Sharista Giles (above) of Sweetwater, Tennessee woke up on Wednesday after being in a coma for five months
A Tennessee woman awakened this week from a four-month-long coma that doctors had feared would be permanent and learned that she had given birth to a baby boy, according to her family.
Sharista Giles, 20, was four-months pregnant when she was involved in a car crash near Nashville on Dec. 6, according to information on a Facebook page managed by her relatives.
Doctors told her family she had only a 10 percent chance of coming out of the coma, it said. In late January, she gave birth to a one-pound, 14-ounce baby boy who the family calls Baby L.
On Wednesday, Sharista opened her eyes for the first time since the accident, acknowledged her father, and saw a photo of her son, who has been steadily gaining weight and now weighs more than six pounds, the Facebook page said.
“Sharista has her eyes open n blinking n squeezing our fingers when we ask her to. Praise the Lord! She was following her daddy’s voice n we showed her a picture of Baby L n she seen him!!!” the post reads.
Giles was five months pregnant (above) when she went into the coma, and a month later doctors were forced to deliver her son, who the family calls Baby L, who she saw for the first time Wednesday
Beverly Giles, Sharista’s aunt, told ABC News the family had remained positive even though doctors had a grim prognosis for her recovery.
“They already gave up hope. We never gave up. She’s fought this hard,” she said.
Giles has been recuperating at Harriman Care and Rehab Center in Harriman, Tennessee, since earlier this year, according to social media postings. The hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Giles’ condition on Friday.
Giles’ mother told ABC affiliate WATE her daughter suffered head trauma in the car crash, which occurred when a friend dozed off behind the wheel, slamming into a concrete barrier.
