A male model has died aged 34 after spending the last nine years in a coma.
Rarison Ricardo Miranda Vitória, better known as Rarison Ricardo, passed away on Wednesday (30 November).
He suffered a serious head injury called a cranioencephalic trauma in a road traffic accident in November 2013.
His family announced his death and said in a statement: “Deeply dismayed, the Miranda and Vitória families communicate the death of Rarison Ricardo Miranda Vitória, aged 34, after nine years of tireless struggle for life.”
The family did not state the specific cause of Rarison’s death or whether it happened at the hospital or at the family home, where he was being cared for by his 56-year-old mother, Rosely Almeida.
At times, the family struggled to keep up with the expenses required to look after Rarison, including hiring medical specialists, obtaining numerous medicines, paying for a special diet, and buying hygiene products.
He was unable to move on his own and was fed through a gastrostomy tube in his stomach.
In the nine years since the road accident, Rarison suffered a heart attack, pneumonia, and several severe illnesses.
In 2020, Rarison's mother, who is a nurse, spoke candidly about an electricity blackout that dramatically impacted her son's care.
“During this entire period of the blackout, I could not keep any of my son's devices," she said, according to G1.
"During this period, he developed pneumonia, I didn't have a device to aspirate him. The air mattress has dried out and there are pressure sores on it that need to be tended to. He didn't have any support related to energy, which is what he needs the most."
Rarison fought his way out of a deep coma into a vigil coma, a vegetative state when a person is awake but shows no signs of awareness.
His mother said in 2018 that he was able to slightly move his eyes, head and hands, and at times he tried to stimulate his vocal cords as if he wanted to talk.
She told G1 at the time: “The love I have for my son makes me believe that he will have a good quality of life. Some people think I think he's going to get up, walk. I would like this miracle, but I have no such illusion."
Rarison was in a car with two friends when the driver lost control and overturned on the Josmar Chaves Pinto Highway, Amapá State, Brazil.
The driver and another passenger only suffered minor injuries in the accident, however, Rarison suffered a severe brain injury.
He was taken to the Hospital de Emergência Osvaldo Cruz in Macapá and was then admitted to the Hospital de Clínicas Doutor Alberto Lima 12 days later.
