Medical Miracle

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005

A drunk driver put an 18-year-old woman in a coma over 20 years ago. That coma silenced her, but miraculously at age 38 she's talking, something her family thought she would never do.

"The phone rings about midnight and my wife pulled my big toe and said we got to get to the hospital something bad's happened to Sarah," said Jim Scantlin, Sarah's father.

Sarah had been hit by a drunk driver, and doctors told her parents while she would survive she would never be the same girl who once cheered on life.

"The emotion of being the day before a funeral. Of someone being very close to you, but you never get to go to the funeral," said Jim Scantlin.

For close to 20 years, Sarah could only communicate with gestures, there was no talking. Then Friday, a miracle.

"I got on the phone and she said, 'Hi dad.' She's 100 percent Sarah. She's using all her capacities to the maximum and that's a real inspiration. Sarah's back and that's the best gift in the world."

The Scantlins are inviting anyone who wants to celebrate Sarah's miracle to Hutch's Golden Plains Nursing Home Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m.