A woman who has been in a coma for seven months has given birth to a healthy baby girl.
The new mum, from Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, was seriously injured only 40 days after falling pregnant when she fell off a motorbike without a helmet.
The mum, known as Shafiya, reportedly had her burqa trapped in the bike’s back wheel as it was driven by her partner.
She was involved in a horrific crash that left her with terrible head injuries in March this year.
Since then she has been in a coma, and undergone five separate brain surgeries at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in Bulandshahr.
During her time unconscious she had a segment of her skull surgically removed to alleviate pressure on her brain.
This forced the 23-year-old to rely on a ventilator to keep breathing.
Throughout it all doctors wrestled with the difficult decision over whether to terminate the pregnancy.
But an ultrasound showed the pregnancy was normal and ultimately they recommended to her family that she continue with it.
Despite doctors giving the mum between just a 10 and 15 per cent chance of leaving her coma, she delivered a healthy baby girl on October 22.
Since giving birth, Shafiya has been taken off the ventilator and occasionally has moved her head and legs. Her family remains hopeful she might one day meet her daughter.
Surgeon Dr Deepak Gupta called the case “highly unusual”, adding: “I haven’t come across any such case in my 22-year neurosurgical career at the AIIMS.
“She is presently in stable condition and is not on ventilator support.
“There is a resistance to wearing a helmet while riding pillion, especially from the Muslim and Sikh community.
“Women, or anyone, who rides pillion on a two-wheeler, should wear helmets.”
