Brain-Injured Woman Regains Power of Speech after 20 Years.

A simple, "Hi, Mom" and "Hi, Dad, Happy Valentine's Day" may not seem like much. But after years of communicating only through blinking her eyes, Sarah Scantlin, 38, had just spoken her first words to her parents in 20 years.

Sarah's first words since being hit by a car in 1984 - - "OK, OK" - - came during a speech therapy session a few weeks before. Not wanting to give the family false hope, therapists at Golden Plains Health Care Center in Hutchinson, Kansas, worked diligently with Sarah to help her speak even more, according to the Kansas City Star.

When she improved enough, Sarah called her parents. Her mother Betsy answered the phone February 4 and heard, "Hi, Mom." Her family has been celebrating the miracle of communication ever since.

That first conversation seemed like a normal one between a mother and her daughter, but it was an answer to her family's prayers. According to the Associated Press (AP), Betsy Scantlin responded to her daughter's greeting with an astonished, "Sarah, is that you?" and Sarah answered, "Yes."

"How are you doing?" her mother asked, and Sarah said, "Fine." When Betsy Scantlin asked, "Do you need anything?" her daughter replied, "More makeup."

Sarah also spoke to her dad and gave him an early Valentine's Day greeting in that same first phone call. "I've awakened to another world again," Sarah's father Jim told the Star. "I thought to my last breath that I wouldn't get to talk with her again. I just ached for that."

A college freshman, Sarah suffered near-fatal injuries when a drunk driver crashed into her when she was walking to her car in 1984. Her first miracle occurred when she simply survived the terrible crash, the Star reported.