Baby Wakes From Coma After Parents Were Advised To Turn Off Life Support

A French baby has woken up from a medically induced coma after her parents were advised to turn off her life support.

The one-year-old, named Marwa, was put into the coma in September after she suffered a dangerous viral infection that attacked her immune system. Although she was able to move and recognised her parent’s faces, her doctors were worried that she would not be able to breathe without a respirator. They were also concerned that she would never eat, or walk on her own. As a result 10 days ago, they told her parents the life support should be turned off.

Marwa’s parents refused to listen. They petitioned to the hospital and doctors for more time before the machines were turned off, claiming that their daughter’s twin sister Safa needed her.

Their plea, in a change.org petition, has almost 130,000 signatures. In it the child’s parents say that while the hospital where Marwa is being held has the best doctors in the region, the facility is overrun due to a large number of patients having been transferred there from other areas. Even Marwa was a transfer, having been moved to Marseilles from Nice when her condition became too severe.

“As a result, it is clear that La Timone hospital is facing serious budgetary problems, requiring it to work urgently and as quickly as possible in order to free up places,” the writer of the petition noted.

“Only Marwa gives us hope every day by getting better and better. She just needs time.”

Video has since emerged of the youngster, showing her conscious and being spoken to by a woman who is believed to be her mother.

However it seems that for now progress is slow, and even though Marwa has defied her doctor’s expectations just by regaining consciousness, she has a long way to go.