A teenager coming out of a 10-month coma has no knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic, despite contracting the disease twice.
Joseph Flavill, 19, was hit by a car on March 1 last year while walking in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, three weeks before Britain’s first national lockdown began.
He has been in a coma for months after suffering a traumatic brain injury, but is slowly starting to recover and react.
His aunt, Sally Flavill Smith, told the Guardian: “He will not know about the pandemic as he has been asleep for 10 months. His consciousness is now starting to improve, but we just don’t know what he knows.
‘I just don’t know where to start. If someone had told me a year ago what was going to happen in the past year, I don’t think I would have believed it. I have no idea how Joseph will come to understand what we have all been through. “
She said the family tried to explain via video call that they cannot be with him in person due to limitations of the coronavirus, but did not try to explain the scale of the pandemic.
‘If he’s awake in his room, he won’t have a clue why he’s there. We do talk about it on the phone, and we try to make him aware that we really want to be there while holding his hands, but we just can’t do it [because of Covid].
“But we try to keep it as simple as possible, we don’t really have the time to get into the pandemic huge – it just doesn’t feel real, does it? When he can actually have personal contact, that will be the opportunity to actually explain to him what happened. “
The teenager, who was treated at Leicester General Hospital and now transferred to the Adderley Green care center in Stoke-on-Trent to continue his recovery, has begun to move his limbs when asked and is engaged with family and friends by blinking and smiling.
Flavill Smith said the teen is able to obey commands such as touching his left and right ear, moving both legs and answering yes and no by blinking his eyes, while his first smile has brought the family to tears. brought.
“We still have a long journey ahead of us, but the steps he has taken over the past three weeks are absolutely incredible,” said Flavill Smith.
He caught Covid twice during his recovery from the accident, but recovered on both occasions.
Flavill’s mother, Sharon, was able to visit her son on his 19th birthday in December, but had to stay socially aloof and wear full PPE all the time. At the time, Joseph was no longer as aware of it as he is now, and I think she felt incredibly sad because she wasn’t sure Joseph could even see who she was. She had been waiting for months to visit him. “
Before the accident, Flavill from Tutbury, Staffordshire, was a sporty and active teenager and would receive his Golden Duke of Edinburgh award in May.
Through their Joseph’s Journey campaign, the family raised more than £ 30,000 to support the teen in his long-term recovery.