Must Read of the Day-Terrifying: What It's Like to Have "Locked In" Syndrome

Imagine hearing the conversation about how you are not really there, and that your life support should be turned off because you are a vegetable.

Imagine only being able to blink.

Imagine the moment where a neurologist thinks to say "If you are in there-blink once."

Imagine blinking saving your life. 

"When I came round I couldn’t move and I couldn’t talk. I could see I had tubes in my arm and a breathing machine hooked up to me, so I could tell it was serious. They had me drugged pretty good so I don’t remember much from the start of my time there, but after a couple of days I heard two doctors and my wife talking about my life support machine"

"The doctors were standing at the end of my bed and telling her they should seriously consider taking out my life support. I could hear them saying I had a two per cent chance of survival, and even if I did survive I’d end up being a vegetable. It was very scary, lying there and not being able to do anything. There was no way I could convey this message, but I was thinking: 'you really should not do that'"

"The next day, a neurologist came in and asked the doctors whether anyone had checked to see whether I was still in there. They looked at each other and said no. He walked over and said, “Richard, if you can hear me and understand me, blink once”. Blinking was as much as I could do, so I did that. It was such a relief that somebody had considered the possibility I might still be conscious."