Surf legend Vincent "Sunny" Garcia wakes up from coma five months after attempting suicide
Emotional and heartbreaking pictures have captured the moment a champion surfer woke up from a five-month coma after attempting to take his own life. The 49-year-old Vincent "Sunny" Garcia also spoke for the first time since he was discovered unconscious at his home.
His eldest daughter, Kaila Garcia took to Instagram to share, "We are taking one day at a time and celebrating each little triumph. My dad is a warrior and fighting every day to get better and stronger." Vincent will have to go through physical, speech, as well as occupational therapy in the hospital.
In one of the pictures, Vincent can be seen sitting in a wheelchair and staring intensely at a relative. "It's going to be a marathon not a sprint but we work every day to make sure he is surrounded with love, laughter, and ohana [family]," Kaila further shared.
The family have started a GoFundMe site and are trying to raise $150,000 (£120,000) to support Vincent.
A family friend, Janae Twissleman shared that Vincent was paying attention to voices and was now able to follow people's faces. " He's moving his head. He's speaking a few words," Twissleman shared. When he had initially started, he was in an induced coma and is now able to function completely on his own.
The skilled surfer had been found unresponsive at his home in Oregon in April following a long battle with depression. He took to Instagram to 2014 to open up on how he had been struggling with the condition.
At the time, he had posted, "Depression is no joke". He added, "Well, I know I'm not alone and I'm not sure what's wrong with me because I have no reason to feel the way I do and it's been happening for about two years."