A young Christian woman who suffered a severe brain bleed ten days ago has been taken off life support and is breathing on her own. The family and friends of Hannah Montagu have been calling for prayer after the 22-year-old was left in a coma following a haemorrhage that caused damage to her brain stem.
While it is an encouraging sign that Hannah is now breathing without a ventilator, her family say she remains "deeply unconscious" in a coma.
In an update on Thursday, sister Abbie Young said that Hannah had been fighting "a bit of a high temperature and high blood pressure" overnight, but that she remained stable.
"I am so confident that she is not alone as we have seen thousands of prayers continue to cover her," Young added. "God has her in his wonderful hands and once again we give this day to him as we wait for a miracle."
Thousands of people have been committing themselves to pray for Hannah as she continues to recover, with family and friends organising regular prayer meetings on Zoom. Another of Hannah's sisters, Ellie, said that the family had been put on loudspeaker in Hannah's hospital room on Thursday so she could hear their voices.
"We spoke to her again on speakerphone this morning and told her about all of you who are praying for her," Ellie wrote on Facebook.
In a separate update, Ellie said that the doctors told them that Hannah was likely to die within two days of the haemorrhage. "We are now on day 10 and she is beginning to breathe all on her own," she wrote. "Our beautiful fighter!!"
Ellie added that the medical team was "still very concerned about the damage to her brain and the long-term effects of this". There are concerns about the long term impact on Hannah's eyesight due to the area of the brain that has been damaged by the bleed.
"But we believe in a God who can heal and restore," she added. "Please continue to pray that Hannah’s brain is healed and fully restored in the name of Jesus."
"Wake up Hannah!"