Bobby Ghassemi was 17 years old when he was in a horrific car accident. In March 2010, he went off the road at a high rate of speed. "For all intents and purposes, he was dead on the scene," said Dr. Michael Lewis. "I'm looking at the reports, and they report a Glasgow Coma Score of 3. A brick or a piece of wood has a Glasgow Coma Score of 3. It's dead."
Ghassemi's brain was so engorged, doctors needed to relieve the pressure by taking out a portion of his skull. He also had what is called diffuse axonal injury: bleeding that suffused nearly every part of his brain.
"His doctor said to me, 'Listen, he has survived. It is a miracle that he lived, that he made it,' " Marjan Ghassemi, Bobby's mom, said. " 'If he comes out of the coma ... I don't know if he's going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life or whether he'll remember anybody.' "
10 days later, there was no improvement. "Every minute passing was hurting my son ... because they weren't really doing anything to help him besides keeping him alive and stabilizing all of his vital signs," Peter Ghassemi said. "If there was a chance to improve, I wanted it to be done right then." So he asked Dr. Lewis if he had any suggestions. And Dr. Lewis did. Fish oil. Fish oil is rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids, as is your brain.
Doctors finally conceded and Bobby was started on 20 grams a day of omega-3 fish oil through a feeding tube (if you're currently taking it -- you're taking 2 grams thrown your mouth).
Two weeks after beginning the regimen, Ghassemi was emerging from his coma.
"We saw hand movements on the left side," Peter Ghassemi said. "Around the fifth or sixth week, there was some movement, and then his hands started moving more, the leg was moving more."
Soon after that, Bobby began to show signs of recognizing his family and his dog and of discerning things like colors and numbers. Slowly, his brain was recovering, and his family ardently believes that the high-dose fish oil is the reason why.
"His brain was still recovering, but with (omega-3), it recovered much faster and in a shorter amount of time," Peter Ghassemi said. "His brain was damaged, and this was food for the brain."
Three months after his accident, Bobby Ghassemi was well enough to attend his high school graduation.
Of course the entire healing report is, as we said, anecdotal. But the cool thing is -- there's at least one other amazing recovery story attributed to fish oil.
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