Godfrey recalls hearing Corinth’s voice and his brother’s voice on the recordings during that time.

“It was comforting to think that they were ‘there’ with me,” Godfrey wrote in an email. “It helped me by giving my brain something to connect with.”

In 2010, Godfrey, then a 32-year-old youth minister in Irvine, California, suffered a brain injury and went into a coma. Corinth, a neonatal intensive care nurse, was pregnant with their second child at the time.

The couple grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and Corinth wanted Godfrey to be treated at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Their church raised funds to hire an air ambulance to transport the comatose Godfrey to the Chicago hospital. While there, the family learned about the familiar voices study and wanted to participate.

After several weeks of listening to the tapes, Godfrey, who was severely disabled by his injury and unable to speak easily, slowly began to respond by gesture to questions asked by his therapist. But his responses were inconsistent. Then Corinth asked him something she knew could get a rise out of the devoted Chicago basketball fan.

“Will you ever be a Lakers’ fan?” she asked mischievously. Godfrey stared hard at the “no” card. “Will you always be a Chicago Bulls’ fan?” His gaze shifted unequivocally to “yes”.

“That was the turning point,” Corinth said. “I realized he was becoming more aware and more conscious,” Corinth said.

Godfrey progressed and began typing out messages on an iPad. One of the first things he wrote, “I wish I could go to Disneyland.” It was a favorite trip for the family.

Four years later, Godfrey now writes weekly devotionals that appear in his church’s bulletin and website. And he is involved in his family’s life. He reminds Corinth, via his iPad, about the family’s daily schedule like doctor’s appointments for their daughters or his bus pick up to go to physical therapy. His daughters like to hang out with him on his wheelchair.

“The voices treatment made a huge difference in his recovery,” Corinth said. “I know it helped bring him back to us.”

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Marla Paul
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Northwestern University

Journal
  Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
Funder
  VA’s Rehabilitation, Research and Development Service