28/5/26 One in four brain-injured patients labeled "unresponsive" may actually be conscious. Awake and present in their mind, just frustratingly trapped behind a body that won't broadcast it yet. I can remember times like this in 2008, when I was still in a vegetative state but able to recognize my surroundings, screaming out of fear in my head as the nurse pushed me in my wheelchair around the corner to Room 3024, with nobody noticing my “awakeness.” Scary memory! Research