When my third child was born, he was in a coma. He had suffered severe brain damage before he was born and he was completely deaf, but when I took a series of pictures of him using the flash on my camera he opened his eyes. After two years of doing intensive exercises with him, his pupil reflex and sense of smell had returned and he was able to cry, suck, chew, indicate "yes" and "no" answers and his hearing was tested in the children's hospital and found to be normal.