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Almost 20 years after suffering a severe brain injury in a truck accident, Terry Wallis uttered an astounding word.

"Mom."

It was the first word Wallis, of Mountain View, Ark., had been able to speak since sinking into a "minimally conscious state" (MCS) after the pick-up he and friends were riding in went over a cliff.

And while there have been sporadic reports of other "miracle" recoveries following years of a vegetative state, few, if any, of those have lasted more than a day or so. Wallis's recovery, widely reported in the media when it happened, has gone on for almost three years now.

"This is the only patient who was known to emerge after such a long time from such a state," said Dr. Nicholas Schiff, associate professor of neurology and neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. "This particular story of a man 20 years out recovering and sustaining the recovery and moving on is certainly, to my knowledge, unique and never studied."

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Imaging revealed that neuronal cells in the relatively undamaged areas of Wallis' brain have grown new, significant connections over years. The process is called "axonal re-growth."

"We think that there was some axon reorganization," Voss said. "I think that it was just a very, very slow remodeling of the brain, which takes years."

"The data is compelling to us to consider the hypothesis that what we're looking at here is some form of reconnection among existing neurons," Schiff added.

And medications may have played a role. About two years before he emerged from his minimally conscious state, Wallis started taking the anti-depressant Paxil.

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