Give the man what he wants! Jake Booth, a Florida Army veteran who fell into a serious 47-day coma following a battle with pneumonia, woke up on day 48 and knew instantly what he needed: Taco Bell.
According to USA Today, Booth, 35, surprised both his family and his neurologists when he awoke from the coma with his memory fully intact and a craving for fast food.
Because he had undergone a tracheotomy and was still feeling the residual effects of intubation, Booth couldn’t fully form words, but as soon as he could, he told doctors, “I want Taco Bell.”
“He actually said, out loud, ‘I want Taco Bell,’” Booth’s older brother Jason Schwartz told the paper. “That was the very first thing he said.… When he starts getting into a full sentence, he can’t do it. But when he does one or two words at a time, you can definitely understand him. So when he asked for Taco Bell almost immediately, his friend Tyler definitely heard him say ‘Taco Bell.’ Tyler said, ‘Do you want Taco Bell?’ And Jake said, ‘Yes.’”
Unfortunately, Booth wasn’t able to eat solid food for another three weeks, but as soon as doctors cleared him to feast on regular food, he tucked into eight and a half Crunchy Tacos.
A video made about Booth’s unexpected request soon went viral, and Booth’s brother told USA Today that the family is hoping to use his sudden internet fame to help raise funds for his medical and therapy bills.
"I think a lot of people saw that video, and said, 'The guy's eating tacos, what does he need donations for?'" he said. "But the truth is, he has got years of therapy ahead of him…. We want to make sure that people know he is not in the clear."
The family has started a GoFundMe page and so far has reached $12,700 of its $50,000 goal.
