The story probably happened, but the coma portion is embellished. It notes that she was able to participate in rehab and eat food, so she wasn’t unconscious in the traditional sense.
It sounds like there was spontaneous return of function, which happens in various degrees following stroke anyway. Residual function plateaus about 1-2 years after on average, but this case would be an outlier.
I am more intrigued which med the physician prescribed, and whether there’s current research to support its use in post-stroke care as a neuroprotectant.
I did a books.google.com search and there were no primary references, just a few lines in books about "amazing facts" and a reference to an episode of "Maury."
I was in a dead ass coma for a month. When I awoke I couldn't talk or move my arms and legs. After 3 months of daily in hospital rehab I could walk maybe 50 yards at a time and get up from a sitting position without aid and went home. It was a year before I felt I was normal. I was not overweight or in bad health before this. It's amazing how fast your body just quits if you don't move at all.
I was in an induced coma for a couple weeks, and intubated in the ICU for a total of about 30 days. When they deintubated me my breathing muscles were so weak I thought I would die of asphyxiation. They sent me home a few days later, as soon as I could climb a staircase (there were stairs leading to my front door).
Several days after returning home I got stuck in the bathtub: I couldn't lift myself out, my wife couldn't lift me. After several false starts, we got me out by me lifting up a couple inches, and my wife shoving a pillow under my butt, several times. :-)
I was back at (office) work 2.5 months later, and biking to work 3 months after that.
All of which to say: 100% agreed -- do absolutely nothing and the body just wastes away.
"Lift assist" is a common 911 call here (California). Those of us without EMT training (myself included) are taught to look hard at these situations and if anything is amiss, call in the paramedics. That said, don't be afraid to call emergency services... if your district is anything like ours, we like to help and as long as you don't get in an ambulance, there's no charge :-)
