Miriam, the woman who spent 31 years in a coma after a car accident, has died

In June 1990 Angelo Farina and Miriam Visintin promise each other eternal love in front of an altar, while the magical nights of that Italian summer are enlivened by the song of Gianna Nannini. However, a year and a half later, precisely on Christmas Eve 1991, the event arrives that will determine a before and after in the lives of these two very close young men. Miriam had a road accident in Mussolente, Vicenza, Italy, driving her Fiat Panda: he was rescued, but was left in a vegetative state. He was only 26 years old.

Since then his life has passed, for 31 long years, in the silence of a bed in a nursing home, until Last Thursday he died of a lung problem. But Miriam never was alone, because her husband Angelo has never stopped being close to her. He managed to visit her every day, except for the two years in which the restrictions due to the pandemic were imposed. And now, a few hours after her funeral, she says without hesitation: “If I went back, I’d do it all over again.”

“I’m fine, now I feel free, because I know that Miriam has stopped suffering. These last 40 days have been terrible: first a pleural effusion, then a series of complications and even two cardiac arrests,” he told the Italian newspaper. The Republic.

“At first it was hope that kept me going. I thought he would wake up sooner or later. On December 24, 1991, the doctors said he would not survive the night and instead he survived. Three months later they took him off the respirator because he managed alone. But she ended up in what medicine calls an apallic coma. After all, after the accident his brain was 95% damaged.”

From the moment of the wedding until the morning of the accident, just 16 months passed, less than a year and a half.

“I decided from the beginning to stay there with her, forever, until the last of her days. I could have asked the Sacra Rota to annul the marriage, but I never wanted to. And Miriam continued to be my wife. It was very difficult, it wasn’t an easy situation to accept. I had so much anger inside. Such a beautiful, talented and special girl shouldn’t have ended like this,” said Angelo.

Miriam and Angelo promised each other eternal love in June 1990 and moved together to the Vicenza area. On the morning of December 24 of the following year, on her way to work, the young woman suffered a terrible car accident. He lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a roadside pillar, being trapped and having to be rescued by the fire brigade.

“I went there every day, at lunchtime, for at least 15 minutes. Sometimes I could also go in the afternoon, before dinner, and then I stayed even longer. Sisters Rosanna and Carmen were also there, with their respective husbands, and mother Maria, who has accompanied us all these years”, recalls Angelo.

“According to the doctors there was no brain activity, but according to us it gave small signals every now and then. When I entered the room he made a particular face and on many occasions even I saw a tear fall.”

During these decades, Angelo rebuilt his life: he remarried and had children. “I was alone for 12 years, then I met a special person who understood me and my situation. She knew how to stand by my side delicately, never opposing what worried Miriam. In fact, in these days she too has been close to her to help her ».

But she never stopped caring for her first love. “Fate was cruel to her, too cruel. He didn’t deserve all of this. I keep saying it and I will continue to say it in the future as well.”