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Veteran husband’s improvement encourages Austintown woman
By Elise Franco
Austintown
Colleen Village recently was able to see her husband’s open eyes for the first time in three months.
Village’s veteran husband, Michael, was diagnosed with Gulf War syndrome after suffering various illnesses, including Hodgkin’s disease, starting 10 years ago.
Michael Village, 42, was put into an induced coma May 3 at Northside Medical Center and was moved Aug. 4 to the Cleveland Clinic, where they removed the medication to induce.
Doctors told Village her husband wasn’t responding and they didn’t know if he would ever wake up. But about two weeks ago, he did.
Village said her husband came out of his coma and is slowly regaining awareness of what’s happened. She said he still has moments where he doesn’t recognize her or their three sons but is stable.
“It was about a week after he was there that he started to open his eyes a little bit. A few days after that, he was awake,” she said. “He had no idea where he was, who he was or who we were. He still doesn’t recognize me every time I’m there.”
Village said Michael is considered “stable but critical” and is sick with pneumonia and blood infection and will undergo several surgeries over the next few months. She said he’ll likely remain at the Cleveland Clinic for five to six months before he can move to a rehabilitation facility where he’ll work to regain strength and basic motor functions.
“I’m so grateful that he’s awake. ... He’s not the person he was four months ago, though,” she said. “He’s very childlike at this point, so it’s hard on him and on me.”
Village said her sons — Brandon, 15; Alexander, 11; and Nicholas, 8 — are overjoyed that their father is awake, but at times it’s difficult, especially when he doesn’t remember who one of them is.
“With him awake, they have more hope,” she said. “But it’s hard because they just want to talk to him, and he’s so weak. His mind goes in and out.”
Village said she drives to Cleveland every other day to spend time with Michael and is looking forward to the day her family is whole again.
“I think in a few years we’ll be back to the way we were before [the coma],” she said. “In a few years we’ll look back and think, ‘How did we get through it?’”