Health issues lead to Lester Talley's near fatal accident. The husband and father of two suffered a serious traumatic brain injury.
"My brain had started swelling," Talley said.
"There really is no definitive therapy for the treatment of acute brain injury," said Dr. Laskowitz a neurologist.
Lester's wife Ashley feared the worst.
"Seemed like my world was coming to an end," Ashley Talley said.
While in a coma, Lester was enrolled in a phase three trial called Synapse. The study is testing if progesterone could help treat traumatic brain injury It is a natural hormone produced in men and women that's most often associated with pregnancy.
"There is good evidence that it reduces inflammation," Laskowitz said.
The hormone has to be given within eight hours of an injury. It is infused into the brain for five days straight.
"...and their ultimate endpoint is how they are doing at six months," Laskowitz said.
Research shows the drug can rebuild the blood-brain barrier, decrease brain swelling, and cell death. The trial is blinded so Lester doesn't know if he got the drug or a placebo, but in six-months he's come a long way. He still has trouble with the left side of body and a few memory issues.
"He remembered the most important thing, that I'm his wife. That's what i wanted you to remember," Ashley Talley said.
