I found a prayer that we wrote and posted for Sam on April 6th while we were waiting for him to come out of coma.  Reading it just brings back all the horror and heartache of waiting...

Samuel James Amberson Howell   requested by Your big sissies--bec and heath April 06, 2005
Sam was in a one car accident on Valentines Day 2005--He fell asleep while driving and hit a tree. The doctors didn't think he'd make it through the first 24 hours--fractured skull, bruised lungs and has been in a coma ever since. He does move a bit (posturing and flexion) and opens his eyes spontanously. He is only 18 years old--we need him back! Before the accident Sam was doing research on our sister Heather's disease (LYP)--he found a stem cell link and after winning the international science fair he continued his research at Harvard (he came home last November). He is so very bright and motivated--and such a sweet, dear brother. Two days after the accident my sister and I received the Valentine's cards he had written for us. He thanked us for all that we have done for him in his life and how he is the person he is today because of us. I wish I could tell him how I wouldn't be the person *I* am without him. Sam, Heather and I are so close (the three siblings)--we call each other the "three egg twins". My sister and I feel so broken and incomplete without him. He has so much more to do in life--he wants to find the cure for the disease that is threatening my sister's life--and he was well on his way. Please pray for my Sam--and make the three of us whole again. Here is a limerick that my sister wrote about Sam (Sam was born when I was twelve and Heather was ten) There once was a family of four, Then you came and life became more. Your heart and your mind, together combined has made you the one we adore. Come back, Sammy. Love, Your sissies

I read many of the prayers on that website (most related to coma) and it makes me realize how lucky we are to have experienced such a miracle in Sam's recovery so far.  I just pray that others can experience the same sort of recovery that Sam has.  Please continue to pray for Sam and others like him.

-Bec