THE PARTNER of a woman who has been in Wexford General Hospital since August has appealed to the National Rehabilitation Hospital to take her in after she defied all odds to regain movement following a coma.

Mother-of-four Amanda Denton fell down the stairs at her home in Courtown on May 13 of last year and was brought to Wexford General Hospital before being transferred to Beaumont for an operation.

However, the prognosis was not good and there were fears that she would not wake up and if she did, she would be non-responsive. But Amanda did begin to wake up. Despite suffering two more instances of swelling on the brain, she has improved greatly following the placing of a shunt from her brain to her stomach and she has now regained movement on the right side of her body.

Her partner, Tommy Lee said that it was now time for the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire to take her in as they had said they would in January of this year. He explained that the hospital had paid three visits to Amanda and on the third occasion said they would take her in within the next ten to 12 weeks but so far there was been no sign of admission.

Mr. Lee said: “Wexford General Hospital has done everything they could for Amanda and I’m eternally grateful to them for their efforts. I have been doing some rehabilitation with Amanda myself and she has come on in leaps and bounds – it makes us think about how much the professionals would be able to help her.”

He added that even though Wexford General Hospital cannot do any more for Amanda, she cannot go home as she still bears surgery scars and would need to remain in a hospital environment with them.

He said he was appealing for the National Rehabilitation Hospital to take her in so she can continue to make progress.

“At the moment she’s not speaking but is beginning to make sounds and also to eat. She’s fighting hard and doing her best. In this day and age there should be facilities there for her. She deserves a chance now, she’s done her part, it’s time for the professionals to step in and do their bit.”