Angela Magana is in a coma after emergency surgery in Puerto Rico. (Photo by Mitch Viquez/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) Former UFC strawweight Angela Magana was in a coma for two days after complications from the anesthesia during emergency surgery, according to her coach. Gabriel Lamastus told MMA Junkie the fighter was experiencing back pain ahead of “Combate 35: Reinas,” scheduled for April 26 against Kyra Batara. Magana tried to train through it but the pain was too much. Update: Magana wakes up from coma Magana is now recovering after waking up from being in a coma for two days, Lamastus told MMA Junkie on Thursday afternoon around 1:30 p.m. ET. He said she has been able to talk and began showing improvement that morning. “Angela is responding to the treatment and is waking up!! !,” Lamastus wrote in a text message to MMA Junkie. “We are over joyed (sic). She has been in and out of it.” Magana shared an emotional video to her YouTube page on Friday, thanking fans and supporters for standing by her and vowing to make a full recovery. “Hi, guys. I’m awake. I still feel very tired. Like, I can barely open my eyes,” Magana said in the video. “But thank you everybody for thinking about me. I feel like I’m a very rich woman because I have a lot of time. Look what happened, I almost lost all my time. But to take time to wish somebody well, what do we do with time? We make money. So time’s more valuable than money. “So, thank you to everybody who took the time to wish me well. I’m going to make a full recovery. The problem was just the anesthesia. The disc procedure and cauda equina stuff was better than they thought. So, the surgery was great, it was just the anesthesia. I’m going to get better, and I’ll be fighting again soon. Nothing will stop me, man. And Combate Americas has been so good to me. Thank you.” Magana suffers rare disorder Magana, 35, was injured April 7 during training, per MMA Junkie, and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. She attempted to train through it, taking medication and a nerve block, but it caused a rare neurological disorder, per her coaches. Story continues Magana was diagnosed on Tuesday with cauda equina syndrome, which occurs when the bundle of nerves below the end of the spinal cord is damaged. She was sent to emergency surgery in her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Magana shared the news on Twitter beforehand and asked her coaching staff to share videos from pre-op. In one, Magana said it was a very rare surgery with a “couple of hours of recovery before I open my eyes.” Around 8 p.m. ET, 14 hours after Magana shared news of her surgery, the coaching staff shared via Magana’s account that the hospital staff was having trouble waking her. Angela still unresponsive I will be here in the icu at hospital as nuero team works on this. Remeber lifs is so short and can change in a blink of an eye! We Love You Magaña Team La perla — Angela Magana (@AngelaMagana1) April 17, 2019 Anesthesia causes complications As of Wednesday afternoon, it had been approximately 26 hours since Magana went in for surgery and 19 since the coaching staff first relayed any sign of a complication. "She's in a coma, and we're waiting to hear some positive news," Lamastus told MMA Junkie. "The surgery went fine. The problem was anesthesia. It's very rare that patients react bad to anesthesia, but it does happen, and I guess this is one of those rare cases. But I'm being positive. She'll be fine, and she'll wake up. She's a fighter. I'm just staying positive." Anesthesia complications are rare and death related to anesthesia is even more rare, according to the Cleveland Clinic. According to a 2016 article on anesthesia, one in every approximately 200,000 die from anesthesia. New medical procedures lower the risk of paralysis as well. Complications, mainly being partially awake during surgery, typically arise due to preexisting conditions or emergency surgeries, per the Mayo Clinic. Lamastus told MMA Junkie that Magana’s aunt died from anesthesia. In a video shared to her Twitter account, she voices concern about being allergic to anesthesia and waking up. The video is difficult to watch. UFC released Magana in December 2017 following her 0-3 record. Lamastus said she is scheduled to represent Puerto Rico in the Olympics next year in wrestling. She has three children. More from Yahoo Sports:<doc-sep>Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images Mixed martial arts fighter Angela Magana is in a coma due to complications from emergency surgery she had on Tuesday. Per MMA Junkie's Simon Samano, Magana's coach Gabriel Lamastus said she was diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome following a bad reaction to a nerve-block procedure to alleviate pain from a herniated disc suffered during training on April 7. Magana's coaching staff posted messages on Twitter updating her status after doctors were unable to wake her: Lamastus told Samano that Magana's surgery "went fine," but there were problems with the anesthesia. "It's very rare that patients react bad to anesthesia, but it does happen, and I guess this is one of those rare cases," he said. "But I'm being positive. She'll be fine, and she'll wake up. She's a fighter. I'm just staying positive." Magana has been fighting in MMA professionally since 2007. She had three fights in UFC from 2014-17. Her most recent bout was in August 2018 at Rizin 12, where she lost to Kanako Murata via second-round submission.<doc-sep>Angela Magana, a former UFC strawweight fighter, has started to come out of her coma, according to coach, Gabriel Lamastus. On Tuesday, Magana underwent emergency surgery for cauda equina syndrome, a condition involving extreme lower-back pain, but due to complications with anesthesia, she did not wake up once the surgery was completed. Lamastus has been keeping Magana’s followers updated on Twitter from University Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Update on Angelas Status. We are very postive about her waking up from the coma. Sincerely Gabriel pic.twitter.com/atfuTMSCDs — Angela Magana (@AngelaMagana1) April 17, 2019 The UFC released Magana in January 2018, but she had been training for a fight with Kyra Batara, scheduled for April 26 at Combate Americas in Los Angeles. Lamastus told MMA Junkie that Magana began responding to treatment Thursday morning.<doc-sep>
We have good news regarding the condition of former UFC strawweight Angela Magana. After a nerve block procedure on a herniated disc in her back revealed she was suffering from cauda equina syndrome, Magana underwent emergency spine surgery on Tuesday night. Soon after the operation, her coach Gabriel Lamastus took over her social media account to reveal Magana had slipped into a coma. Now we have word from Lamastus via MMA Junkie that Magana is slowly regaining consciousness. An earlier update had everyone cautiously optimistic, with Magana moving her fingers and blinking her eyes. “Angela is responding to the treatment and is waking up!! !,” Lamastus wrote in a text message. “We are over joyed. She has been in and out of it. This started happening this morning.” Related Former UFC Fighter Angela Magana In Coma After Back Surgery Gone Wrong According to Lamastus, Magana has managed to speak as well. Cauda equina syndrome involves damage to the bottom bundle of nerves located below the end of the spinal cord. It’s unclear how bad the damage was or still is, but Magana underwent the original nerve block procedure in an attempt to keep training for a fight on April 26th in Los Angeles. Magana’s run in the UFC started via The Ultimate Fighter 20 where she lost to Aisling Day in the first round of the tournament. She’d fight for the UFC three times, going 0-3 before being released from the organization in 2017. While she was never able to cinch a win in the cage, she did gain a lot of attention as one of the first women on the roster to embrace a full on pro wrestling heel persona. That may have caused her more pain than gain, as she was thrown out of her gym, hated by other fighters, and sucker punched by former women’s featherweight champ Cris Cyborg. We were never fans of her Covington-level social media trolling, but we’re glad that she pulled through this scary incident and hope she sees a full recovery.