Twins Born Healthy after Mother Wakes from "Irreversible" Coma

By Liz Townsend

Arizandy Leann and Brianna Angel were part of a miracle before they were even born. Their pregnant mother, in a month-long coma doctors called "irreversible," suddenly moved as a priest was administering last rites in mid-May.

Maria Lydia Hernandez Lopez woke fully from her coma on June 9, and six days later she gave birth to healthy twin girls.

Lopez, 25, left the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles July 28 to stay in a rehabilitation center closer to her home in Colton, California. Surrounded by her husband, five children, and other family members, Lopez waved to a crowd of doctors and nurses who gathered to say goodbye, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"Three months ago we never thought we would reach this day," Lopez's sister Sylvia Hernandez told the Times. "We're so happy my sister is finally going to come home. She wasn't supposed to be here. To me, that's a miracle."

Lopez slipped into a coma April 24, after complaining of headaches and nausea. Although doctors initially thought her symptoms were a result of the pregnancy, they discovered she had been born with a condition called arteriovenous malformation, in which the blood vessels in the brain are tangled or malformed, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Doctors at the UC Medical Center injected a glue-like substance into Lopez's brain to cut the blood flow to the tangled vessels, a procedure called embolization. However, Lopez remained in a coma, showing no signs of improvement for three weeks.

"I thought the chance of her recovering to be awake and alert - - let alone to be at a state where she could take care of herself - - was almost zero," neurosurgeon John Frazee told CNN.

The doctors also had grave doubts that her unborn children would survive, according to the AP. The twins were over 14 weeks away from their due date when their mother fell into the coma.

Frazee said that he advised the family to withdraw life support, according to the Times. The family consented to a "do not resuscitate" order and prepared to remove Lopez from life support.

As a priest performed last rites May 17 with Lopez's family gathered around her bed, she suddenly coughed and moved as a nurse was suctioning her breathing tube, Reuters reported. Although doctors first dismissed the movement as an "involuntary reflex," a few days later Lopez responded to Frazee by moving a finger, the Times reported.

"Whether that initial cough was a sign from God I don't know, but it certainly saved her life, because it convinced her family to leave her on life support," Frazee told Reuters. "It's just a miracle. In 17 years this is the first patient I've ever had wake up from a coma under these conditions."

During the next few weeks, Lopez drifted in and out of the coma. In early June, she underwent an operation to remove fluid from her brain. A few days later, on June 9, she woke from her coma for good.

Doctors were still unsure if the babies were healthy. After they detected an abnormal heart rhythm in one of the twins, they were delivered by Caesarean section June 15. The babies were seven weeks premature.

"We were very nervous to see what they were going to be like when they were born," neonatologist Susan Gray told the AP. "But they were in very good shape."

Arizandy left the hospital on July 3 with her father, Antonio Lopez, and three older sisters. Brianna went home just a few days later.

Maria Lopez will remain in Loma Linda University Medical Center for rehabilitation for a month or two, according to the Times.

"After that, she should be going home," Frazee told the Times. "I still have no medical explanation why she recovered. All I know now is that her outlook is fantastic. The sky's the limit with her."

"The story of Maria Lopez and her children is a vibrant reminder that miracles can happen and life can triumph despite the grim prognosis of doctors," said Brian Johnston, NRLC western regional director. "It underscores the message of the pro-life movement: that the lives of the innocent are priceless and must be protected."