Patient trapped in a 23-year coma was conscious all along

Zolder, Belgium - A man thought by doctors to be in a vegetative state for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time, it was revealed. Student Rom Houben was misdiagnosed after a car crash left him totally paralysed. He had no way of letting experts, family or friends know he could hear every word they said. I screamed, but there was nothing to hear, said Mr Houben, now 46. Doctors used a range of coma tests, recognised worldwide, before reluctantly concluding that his consciousness was extinct. But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally....More

Elderly man survives 4 days trapped in well

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – An 84-year-old man escaped with only minor injuries after he spent four days trapped in a well shaft on his remote property on Canada's Pacific Coast, police said.

A search dog located Bob Bennett on Wednesday after a friend of the elderly man became concerned that he had not heard from him in several days.

Bennett, who lives alone at a former mine site at Benson Lake, British Columbia, on northern Vancouver Island, had entered the eight-foot (2.4 meter) deep well shaft while searching for a water source and got trapped, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

"Mr Bennett, at 84 years old, shows age means nothing when you have the will to survive," said RCMP Corporal Michelle LeBrun.