<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/josef_fritzl/2101452/Josef...>Fritzl
girl wakes from coma and is reunited with her family

By Michael Leidig in Vienna
Last Updated: 10:12PM BST 09/06/2008

Kerstin Fritzl, who was held captive by her father in a dungeon in
Austria, has woken from a seven-week coma and been reunited with her
mother and the rest of her family at a secure medical ward.

Kerstin, along with her mother Elisabeth and two brothers, was
imprisoned from birth by her father Josef Fritzl

Doctors were unsure how Kerstin - who had only ever seen her mother
Elisabeth and two brothers, as well as her father, Josef Fritzl -
would react when she woke from her coma and were keen to make sure
the family was reunited as soon as she became conscious.

Kerstin, 19, was allowed out of the dungeon on April 19 after falling
gravely ill, triggering a series of events which led to her mother
Elisabeth, 42, and two other imprisoned brothers, Felix, 5, and
Stefan, 18, being released from the cramped cellar under their home
in Amstetten.

She had become desperately sick, probably because she had suffered a
life without fresh air, light, exercise or a good diet. In a rare act
of mercy, Fritzl, 73, chose to release her and take her to hospital
after she collapsed in his underground lair.

Doctors made an appeal on national television to find her mother,
who, Fritzl claimed, had run off to a sect. Police visited Fritzl's
home and discovered his secret "second family".

None of the three children held underground had ever seen daylight
before. They were released to be reunited with their three other
siblings - Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12 - who were living
above ground after being taken in by Fritzl on the pretence they had
been abandoned.

Doctors put Kerstin into an induced coma to allow her to recover and
have been preparing for her to wake to an entirely new life.

As soon as it was clear she was awake they moved her as fast as
possible to be reunited with her mother and brother's in a special
room designed to recreate the cellar environment at the
Amstetten-Mauer clinic.

Rumours spread yesterday that she had recovered from her coma and
were later confirmed by hospital authorities.

According to the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF's Lower
Austrian regional studio, the teenager was transferred to her
mother's side before the move was made public.

This would mean Kerstin has met her mother Elisabeth for the first
time outside the dungeon. There was no further information about her
health. She would also, for the first time, be aware that people
outside her family existed.

Medics feared Kerstin - the first child born to Elisabeth during her
24 years in captivity - would die when she suffered multiple organ
failure and was hooked up to a life support machine. Last month,
there were unconfirmed reports she had showed flickers of life and at
one point had opened her eyes.

It was also reported that police will quiz Kerstin on whether Fritzl
sexually abused her, and will also quiz her brothers about their
ordeal underground.

Elisabeth, who had been imprisoned by Fritzl as a sex slave since she
was 18, is on the mend with her five other children in a separate
clinic near the hospital. Her mother, Rosemarie, 69, has also
gathered strength after health problems sparked by the discovery of
her husband's "second family". The family recently symbolised
Kerstin's presence by circling her name with a heart in a poster of
personal messages which was released to the public.

The family are expected to stay in their clinic for several months
while doctors and counsellors prepare them for the outside world.

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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.