Dummy Talks

It has been four months since Zach Dunlap was declared brain dead and doctors were preparing him for orgnas removal. Now he says he feels “pretty good”.

Dunlaps death was official at November the 19th 2007 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls,Texas. It was caused by an all-terrain vehicle accident and his family agreed to have his organs harvested.

The magick happened when family members were paying their last tribute to Zach. He moved his foot and hand then he reacted to pocketknife scrapes across his foot and to pressure applied under a fingernail. 48 days in hospital were needed but he was allowed to return home , where he continues to work on his recovery daily.

Last Monday, he and his family were in New York, appearing on NBC’s “Today.”

“I feel pretty good. but it’s just hard … just ain’t got the patience,” Dunlap told NBC.

Dunlap, 21, of Frederick, said he has no recollection of the crash.

“I remember a little bit that was about an hour before the accident happened. But then about six hours before that, I remember,” he said.

Dunlap said one thing he does remember is hearing the doctors pronounce him dead.

“I’m glad I couldn’t get up and do what I wanted to do,” he said.

Asked if he would have wanted to get up and shake them and say he’s alive, Dunlap responded: “Probably would have been a broken window that went out.”

His father, Doug, said he saw the results of the brain scan.

“There was no activity at all, no blood flow at all.”

Zach’s mother, Pam, said that when she discovered he was still alive, “That was the most miraculous feeling.”

“We had gone, like I said, from the lowest possible emotion that a parent could feel to the top of the mountains again,” she said.

She said her son is doing “amazingly well,” but still has problems with his memory as his brain heals from the traumatic injury.

“It may take a year or more … before he completely recovers,” she said. “But that’s OK. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. We’re just all so thankful and blessed that we have him here.”

Dunlap now has the pocketknife that was scraped across his foot, causing the first reaction.

“Just makes me thankful, makes me thankful that they didn’t give up,” he said. “Only the good die young, so I didn’t go.”