A 19-year-old British man is steadily recovering after spending over 10 months in a coma. Remarkably, he remains completely unaware of the COVID-19 pandemic and its global impact.
Joseph Flavill, 19, from the UK, suffered a severe brain injury after being struck by a car in Burton upon Trent, central England. He entered a coma on March 1, 2020, at Leicester Hospital—just three weeks before the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown.
The young man began regaining consciousness three weeks ago and is now at Adderley Green care center in Stoke-on-Trent for ongoing rehabilitation. According to The Guardian, he knows nothing of the pandemic—despite contracting the virus twice while unconscious.
Joseph can now move his limbs on command and communicate through smiles or blinks, his family reports. More progress will come with time.
His aunt shared, "When he's conscious and awake in his room, he mustn't know why he's there." She added, "We talked to him about it on the phone and try to make it clear that we would really like to be with him to hold his hand, but that is just not possible. I just don't know where to start."
"A year ago, if I had been told a quarter of what was going to happen throughout this year, I don't think I would have believed it. I have no idea how Joseph will be able to realize what we have all been through." For now, "we're trying not to complicate our lives."
"So far, we haven't really had time to get into the details of the pandemic... It just seems unreal, right? When we can meet face to face again, then it will be an opportunity to explain to him what happened."
Before the accident, Joseph was an athletic teen set to receive the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, a prestigious youth program founded in 1956. Through the 'Joseph's Journey' online campaign, his family has raised over £30,000 (more than €34,000) to aid his long-term recovery.
