Is There Hope for Bobbi Kristina? An Expert Weighs In

Bobbi Kristina Brown remains hospitalized after being found unconscious in a bathtub in her Roswell, GA home nearly six weeks ago.

To learn more about what hope there is for her recovery, ExtraTV.com spoke with Dr. Sasan Yadegar, Neurosurgical Director with Dignity Health Northridge Hospital and Trauma Center.

Dr. Yadegar, who has never treated Bobbi Kristina, said the family should remain hopeful. In his experience, it can take patients three to six months to wake up after an anoxic brain injury (global lack of oxygen to the brain). Age is also on her side. Yadegar explained that someone in their early twenties has a better chance at making a recovery than an older person.

He went on to say, “In the best of circumstances, what happens with these patients is that you expect the first thing to return is some respiratory function, the second thing to return is their eyes may open. They may not follow commands but their eyes may open. The third thing is movement of the upper and lower extremities. That is not to commands, but due to some type of stimulus. And then slowly, and God willing, they start following some commands.”

Yadegar continued, “Once they start following commands, you commit them to a rehab center, which means they exercise the upper and lower extremities. Hopefully, they get the patient back up walking and sitting in a chair and then ultimately they work with them with the speech therapy to get them to talk again and understand the speech and learn how to get around and get by with their lives… learn how to feed themselves and so on and so forth. It can take up to two years to get all of those things done.”

If Bobbi Kristina does wake up, she could face many more challenges. Yadegar said there is almost no chance of a patient waking up “100 percent” recovered, explaining that many wake up with sight, speech or mobility problems.

“To expect a full recovery is absolutely not possible,” he said.