Awakened from ... Something ... She Speaks

Chicago Tribune and everyone else is reporting this morning on a "miraculous case of waking up from a long-term coma," which apparently included an eyes open state for some significant amount of time. This is the AP account:

HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- Sarah Scantlin was an 18-year-old college freshman on Sept. 22, 1984, when she was hit by a drunken driver as she walked to her car after celebrating with friends at a teen club. Since then she has been mostly oblivious to the world around her, able only to blink her eyes to respond to questions no one knew for sure she understood.

But a week ago, her parents got a call from Jennifer Trammell, a licensed nurse at the Golden Plains Healthcare Center. Trammell asked Betsy Scantlin if she was sitting down, told her someone wanted to talk to her and switched the phone to speaker mode:

"Hi, Mom."

"Sarah, is that you?" her mother asked.

"Yes," came the throaty reply.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

It is unclear what sort of state Scantlin was in. Was it a coma? Was she merely unable to talk? Was she "locked in"? There are no clinical comments beyond a speech therapist in the story so far, but you can bet this story will lead everyone's news for the next several days.