The fantastic story of the guy who woke up after 19 years in a coma - only not

Although coma is not an especially rare condition, everyone knows that it is very serious and that patients who are in this state are generally experiencing very serious health problems such as infections and bleeding, lack of oxygenation in the brain or head trauma, for example.

This condition may be temporary or permanent and is characterized by a state of unconsciousness during which the brain remains functioning, but at a minimum level of alertness. Thus, patients cannot respond to external stimuli even when these stimuli are painful.

Jan Grzebski the miracle

The comas usually last no more than a few days or weeks, but there are some rarer examples of patients who have remained in this state for several years. The case we are going to tell next became world famous precisely for involving a man who would have awakened after being no less than 19 years unconscious - only not. Well, dear reader, this is a story that, although fantastic, deceived everyone. Come with us!

Extraordinary case

In 2007, a newspaper called Gazeta Dzialdowska published the story of a Polish named Jan Grzebski, a railroad worker who, in 1988, after suffering serious brain injuries during a work accident, fell into a deep coma - and remained unconscious for 19 years. When the news broke, Jan would have just awakened from his "sleep" and come across a world very different from the one he knew.

Famous overnight

After all, imagine! According to the publication, when Jan fell into a coma, Poland was under the command of Wojciech Jaruzelski, a Communist dictator who remained in power in different positions - Prime Minister, Head of State Council and President - from 1981 to 1990. In addition, the world was wrapped in Cold War tensions.

When - supposedly - awakened in 2007, Poland had turned into a democracy, become a member of the European Union and was in a tremendously different situation. In addition, Jan, who was the father of four, woke up as the grandfather of 11 grandchildren.

Admirable new world

Of course, the extraordinary case of Polish spread quickly around the world and was replicated by major international news portals. Everyone wanted to know more about the shock of spending so much time "off" and coming back to life in a whole new environment, so the stories kept circulating.

According to what was reported at the time, Jan would have been amazed at how far the technology had advanced while in a coma and had not yet gotten used to seeing people walking the streets with their cell phones. Another thing that would have surprised him was the availability of products in stores and markets - since when he “blacked out” many items were rationed, there were many lines to get some products, and all the people could easily find was tea and vinegar. .

Fake news

During the time she was in a coma, Jan was cared for by his wife, Gertruda, who never gave up on seeing her husband well. And she, too, would have talked to the Gazeta Dzialdowska people and revealed the doctors' difficulty in hearing that the Polish would hardly survive long in this state and not being sure he would wake up.

Gertrude with Jan

But the Guardian people realized that there were some elements in Jan's story that seemed kind of ... weird. It was then that the reporters decided to investigate and found that, in fact, things had not happened as well as they were counting. Interestingly, one of The Guardian's journalists went to talk to the Polish, and to his surprise Jan opened the game!

He revealed that he had said nothing of those things that were being published about him, and that he had not been in a coma for 19 years at all - but only for 4 years, which, let's face it, is a long time ago. Jan explained that he spoke to a single Gazeta Dzialdowska reporter and that this person had been responsible for making and spreading the news.

And “as if telling a story increases a point, ” each time some media spread the case, some new element was included. Jan also said that this wake-up call was just bullshit and confessed to being aware of all the bullshit they were publishing about him, but that he had not found a way to deal with it.

The Guardian journalist even confronted Gazeta Dzialdowska people, and the lame excuse he heard was that they had not divulged a false story, since there are different types of coma. And they also claimed that even though Jan remained in this state for only four years, many aspects had changed in Poland during that period, so the whole thing was not a lie at all. OK!

***

The Curious Mega is on several social networks, you know? You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and also on Twitter. And you can still check out all the news firsthand through our app! Come with us!