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The wife of a Scottish policeman who has been in a coma for five years after suffering a brain injury in a 2003 car accident is hoping that the "Lazarus" drug Zolpidem will finally wake her husband from his persistent vegetative state.
Although Zolpidem was originally developed as a sleeping pill it has helped wake several hundred comatose patients in both South Africa and the United States. Now the police officer will become the first patient in Scotland to be given the drug.
His 44-year-old wife holds out hope that the drug might make its much famed miracle impact, "We're trying this to see how it goes - we need to try everything. It would be unbelievable if it works. Apparently it only works for some people.
"The guy in South Africa is now fully conscious and can do a lot for himself. The regeneration of his brain has been incredible.
"With brain injury you just never know. One guy in America just woke up after 19 years."
If the Lazarus pill does work, it will cap an amazing couple of months for the woman. Only last month she received a payment of £3.6 million in brain injury compensation for her husband. The sum was secured in an out-of-court settlement after her personal injury lawyer successfully negotiated with her husband's employer and the insurers of the Italian tourist who collided with his vehicle.
Commenting on the damages award, his wife said, "The settlement is like all my Christmases and birthdays have come at once. I will be able to keep him at home and we have the money to care for him. The nurses and carer are magnificent."
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