‘Stop funeral preparations’: Husband calls kin after pothole jolts brain-dead UP woman back to life

PILIBHIT: What began as a tragic journey home for a grieving family turned into an unexpected recovery for a 50-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh after an ambulance hit a pothole on the Bareilly–Haridwar NH-74.Vineeta Shukla had been declared “brain-dead” by doctors at a Bareilly hospital and discharged with little hope of survival. Her husband, Kuldeep Kumar Shukla, was taking her back home on February 24 to prepare for her last rites when the ambulance passed through a pothole-ridden stretch of road near Hafizganj.According to Kuldeep, the sudden jolt changed everything.“I had already told my family to prepare for her funeral. She was not breathing properly and her heartbeat was fading. When the ambulance hit a large pothole, the vehicle shook violently,” he said.Moments later, he noticed that his wife had begun breathing normally again. “It felt like a miracle. I immediately called my family and asked them to stop the funeral preparations. We rushed her to Neurocity Hospital in Pilibhit,” he said.At the hospital, doctors admitted Vineeta and began intensive treatment. After several days of care, she recovered enough to return home on Monday. “She is awake now and even speaking with us,” her husband said.Dr Rakesh Singh, a neurosurgeon at Neurocity Hospital, said the medical team first verified the earlier diagnosis before beginning treatment.“According to the reports from the Bareilly hospital, her brainstem reflexes were absent and her Glasgow Coma Scale score had dropped to three out of 15, indicating complete unresponsiveness,” he said.Her eyes showed mydriasis — dilation of the pupils — which typically indicates severe neurological damage. However, further tests conducted after her admission revealed the presence of heavy neurotoxins in her bloodstream and lymphatic system.“Once the toxins were identified, targeted treatment was initiated. The response to treatment was significant and her condition gradually improved,” Dr Singh said.Vineeta, who works as a senior assistant in the copy section of the judicial courts in Pilibhit, had collapsed at home on February 22 while doing household chores. Her family initially took her to the Autonomous State Medical College in Pilibhit, from where doctors referred her to a higher medical facility in Bareilly.Two days later, doctors there declared her brain-dead and discharged her. But the unexpected jolt during the ambulance journey appears to have coincided with the moment her condition began to reverse, ultimately leading to her recovery.