Woman reveals what being semi-conscious in a coma is like

A woman has shared the horrifying reality of being placed into a coma, revealing that she felt “imprisoned” in her own body.

Riding home from work on her bike, Colleen Kelly Alexander was left fighting for her life after being hit by a freight truck in October 2011.

The newlywed suffered devastating injuries including a smashed pelvic bone and legs, internally ripped arteries, rectum and vagina, as well as a brain injury.

As a result, she lost so much blood that she died twice – once for 20 minutes and once for 10 minutes – in the 48 hours after she was struck.

Once stabilised, Alexander was placed into a medically induced coma for five weeks and underwent 29 surgeries.

Now seven years later, the triathlete has recounted her experiences in a book, Gratitude in Motion, where she describes the horrifying details of being semi-conscious throughout her coma.

In an extract published in the Mail Online, Alexander says that people have the wrong idea about what a medically induced coma really is.

While you might think you’re totally unaware, she in fact reveals that she could hear sounds and voices, and even feel sensations.

So much so that for weeks after the accident she felt as though she was “locked in a nightmare” and “imprisoned” in her body.

The then 38-year-old explains how she would feel a sense of familiarity when her family or husband Sean entered the room and would even open her eyes to look right at them.

However, she admits that she was “too out of it” to recognise exactly who was who because the medication had placed her into an “otherworldly haze.”

Describing it as a “deep dream state”, Alexander says the worst parts were the graphic nightmares she had about being violently raped and sodomised – images she later found out were a result of medical staff cleaning her wounds and changing her bandages.

When she finally awoke from the coma, Alexander says everything felt hazy but after seeing the doctor knew she was in hospital.

Spotting her parents across the room, she recalled the crash and thought it had only just happened - in her mind only hours had passed.

After a slow recovery and battles with repeated sepsis and cellulitis infections, seven years later Alexander is walking, talking, motivational-speaking and even running again. Thus far she has finished an impressive 50 races and 40 triathlons.

However, the now 42-year-old admits that reliving her horrific experiences still makes her emotional at times.

“There are some things that trigger me more than others,” she said.

“The parts, for example, realizing that we wouldn't be able to carry a baby, or the coma. Those are the toughest moments.

“But the more I speak about it, the more it becomes an opportunity to reflect on this story that's so messily beautiful.”

Normally, a medically induced coma allows for a patient’s brain to rest following a trauma and while some patients do recall hearing sounds, one doctor says such cases are extremely rare.

“Typically, the therapeutic aspect of an induced coma after a trauma, whereby the brain is resting, may be expected to last a day or two, but can be required for two weeks or so,” Colin Shieff, a neurosurgeon and trustee of brain injury charity Headway told The Independent.

“Any longer than that would suggest other complications that require ventilation or sedation.

“The level of a patient’s sedation will not remain constant over the period of the induced coma.

“Over time, the level of drugs administered to the patient will be adjusted as the body gets used to the sedation and in order to facilitate the patient regaining consciousness.

“Some coma patients later report having had some awareness of the presence of loved ones.

“However, being able subsequently to recall hearing and recognising sounds and accurately identify sensations after being in an induced coma is extremely unusual.”