Nearly two weeks after Dudley Cole was in a horrific car accident he is still in an induced coma, but there has been some good news about his recovery.

Dudley was travelling from Krugersdorp to Roodepoort on Saturday, 15 May, when his car collided with a tree. Dudley was seriously injured and had to be revived and airlifted to hospital.

His sister, Candice Cole, started a Facebook page called My Brother. The page serves two purposes – to keep the community, family and friends updated on Dudley’s condition; and to search for eyewitnesses to the collision. It is believed that another car was involved and might even have caused the terrible crash.

Read initial article here: Hit-and-run victim fights for his life – again

On 21 May the family received good news when doctors informed them that Dudley’s heart seemed fine. After undergoing an operation to remove a blood clot from Dudley’s brain, the pressure on his brain also seemed to be returning to normal.

However, doctors were still concerned about his lungs as one of Dudley’s lungs was punctured during the accident and collapsed. This also meant that the surgery to repair his broken left arm had to be postponed. The same arm was broken in another accident 12 years ago.

Candice said on her Facebook page that Dudley had a CT scan on 25 May, and that the neurologist was satisfied with his progress.

He says the brain is returning to normal. All the glory to the Lord! The major concern that he raised is Dudley’s lungs. His words were ‘it is a major concern, your lungs are very important’,” read Candice’s Facebook post.

From there onward the news got better and on Wednesday, 26 May, most of the fluids had been drained from Dudley’s lungs, and although he was still not breathing on his own, he was ready to have his arm repaired. The operation that was performed later that day went well.

More good news came yesterday, 27 May, when doctors informed the family that they would start bringing Dudley out of the induced coma, although his lungs remained a concern. His temperature was high due to an infection, but they were not sure about the origin of the infection and prescribed antibiotics.

It’s been tough this week trying to figure out how to get back to our normal lives in between all that has happened. We are overwhelmed by a host of conflicting emotions, sometimes all at once!”

The family is still appealing to anyone who might have information about the accident or witnessed it to please contact Candice on 076 687 5081.