The one that ‘brought me back to life’ after the three-and-a-half-month-long coma following my head injury accident was none other than the famous beagle of  Charles Schultz’ creation, SNOOPY! I was nine years old when the accident occurred and had grown up a huge Snoopy fan. My sister* and I collected a whole family of 12 by  1976: Snoopy, his wife and six kids, and Snoopy’s brother Spike and his wife and two kids. Snoopy also had two half-dog-half-person kids from his first marriage to my sister’s rag doll Lueeze. We had entire wardrobes for them, especially the girls, and some clothes that had been our own when we were littler. And some were custom-made with a hole for a tail. We also had doll bunk beds that we ‘transformed’ into a covered wagon for Snoopy family vacations. Thus, my sister’s and my imaginations went wild as youngsters, and Snoopy reigned supreme.

So the stage was set; Snoopy had to be with me in the hospital after my accident in 1976. He was even given his own hospital bracelet. And while I was in a coma for three and a half months, the poor guy was peed on, puked on, and God knows what all with surgeries, tracheotomy suctioning, and gastrostomy stuff…Then one day in late February, 1977, my  sister danced Snoopy around on my tummy, and I smiled– my first sign of awareness! Look what humor can do! It was all downhill from there.

Later at about age 11, my sister Kit got me to utter my first sound since the accident by promising me a huge $200 Snoopy. I made it to “ha”–not “hi”–so I didn’t win the Snoopy, but it got me going!

Much later, in college, I developed a kidney stone, and my mom flew down to North Carolina to be with me. Well, in keeping with tradition, she pulled Snoopy out of a bag she was carrying. “Incognito,” she said.

*my sister wishes to remain anonymous