Elaine Esposito (December 3, 1934 – November 25, 1978) held the record for the longest period of time in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

according to ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'', having lost consciousness in 1941 and eventually dying in that condition more than 37 years later. Edwarda O'Bara and Aruna Shanbaug later exceeded Esposito's record of having been in the longest comas.

History

Elaine was the only child of Louis and Lucy Esposito of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. At age six she was taken to a hospital having suffered a ruptured appendix, where she underwent an

appendectomy An appendectomy, also termed appendicectomy, is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedure to treat complicated acu ...

on August 6, 1941. She never awoke after being anesthetized. As the surgery was coming to an end, she went into convulsions, her temperature rose to , and doctors feared that she would not survive the night. The cause of the complication was debated, with some suggesting that Elaine had

encephalitis Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include seizures, hallucinations, ...

, and others saying that her brain was not receiving enough oxygen during the operation. The first ten months of her coma were spent in a Chicago hospital until her parents could no longer afford her care, at which point they took her home so her mother Lucy could care for her day and night. In her lengthy coma, she showed states of both deep sleep and open-eyed unconsciousness and she grew slightly to . Elaine survived numerous other conditions over the years, including additional abdominal surgery,

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

, the

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

, and a collapsed lung. The family eventually moved to

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal po ...

, and she was also taken to visit the Grotto at Lourdes,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, where her parents hoped for a miracle. Her father, Louis, who had been working multiple jobs, died from cancer in January 1978. Elaine died later that year at the age of 43 years and 357 days, having been in a coma for 37 years and 111 days. Esposito's story was brought back into attention in the late 1990s and early 2000s in the controversy surrounding the case of

Terri Schiavo The Terri Schiavo case was a series of court and legislative actions in the United States from 1998 to 2005, regarding the care of Theresa Marie Schiavo (née Schindler) (; December 3, 1963 – March 31, 2005), a woman in an irreversible ...

, who was in a

persistent vegetative state A persistent vegetative state (PVS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative stat ...

. Coincidentally, Schiavo and Esposito were both being cared for in

Pinellas County, Florida Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa– St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistic ...

, at the time of their deaths, and they shared a birthday, December 3.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Elaine 1934 births 1978 deaths People from Chicago People with disorders of consciousness People with hypoxic and ischemic brain injuries People with severe brain damage Hispanic and Latino American people American people of Italian descent