Man wakes after years in coma

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. -- A man regained consciousness after spending 19 years in a coma as the result of a car crash, greeting his mother who was waiting at his bedside.

"He started out with 'Mom' and surprised her and then it was 'Pepsi' and then it was 'milk.' And now it's anything he wants to say," Stone County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center social director Alesha Badgley said Tuesday.

Terry Wallis, 39, had been at the center since the July 1984 crash.

His father, Jerry Wallis, said his son uttered his first word June 12, was able to talk a little a day later and has improved ever since.

Terry Wallis' wife, Sandi, said her husband was riding with a friend when their car left the road and plunged into a creek. Wallis and his friend were found the next day.