An 18-year-old who was declared brain dead after being hit by a van blinked and started breathing on his own hours before his organs were due to be donated.
Lewis Roberts, from Leek, Staffordshire, was struck by the vehicle in his hometown on March 13 and suffered catastrophic head injuries.
He was flown by air ambulance to Royal Stoke University Hospital where his family were told four days later he had lost his fight for life and to say their final goodbyes.
They agreed to donate Lewis’s organs to help seven other people, but just hours before the surgery the teenager began to breathe again on his own.
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His sister Jade Roberts, 28, posted an extraordinary video with her brother from his hospital bedside on March 18.
She was recording the machine monitoring his breathing and said: ‘Are you ready Lew, one, two, three breathe.’
The device then showed a brown line and she cried out in surprise, adding: ‘Have a break, clever boy.’ Someone added through tears: ‘He’s just twitched.’
Later in the clip – after a few unsuccessful attempts to get him to breathe on his own – Jade said: ‘One, two, three, and a big breath.’
The machine again turned brown and his sister said: ‘I’m telling you Lew, you’re amazing, you are amazing.’
In an update two days ago, Jade said on March 26 he had managed a full day without using a ventilator.
But she said on March 28 he had to use it again due to what ‘could be a chest infection which is been looked into’.
Lewis Roberts, from Leek, Staffordshire, was struck by a van in his hometown on March 13 and suffered catastrophic head injuries. He is pictured receiving a military award.
A miracle any family could wish for after being told he had zero chance of pulling through.