"One Eye-Gaze at a Time”: The Marine Who Woke Up After Eight Years in a Coma




By Sherry Phipps

In 2012, 24‑year‑old Marine veteran Jacob Creasman suffered a sudden brain aneurysm that changed everything in an instant.
He slipped into a coma that would last eight long years, a silent stretch of time during which he could not speak, move, or respond to the world around him.

In January 2020, something shifted. Staff at the long‑term care community where Jacob lives noticed that his eyes were tracking them as they moved through the room.​
He was awake. He was aware. But he remained trapped inside a body that would not obey him—unable to move, speak, eat, or even close his eyes on his own.

If you’d like to see the news story that first brought Jacob’s journey to a wider audience, you can watch it here:
Watch Jacob’s story on YouTube.​

Locked in, but not gone

Jacob’s loved ones describe his awakening as “a miracle,” but it was a miracle with a harsh edge: doctors and caregivers recognized that he was fully conscious, yet almost completely paralyzed.​
He could hear, think, and feel, but he couldn’t respond with words or gestures, a condition often referred to as locked‑in syndrome.

For eight years, Jacob had no way to tell anyone he was still there.​
After he woke up, the first priority became finding any possible way for him to communicate—even if that meant building a system one letter at a time.​

Inventing a way to talk

With the support of staff at his community, Jacob and his care team developed a painstaking manual system to unlock his voice.​
They created a communication board and a routine: a partner would slowly move through the alphabet while Jacob focused his eyes on each letter he wanted to choose, one at a time.​

Letter by letter, word by word, sentences emerged.​
It could take minutes to form a single thought, but that slow spell‑out became Jacob’s lifeline to the world—proof that his humor, intelligence, and personality had survived the years of silence.​

Friends and caregivers say he has a sharp sense of humor, a big laugh, and a serious talent for spelling.​
The more he “talked,” the clearer it became: Jacob didn’t just need to be heard occasionally; he needed a reliable way to participate in his own life.​

The $16,000 voice

The solution was clear but expensive: an eye‑gaze communication device that could track his eye movements on a screen, convert them into words, and speak for him.
Jacob was evaluated for a specialized tablet and software—often referred to as a Dynavox eye‑gaze system—that could give him a synthesized voice, as well as access to the internet, texting, and social media.

The price tag was around $16,000, and Jacob’s insurance refused to cover the device.
His family and friends turned to the nonprofit Help Hope Live to raise the funds, not just for the eye‑gaze computer but also for other essential equipment he would need to stay healthy and connected.​

Donors responded from around the country, many of them strangers touched by the story of a young Marine who had already lost so much time and was now fighting for the simple dignity of conversation.
People left messages of encouragement and faith, thanking him for his service and calling his recovery a miracle they felt privileged to support.​

Finding his voice in pixels

Thanks to those donations, Jacob received a Control Bionics eye‑gaze computer designed to let him use a digital keyboard with his eyes and have the device speak his typed words aloud.​
The same setup also opens doors to Facebook, YouTube, texting, and other online spaces that most of us take for granted.​

It isn’t instant magic. Jacob works with the device every day, learning to control the cursor with subtle eye movements and building speed and accuracy over time.​
Each new phrase he types is a small act of independence: a joke shared, a need expressed, a prayer, a thank‑you.​

Donations also helped provide a cough‑assist machine and a specialized vest to help keep his lungs clear, critical equipment for someone who cannot cough effectively on his own.​
Together, these tools make it more likely that Jacob can stay healthy enough to keep practicing with his new “voice” and remain engaged with the people who love him.​

Why Jacob’s story matters

Jacob’s journey is extraordinary, but the barriers he faces are painfully common for people living with severe brain injury and paralysis.
Assistive technology exists, but it is often priced far beyond the reach of the individuals who need it most, especially when insurance plans deny coverage for devices deemed “non‑essential.”

In Jacob’s case, community support stepped into the gap left by policy and paperwork.
Every contribution became more than money—it became a sentence he could finally say, a story he could finally tell, a chance to be more than a patient lying quietly in a bed.​

When you watch Jacob’s story on YouTube, you’re not just seeing a headline about a Marine who woke up after eight years in a coma.​​
You’re witnessing the middle of a much longer story: a man who refuses to accept that silence is the end, and a community determined to make sure his voice is heard, one eye‑gaze at a time.

Sources