Shocking Story Of Car Crash Victim Who Spent 31 Years In Coma Before He Died

Ignazio ‘Cito’ Okamoto from Collebeato, Brescia, was involved in a collision on March 19, 1988, and suffered a brain haemorrhage at the age of 22.

His friend was killed in the smash but two survived the incident on a Verona motorway.

Ignazio spent two years in a clinic, but his parents decided to take him home to try to bring him back to health.

But he has died aged 54 after suffering cardiac arrest.

Ignazio’s mother Marina told La Stampa: ‘For 31 years we lived cut off from the world.

‘The doctors had told us that he wouldn’t wake up but we cared for him every day, hoping that maybe…’

He said: ‘I am convinced that he thought he had been abandoned.’

The father said the family had ‘daily rituals’ to keep them going throughout his son’s coma.
 

Mr Okomoto said he had never thought about euthanasia for his Ignazio.

‘Sometimes he had a tear but I don’t know if he was conscious. I said to him: ”Ignazio, come on do not cry, you must be brave”.’

He added: ‘Pull the plug? This idea never touched me… Everyone has the right to decide how he wants (sic).’