--- title: Mother of 11 Wakes From Month-Long Vegetative State description: A small army of volunteers has helped keep her family running canonical: https://time.com/4148717/mother-of-11-wakes-vegetative-state/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-14T23:52:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:27:43.761Z og:title: Mom of 11 Wakes From Month-Long Vegetative State Surrounded by Family and Friends og:description: A small army of volunteers has helped keep her family running og:url: https://time.com/4148717/mother-of-11-wakes-vegetative-state/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mom of 11 Wakes From Month-Long Vegetative State Surrounded by Family and Friends twitter:description: A small army of volunteers has helped keep her family running twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Mom of 11 Wakes From Month-Long Vegetative State Surrounded by Family and Friends by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 14, 2015 11:52 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 14, 2015 11:52 PM UTC A South Carolina [mother of 11 children](http://www.people.com/article/south-carolina-mother-11-wakes-vegetative-state) has woken from a vegetative state to find her family cared for by friends, family and strangers. Tammy Smith, 43, was hit by a semi-truck in October and remained in a vegetative state until Thanksgiving, suffering from traumatic brain injury, cracked ribs and a collapsed lung, _People_ reports. Her husband Bruce was by her side when she opened her eyes and said his name, an experience he compared to watching a child’s first steps. Bruce has been staying near the hospital at the Hospitality House of Charlotte, where family members can stay virtually for free in the event of medical crisis. While that non-profit has cared for him, family and friends have been running the household and taking the children to events, while a private school near the Hospitality House has donated Christmas presents to the Smiths. Tammy will likely have a very long recovery, and both spouses have been out of work since the accident. A [GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/8x6hh8hg) page has so far raised more than $10,000 for the family’s expenses. \[[_People_](http://www.people.com/article/south-carolina-mother-11-wakes-vegetative-state)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4148717/mother-of-11-wakes-vegetative-state/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4148717/mother-of-11-wakes-vegetative-state/"},"headline":"Mom of 11 Wakes From Month-Long Vegetative State Surrounded by Family and Friends","datePublished":"2015-12-14T23:52:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:27:43.761Z","description":"A small army of volunteers has helped keep her family running","url":"https://time.com/4148717/mother-of-11-wakes-vegetative-state/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Family"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4148717/mother-of-11-wakes-vegetative-state/","name":"Mom of 11 Wakes From Month-Long Vegetative State Surrounded by Family and Friends"}}]}] ```