British screenwriter Abi Morgan recalls the shock she felt and the ordeal she went through for months.
Abi Morgan, the renowned British screenwriter of films such as The The Iron Lady And the suffragettesshe remembers the shock she felt when her husband woke up from an induced coma after seven months and didn’t recognize her: “He thought I was an imposter.”
His nightmare began in June 2018. Actor Jacob Krichefski, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis since 2011, woke up that day with a severe headache.
“When I got to the room, I found him lying on the bathroom floor. He was semi-conscious, but quite disoriented,” says Abi.
It was the first time something like this had happened and Jacob was rushed to the hospital.
“There I saw that it was something serious, even though it had already come to its senses. They did an MRI,” recalls Abi.
Treatment
At first, the doctors did not find the problem. “When the test results came back, they said everything was fine, it was probably an infection and they would keep him under observation.”
But Jacob hasn’t improved. On the contrary. He was having convulsions and exhibiting increasingly strange behavior. The doctors could not understand what was happening.
“That week, I asked a doctor if he was going to die and she said, ‘yes, he can’.”
When Jacob was in the ICU, doctors found he had a type of brain inflammation called anti-NDMA encephalitis, but the drugs didn’t seem to work. His blood pressure fluctuated and breathing became increasingly difficult.
“In the second week, doctors said the only way to keep him alive and stable was to put him in a medically induced coma,” Abi explains.
“That way, they could control their functions as they try to treat encephalitis,” he adds.
“The risk of going into a coma isn’t coming back. But the benefits outweighed the risks. Jacob wouldn’t have survived if they couldn’t control his blood pressure and other vital signs. He needed to trust the doctors.”
Months later, doctors discovered that the collapse was due to a drug he was taking for multiple sclerosis as part of a test he was part of.
the awakening
Jacob was put into an induced coma in late June 2018 and woke up in late January 2019.
“A doctor once warned me that when he wakes up it would be very difficult because he would be a completely different person,” says Abi.
“I was warned it would be different, the surprise was that, for the first three days, he seemed to be Jacob. The anesthesia takes several days to wear off.”
So, at first, he just seemed a little bewildered.
Abi went from the excitement and happiness of seeing him awake again to notice small differences in attitude towards him.
“One day some friends came and he said to me, ‘You can go now. You can wait outside’ and the way he said it wasn’t the way he was going to talk to someone he knew.”
“One day his family came. I walked into the room and everyone was very happy to see me. I recorded everything. Every time he said something, he looked at the camera and realized that something was wrong. He was angry. I thought that. was just a little grumpy, which he had to elaborate a lot. “
“But then Valentine’s Day came. He had been awake for over a month,” she says. “The nurses had roses, they gave one to Jacob and said, ‘Give your wife a rose.’ To which Jacob replied, ‘This is not my wife.’
Abi admits that at first, although she was shocked, she thought she was joking because on paper they weren’t married, despite being together for over two decades and having two children.
I couldn’t believe this was really happening. “I couldn’t stop shaking. I was in shock.”
an impostor
It was later confirmed that he did not believe it was Abi Morgan, but an imposter.
“He once called my brother aside and asked me if he thought I was Abi, because I wasn’t. My brother replied: ‘I see you don’t believe it, but yes, she’s my sister.'”
His brother then asked where he thought the real Abi was and Jacob replied that she was gone and had a new life with someone else.
Furthermore, he did not hesitate to describe her as a different woman: tall, with black hair and blue eyes. “That’s why I couldn’t recognize myself in the photos.”
A neuroscientist explained that he suffered from Capgras syndrome, which is an illusion in which someone, usually a family member, is believed to have been replaced by an imposter.
“I was furious, but determined to find a way to let him know it wasn’t rational,” she says.
The illusion happened only for her: she recognized the rest of the people without problems.
Over time, Jacob came to “tolerate” her. “What I really hated was when people said to me, ‘Well, now you can fall in love again.’
To facilitate Jacob’s recovery, Abi decided to say he was someone the state had hired to help him and his children.
“Otherwise he couldn’t understand why I continued to go every day and take care of his children.”
“When you are faced with the fact that someone might die, you go out of your way to keep her alive,” Abi explains of her decision to accept her new role in Jacob’s life.
Homecoming
Jacob’s rehabilitation took months. Finally, in September 2019, he was able to go home but needed 24/7 care. Only about seven months later did he recognize his partner again.
“When he had a good day, he was 10% of himself. He was a completely different person,” he recalls.
These have been difficult months. “I desperately missed the other Jacob. I think we all did it.”
As if her husband’s situation wasn’t enough, an alert went off inside Abi in April 2019, right after Jacob came out of a coma while still in the hospital. Something was wrong. She wasn’t feeling well either.
“I started having terrible chest pain and decided to go to an oncology clinic. In less than two weeks I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember thinking I was so focused on Jacob’s mortality that I forgot. of my”. he says she.
“They did a mastectomy and removed a six centimeter tumor. I was very lucky. It hadn’t spread to my lymph nodes. I had 24 weeks of chemotherapy and radiation,” he adds.
Treatment ended in March 2020, shortly before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The evidence that the couple went through was behind them. Jacob is now “99%” back to normal and no longer needs daily care. They officially married in late May 2021.
– Text originally published in http://bbc.co.uk/portuguese/geral-62238472
Source: Terra
Benjamin Smith is a fashion journalist and author at Gossipify, known for his coverage of the latest fashion trends and industry insights. He writes about clothing, shoes, accessories, and runway shows, providing in-depth analysis and unique perspectives. He’s respected for his ability to spot emerging designers and trends, and for providing practical fashion advice to readers.
