANDEMIC

Mon 08 February 2021:

A teenager who is emerging from a 10-month long coma has no knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic despite having caught the disease twice.

Joseph Flavill, 19, suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was hit by the car in the central English town of Burton-on-Trent on March 1 last year, about three weeks before a first national lockdown was imposed to curb the spread of the virus.

He has spent months in a coma after he suffered a traumatic brain injury but is slowly beginning to recover and has started responding.

During that time his family has been largely unable to be near him and hold his hand due to coronavirus restrictions, mostly trying to communicate with him via video link.

“He won’t know anything about the pandemic as he’s been asleep for 10 months. His awareness is starting to improve now but we just don’t know what he knows, his aunt, Sally Flavill said.

“When we say to him ‘Joseph, we can’t be with you, but you are safe, this is not going to be forever’, he understands, he hears you, he just can’t communicate,” she said, adding that he now signaled “yes” with a blink and “no” with two blinks.

Since Joseph’s accident, Britain has registered nearly four million COVID-19 cases, including more than 110,000 deaths, in a pandemic that has turned life upside down worldwide, shuttering schools, universities, shops and many other places.

“When he’s awake in his room, he’s not going to have any idea why he’s there. We do talk about it on the phone, and we try to make him aware that we really want to be there holding his hands, but we’re just unable to do it [because of Covid].

“We’ve still got a long journey ahead, but the steps he’s made in the last three weeks have been absolutely incredible,” said Flavill Smith.

He has caught Covid twice during his recovery from the accident but recovered on both occasions.

The teenager, who was treated at Leicester General hospital and has now been moved to Adderley Green care centre in Stoke-on-Trent to continue his recovery, has started moving his limbs when asked and is engaging with family and friends through blinking and smiling.

Before the accident, Flavill, from Tutbury, Staffordshire, was a sporty and active teenager and was due to receive his gold Duke of Edinburgh award in May.

Through their Joseph’s Journey campaign, the family have raised over £30,000 to support the teenager in his long-term recovery.