It began seven years ago when a single bullet
sent Gary Dockery into a silence no one could break.
On September 17th, 1988, police officer Gary Dockery
entered a 9-1-1 emergency call that
would change his life forever.
He was visiting his ex-wife and sons
when he first got the call. DISPATCH: Is this Dockery?
GARY DOCKERY: Uh huh.
DISPATCH: Are you on tonight?
GARY DOCKERY: Uh huh.
DISPATCH: OK, 3003 Wilson Avenue.
GARY DOCKERY: Oh, no.
DISPATCH: Shots fired, disorder.
GARY DOCKERY: OK.
I'll have to get uniformed here, but I'll be on my way.
He tells the boys to go on to bed.
The boys went on to bed.
He got the call, and he told the boys, he hollered at them,
and told them that he would be back in about 15 minutes,
that he had a call.
And that was the last time that they had spoke to their Dad
or seen their Dad.
OPRAH WINFREY: Only minutes after saying
good night to his sons, Gary Dockery was shot in the head.
With over 20% of his brain destroyed,
he would live in silence for over seven years.
I cannot count the times that I have sat by Gary's bed,
the times I have prayed, please, just if you could just speak
to me, if you could just give me some indication that
you could just say something.
It's just been a long ordeal.
I mean, the times, it's never gotten any easier.
But after seven years of silence,
seven, Gary Dockery's condition seemed to only worsen.
Two weeks ago, he was transferred from his nursing
home to the local hospital.
Doctors said he was dying of pneumonia.
In fact, he had a do not resuscitate
status when he arrived.
They gave his family the choice of letting
him die from natural causes or take
the chance of surgery, which they feared would kill him.
Well, as the family agonized over this decision,
the absolutely unexpected happened.
Gary Dockery spoke.
It was the story that captured the hearts
and hopes of the nation.
Gary Dockery was the miracle man, a modern Rip Van Winkle.
Released from the prison of his seven year silence,
journalists from around the world
flooded this quiet southern city, waiting for every update.
Monday morning, I got a phone call at home,
so I got the phone, said hello.
And this voice comes across the phone and says, hey, buddy.
And I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
I could not believe it.
I started screaming my brother's name, Gary, Gary.
And it was him.
I could not believe it was him.
It was a dream come true.
I prayed for the last seven years
that he could just tell me he loved me one more time,
and he did that.
And I just thank the Lord that he did.
There's no words to explain how
wonderful that was, because that was that child's blessings.
He felt like that God has answered his prayers,
because all these years, he's prayed that he'd just
say I love you one more time.
OPRAH WINFREY: To his family, it was an emotional homecoming.
For his townpeople, it was nothing short of a miracle.
I thought it was absolutely amazing.
The hand of God must have reached out and touched
this boy, because he would have been put away,
and he was in vegetable land for all those many years,
and then to suddenly come out of it was really, truly a miracle.
God works in strange ways, and that's just one way of letting
everybody know that just because you're in a coma sometimes,
doesn't mean you'll always be in one.
There's always a chance.
So he proved everybody wrong.
OPRAH WINFREY: The Dockery family
never lost their faith that someday,
Gary would return to them.
It's a miracle come true, and I'm going to tell everyone,
don't ever give up hope, because prayers are answered.
Well, in just a few minutes, we're
going to go live to Gary's hospital in Chattanooga,
Tennessee for the latest.
But first, joining me are members of his family.
Meet his brother Dennis, his sister Lisa,
and his sons Colt and Shane.
And we heard you were the first one that he spoke to.
Were you in the room, obviously, with him?
Yes.
OPRAH WINFREY: And what was going on?
It was about 20 to 7:00 or so, Vicki
had called, and found out what happened during the night
and how he was.
So we were sitting there talking, and it was still dark
in the room.
I had just a little bit of a light on.
Were you all still-- the family's still
visiting every day?
Somebody would go to visit every day?
At the hospital, mm-hmm.
And so I just decided to stay that night,
because we had been letting somebody stay overnight.
And I said, hey, buddy, how you doing this morning?
And he kind of came up with, [MUMBLING],,
something like that.
And I said, what?
Because I don't know if he's ever done this before,
the mumbling.
So his eyes were--
were his eyes normally open?
Yeah.
Like, they've been open.
OPRAH WINFREY: OK, OK.
It's just he's not spoke or anything.
OPRAH WINFREY: OK.
And so anyway, I went up to him.
And I said, do you know who I am?
He said, nope.
I said, oh my god, he's talking.
And I said, I'm your sister, Lisa.
He goes, mm-mm.
Yeah.
And so at this time I got so, you know, whatever--
Uh huh.
--that I don't really remember now exactly
what was said after that.
I remember getting on the phone to my mom
because I wanted somebody to hear him in case
it was just a few seconds, or a minute, or something.
So how soon after that, Dennis, did you hear him?
Marsha tells me it was about 30 minutes.
OPRAH WINFREY: About 30 minutes.
And he called you?
Well, she called him, put the phone to his ear,
and let him speak.
OPRAH WINFREY: Uh huh. Did you think you were dreaming?
I knew exactly who it was the moment that I heard the voice.
Was his speech slurred or was it-- no?
DENNIS DOCKERY: It was just as plain.
Just as plain.
And I just lost myself emotionally.
And I just, you know, started-- Gary, I love you.
And it's like, he's asking me, you know,
why are you saying this to me?
Don't embarrass me or whatever, you know.
OPRAH WINFREY: Over the phone? - It's a man thing, you know.
You don't say stuff like that to your brother.
[LAUGHING]
You know, so I just couldn't-- and my knees got weak.
I just, like, fell to the floor basically.
I just couldn't hold myself up.
Then how soon were you at the hospital after that?
As quick it took me to get my shoes half on,
my shirt half on, out the door. OPRAH WINFREY: Really?
I was there.
How soon did you boys get to speak to your father?
Did he remember you?
Did he know you?
At first, he didn't remember me because being I
was his size, and now I'm bigger.
So he remembered him right off the bat.
OPRAH WINFREY: Really?
And what did he say to you?
I said, hi, daddy.
He said, hi.
And he told me my whole name.
And that's all he said to me that day.
OPRAH WINFREY: And then what?
Did you have--
I heard he had an 18-hour conversation.
Was that with you guys?
It was the whole family.
The whole family.
LISA DOCKERY: He just didn't want to shut up.
- He didn't want to shut up? - Mm-mm.
Well, you wouldn't either if you hadn't
spoken in seven years, I guess.
Had you all given up hope, Dennis?
The doctors had given you really not
a lot of hope, I understand. - No, not much at all.
As a matter of fact, we were looking at a really grim
situation, as just something that we were going to have
to accept at this point.
But I don't think we really give up hope, so to speak.
You've always got it in the back of your mind, you know.
There's still something.
You still got time for something to happen here.