When graduate student Katie McGovern awoke from a three-month long coma, doctors told her family that while the once articulate young woman would probably never be able to speak again, she somehow is now able to blow dry her hair with a round brush.
While McGovern’s brain damage makes it impossible for her to communicate verbally, she did wake up able to do something even more impressive: expertly blow out her long, frizzy hair in just under 20 minutes, using only a round brush and a drugstore hair dryer – no flat iron or products required.
“I visited her hospital room and left an overnight toiletries bag next to the bed,” says Lillie McGovern, the patient’s sister. “When I came back the next morning, her hair was silky and voluminous and the room smelled like burning hair. I realized my sister did that all by herself! God works in mysterious ways.”
“My daughter is unable to tell her nurses when she is hungry, thirsty, or needs to go to the bathroom, but she somehow manages deftly style her hair in a variety of ways using just the brush and blow dryer,” says her mother, Andrea McGovern. “She’s created sleek, polished locks, textured, beachy waves, and lush curls. She doesn’t even have to use any serums, sprays, or oils to get her strands to stay put. I’m so glad my baby was given this incredible gift. But also, she can’t talk.”
Katie’s doctors have made it clear they haven’t seen anything like this before.
“Katie is struggling to verbalize basic words like ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” says Doctor Gorva. “She has a long road to recovery ahead of her. But she has become the envy of everyone at the hospital thanks to her unbelievable gift. She doesn’t even have a mirror. It’s a medical miracle.”
Despite Katie’s new disability, the family is hopeful about her inexplicable ability to use complicated hair tools that many hair professionals have yet to master.
“Maybe this all happened for a reason,” Lillie suggests, as Katie silently works her magic on her sister’s locks.
