Man Who Wakes From Coma Immediately Asks for Taco Bell

Do you think it's possible for a man to be thrust into a coma and awaken with the inner monologue of a talking Chihuahua? No, we aren't subtly suggesting someone should reboot Manimal as a soap opera (although they totally should.)

We're asking because the first words spoken by a Florida man who was in a coma for 42 days were, word for word, the iconic catchphrase of Taco Bell's mascot: "Yo quiero Taco Bell." OK, so maybe he didn't say the phrase in Spanish, but it's the equivalent in English, and that's good enough for us.

Jake Booth, a 35-year-old army veteran and former sheriff's deputy, was put into a medically induced coma after suffering a nasty case of bronchitis—which turned into pneumonia, which triggered a heart attack.

At one point, Booth was technically dead for 15 minutes and his family rushed to his bedside. Would he live? And if he did live, would he regain full brain capacity or would he suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen?

These questions were answered on April 3, when—lo and behold—Booth woke up. He is said to have instantly recognized his wife, Jasmine, and his two children, six-year-old Eva and 10-month-old Aide.

So what were the first words of a man who had literally returned from the dead, perhaps having even seen the white light? OK, we have no idea whether he saw a white light or not, but we do know what he said. And it wasn't, "I love you Jasmine, Eva, and Aide."

Nope. The words that Booth managed to utter out of his tracheotomy-scarred throat were: "I want Taco Bell."

His family apparently forgave him, but it was 22 days before Booth could actually eat solid foods. On May 5, however, his dreams became reality: Booth ate an impressive eight-and-a-half Crunchy Tacos, and judging from the picture his friend Tyler Chronister posted to Facebook and Reddit, he was pretty damn pleased to do so.

"We'd all been waiting an entire month for him to eat those tacos," Booth's brother said. "It was symbolic of the entire thing—more of a metaphor of him having woken up and being given a second chance at life."

A metaphor, or an example of advertising working so well that it permeates one man's deepest levels of consciousness? Who can say for sure.

If only we all had such a great excuse to indulge in the filthy seductress that is the Quesarito.