E.Coli Puts Minnesota Woman in Coma for Nine Weeks
Monday, December 31, 2007
Cold Spring, Minn. — A Cold Spring woman has regained consciousness after more than nine weeks in a medically induced coma.
Stephanie Smith, 20, got sick with E. coli bacteria after eating a hamburger in September. She's been at Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester ever since.
But her mother, Sharon, said Smith woke up just before the holidays.
Sharon Smith said her daughter is "moving her fingers and she winks now."
Because Stephanie Smith has been unconscious for so long, doctors aren't sure if she'll ever make a full recovery.
Smith hasn't had a chance to talk yet, because of the breathing tube she's relying on.
Before she got sick, Smith was a "Just for Kix" dance instructor in the towns of Rockville, Cold Spring, Paynesville, Foley and Little Falls.
