A woman shared the surprising moment she realized her boyfriend was waking up from his coma—when he subconsciously began undoing her bra.
Kath Smith recounted the anecdote on TikTok in a video that has garnered over 740,000 views.
“A lot of people think you just ‘wake up’ from a coma, but no it takes quite the process. That’s what I thought anyway until it happened to me!” the content creator described.
“Something that a lot of people don’t realize is that there’s actually a criteria that in terms of being considered ‘awake’ from a coma. It’s not quite as easy as you think it would be.”
Kath Smith shared the unusual way she realized her boyfriend was starting to emerge from his coma
Image credits: kathhsmithh
“It’s not just like oh, he moved so therefore he’s awake. No.”
Kath’s boyfriend, Ben, had been in a comatose state for “about 10 days,” according to her. During that time, he wasn’t completely motionless but was able to move one side of his body.
“He didn’t just lay there. He was paralyzed on one side, but the other side, thrashed. We had to literally tie him down to the bed because he was trying to pull out his tubes and everything,” she explained.
“You would think, oh, he’s obviously awake. He’s been moving around. No, they’re [the doctors] like, that’s just reactive. I would hold his hand, he would squeeze my hand and they’d be like that’s just reactive.”
Instead of reactive responses, doctors told Kath that her boyfriend needed “intentional movement” to know he was emerging from his coma.
The intentional movement eventually came one day while she was lying down with him.
“He started rubbing my back and they’re like, ‘No, that’s still reactive.’ But then he put his hand up my shirt and then man, in his coma, undid my bra.
“I’m not even joking. I was just there, dumbfounded.”
Kath’s boyfriend, Ben, was in a coma for 10 days following a traumatic brain injury (TBI)
@kathhsmithh Replying to @Narra84 here’s an updated story time #storytime #ourstory #tbisurvivor #couple ♬ LOVE SONG FOR YOU – Dj Roys
Kath added: “The nurses were like don’t move, don’t move, don’t move. They brought the doctor in and the doctor was like, ‘I’ll claim that as intentional.’
“That’s how we knew Ben was emerging from his coma. This is a literal true story.”
Ben still turns red in the face when he remembers how he communicated the health update. “He finds it so embarrassing so I don’t know how he’s gonna feel about me posting this. But I’m like, ‘Your true nature was in there.'”
Research has suggested that stimulating the main senses – touch, hearing, vision, and smell – could potentially help a person recover from a coma, the NHS notes.
Doctors told Kath that Ben’s movements had to be voluntary, rather than reactive, to indicate that he was waking up from his coma
@kathhsmithh Replying to @Sydnee Bauerle right!! Its nothing like what you see in the movies. #tbisurvivor #caregiver #boyfriend ♬ original sound – Kath
People who do wake up from a coma usually come around gradually. They may be very agitated and confused in the beginning, the public healthcare site adds.
Ben was hospitalized for 4.5 years due to a TBI (traumatic brain injury). The term refers to a brain injury that is caused by an outside force, such as a forceful bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body, or from an object entering the brain, as per the NIH.
“He put his hand up my shirt and then man, in his coma, undid my bra. I’m not even joking. I was just there, dumbfounded,” she described
“I’m Kath. I became a caregiver to my boyfriend at 25 after he suffered a severe TBI. After 4.5 years in the hospital, he’s home!” the Toronto-based influencer wrote in January.
“Now I’m working on my own healing and figuring out who I am.”
“This has to be the nurses’ favorite story,” a viewer quipped
