A story appeared in the December 22,
2002 Newsday newspaper telling of an asthmatic woman
named Vanessa. On September 15, 2002, Vanessa had a
severe asthma attack which caused her to stop breathing,
suffer cardiac arrest, and slip into a coma. It was
estimated that her heart had stopped for as much as
10 minutes before paramedics could restart it. At the
hospital, her family was not given much hope. If she
did pull through, they were told, the chances for severe
brain damage were great.
Vanessa had been battling asthma all of her life. But
this attack almost cost the young women her life. Vanessa's
coma was severe. Although her eyes were opened, nobody
saw any indication that she could see. Doctors speculated
that the part of her brain most likely to have been
damaged by oxygen deprivation probably would render
her blind. For her loved ones and family who stayed
with her the coma was torturous and disturbing to observe.
Vanessa clenched her fists. Her legs moved constantly,
almost as if she were riding a bicycle.
Two of Vanessa's relatives were patients of a chiropractor,
Dr. Andy Forelli. They told Dr. Forelli of the heartbreaking
story of Vanessa. Being moved, Dr. Forelli offered to
drive to see Vanessa, being unaware that Vanessa was
in a hospital two and a half hours away. The family
accepted Dr. Forelli's offer so he made the trip.
Dr. Forelli arrived to Vanessa's room on the evening
of Sept. 30. There the family told him that the doctors
had been talking that day about putting Vanessa in a
nursing home. Vanessa's mother Siobhan, recalls what
happened next, "He put his hands on Vanessa's face
and spoke to her," Siobhan said, "and she
looked right at him and furrowed her brow, as if to
say, 'Who the hell are you?' At that moment, we knew
that she could see. He adjusted her neck. She winced,
and then she smiled. He went around to the other side
of the bed, and she furrowed her brow again, and he
adjusted her neck from that side, and she smiled, closed
her eyes, and went to sleep. He and I then spoke for
maybe 15 minutes, and he got in the car and drove back
to New York."
"That night, I
called every two hours, and the nurses said she was
really quiet, almost still," Siobhan said. "The
next morning, October 1st, she was sleeping, no agitated
movements, no clenched fists. At 11 o'clock, the nurse
came into bathe her. The nurse said to me, 'I think
she's trying to talk to us.' She said to Vanessa, 'Do
you know who that is? That's your Mom.'"
Vanessa spent five more days in the hospital and 16
days in a Rehabilitation Center. Dr. Forelli saw her
one more time, with again, remarkable results. Vanessa
now has resumed her old life and is a regular patient
of a local chiropractor closer to where she lives. Siobhan
summed up the situation at the end of the story by saying,
"Her whole health system has done a complete turnaround.
She used to always carry a hand-held asthma medication
called Preventil. She doesn't even carry it any more."
A story appeared in the December 22,
2002 Newsday newspaper telling of an asthmatic woman
named Vanessa. On September 15, 2002, Vanessa had a
severe asthma attack which caused her to stop breathing,
suffer cardiac arrest, and slip into a coma. It was
estimated that her heart had stopped for as much as
10 minutes before paramedics could restart it. At the
hospital, her family was not given much hope. If she
did pull through, they were told, the chances for severe
brain damage were great.