Gary Dockery

Gary French Dockery (October 15, 1953 – April 15, 1997) was an American police officer in Walden, Tennessee. After being critically injured in 1988, he spent seven-and-a-half years in a coma-like state. In 1996, he emerged from the coma and started talking enthusiastically, recognizing friends and recalling events from past years. He then fell back into a coma and died a year later.

Biography

On September 17, 1988, he was shot in the forehead by a drunken assailant as he responded to a domestic disturbance call. He slipped into what doctors called a persistent vegetative state, unable to communicate except occasionally with eye blinks and groans — indicating that part of his brain was still working. Although he could respond, he was not conscious.[1][2]

He had a serious case of pneumonia and underwent lung surgery[2][3] and on February 11, 1996, he stirred and started talking, recognizing old friends, recalling the names of his horses, and recalling camping trips.[1][2] By the second day he had largely become silent again.[3]

A year later, on April 15, 1997, he died at the age of 43 from a blood clot in his lung. Dockery was transported from his nursing home to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was pronounced dead at 9:52 a.m.[4]

gollark: Revised description:```Mana courses through this glassy egg, producing a beautiful glow - it's very reflective, almost metallic. It has a red gleam, too, and smells faintly like brine. It shimmers like gold, and it seems as if time is distorted around it. It is much smaller than the other eggs, and looks like lots of pieces of paper folded together and smelling faintly like cheese. It occupies every point in the spacetime continuum.```
gollark: Oh, forgot it.
gollark: Reminder: they'll all be omnidragons.
gollark: All eggs are omnidragon eggs now as it is everywhere.
gollark: Omnidragon egg description:```Mana courses through this glassy egg, producing a beautiful glow - it's very reflective, almost metallic. It has a red gleam, too, and smells faintly like brine. It shimmers like gold, and it seems as if time is distorted around it.```

References
  1. Smothers, Ronald (1996-02-16). "Injured in '88, Officer Awakes in '96". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  2. "Top 10 Comas - TIME". Time. 2008-12-08. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  3. "Ex-Officer Is Alert After Surgery but Not Talking Again". The New York Times. 1996-02-17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  4. The Associated Press (1997-04-16). "Officer Who Emerged From Long Coma Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-06.

See also


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