Joseph Flavill does not remember having tested positive for coronavirus last year – nor does he remember anything that happened in the past 11 months.
The 19-year-old Briton has been in a coma since March 1, 2020, after suffering a traumatic brain injury when the student was hit by a car while walking down the street in his hometown, Staffordshire Live reported for the first time on Monday. It would take three weeks to the end of March before the UK entered its first national blockade of the pandemic.
“We also don’t know how much he understands what his accident was like before the first blockade, and it’s almost like he slept through the entire pandemic,” said Sally Flavill Smith, Joseph’s aunt, in a statement.
Much of Flavill’s family was not allowed to see him in person due to the pandemic’s security restrictions at Adderley Green, a rehabilitation center where he was transferred after waking up at Leicester General Hospital, where he has been held since last year. .
“How do you explain the pandemic to someone who is in a coma?” asked Smith, whose nephew also tested positive for COVID-19 twice – once while unconscious and again during rehab – and recovered.
“We try to keep it as simple as possible,” Smith also told the Guardian. “We really don’t have time to get into a big pandemic – it just doesn’t seem real, does it? When he can really have face-to-face contact, this will be an opportunity to really try to explain to him what happened. “
For the time being, the family visits Flavill via video calls, although in December he received a brief visit to celebrate his 19th birthday with his mother, Sharon Priestley – but wearing personal protective equipment and keeping a safe social distance.
Although far from fully recovered, Flavill’s motor and cognitive functions are slowly returning, said Smith. “We still have a long way to go, but the steps he has taken in the past three weeks have been absolutely incredible.”