 Her 25-year-old son Dawid, who's studying in the US and used to call his mum nearly every day, was devastated when doctors told him she would remain in a vegetative state for the rest of her life. But although Iwona is now paralysed, she has been able to stretch out her fingers, tense her legs and communicate with Dawid and her husband Leszek, 53, by blinking. Dawid said: "The first sign, like the opening of one eye, came about three weeks after the accident, and then the changes progressed very slowly. "Something new keeps appearing all the time. "Movements with her legs or hands are minimal. There are only movements such as stretching the fingers of her hands or slightly tensing the muscles of her legs. "She cannot lift his legs or arms up. We communicate with her using her eyes. A longer blink is a 'yes' response. On the other hand, 'no' is a shaking of the head to the right and left. "S){kind=link}
Iwona Nowodworska, 44, was seen floating face down during a swimming race in Poland and went into cardiac arrest, resulting in her heart stopping for 15 minutes
A mum who effectively ‘drowned’ for 15 minutes during a swimming race is learning to communicate with her family by blinking.
Iwona Nowodworska, 44, was spotted floating face down at the end of the 475m course by a spectator, who dived in to pull her out of the water.
The mum-of-one had been in training for two years before she decided to take part in a race this June to prepare for her first triathlon.
It remains unclear what caused Iwona to get into trouble and be overcome by swallowing water during the race at a lake in Osiek, Poland.