9th June 2003, 00:20
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#1
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has no CT
(Forum King)
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 13,232
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Luther Vandross wakes up
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story:
Quote:
Waking from His Coma
Six weeks after a crippling stroke, Luther Vandross begins a remarkable recovery.
When Vandross (performing in February) began responding, "it was like a friend had come home," says his business manager.
(Todd Kaplan/Starfile)
When Mary Ida Vandross visited her son Luther in a Manhattan hospital June 2, he had his eyes closed and his face toward the window. Six weeks earlier a stroke had left the R&B artist all but comatose, but Mary Ida always hoped for a miracle when she entered the room. That evening, she got her wish. "I called to him," says the 79-year-old Philadelphia resident. "I said, 'Your momma's here.' And he turned and actually smiled. He opened his eyes and he looked at me a long time . . . and he tried to say, 'Momma.' "
It's still too soon for his doctors to offer any sort of public prognosis. But after praying by his bedside since he was hospitalized April 16, Vandross's family believes this small miracle will continue to grow. "It seems like we are truly on our way to a recovery," says his cousin Brenda Shields, 53, though another member of the singer's camp says that until they know how much brain damage Vandross may have suffered, a more accurate description would be "cautiously optimistic."
At first there was scant reason for any hope: Not only had Vandross, 52, been debilitated by stroke after a blood ruptured at the base of his brain, but in the hospital he had to fight both meningitis and pneumonia (which required a tracheotomy). Until last week his condition was, in the words of business manager Carmen Romano, "minimally responsive." That changed startlingly on May 29. He'd been reopening his eyes sporadically for weeks, "but that night his awareness level jumped," says assistant Max Szadek, who was in his room at the time. "He started turning his head more, responding with nods." Now he can mouth words (he can't speak until doctors remove the tracheotomy tube), and his business manager hopes he'll move into rehab "very soon."
Although Vandross has previously battled weight problems (he's yo-yoed between 180 and 320) and suffered from both hypertension and diabetes, "he's a strong person," says his mother. His family has proved equally tough, rallying, says his mother, "like the Trojans at the bridge." They've read him e-mails from fans, relayed messages from famous friends (Patti LaBelle, Burt Bacharach, Jesse Jackson), tuned his TV set to his favorite TV game shows and pushed ahead with the June 10 release of his new album, Dance with My Father. They have also learned the virtue of patience. "There have been some really sincere prayers sent up to heaven," says Mary Ida. "And I do believe God has heard, and he's answering. But you don't hurry God. He comes in his time."
— TOM GLIATTO
— MARK DAGOSTINO in New York City and AMY MINDELL in Detroit
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wow! lucky guy 
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