"I think he feels things. He must recognize the sound of my voice as well," Bernadette told CNN in a recent interview, saying he can still breathe on his own but needs round-the-clock attention.
Bernadette and Jean-Pierre met at a dance in the 1960s. As an interracial couple, the two grew in resilience through the challenges they faced and married in 1969. Not long after, Jean-Pierre was playing first division side football as the "garde noire" alongside some of the best in the world.
"He was the 'joie di vivre' embodied in human form – a laugher and joker who liked to go out," his wife told CNN.
That all changed on March 17, 1982 when the understaffed hospital botched Adams' intubation, causing a heart attack, brain damage, and an eventual coma. The surgery was ruled as an "involuntary injury" and the medical workers were found guilty seven years after the incident.
Jean-Pierre, now 68, is cared for daily by his faithful wife Bernadette. She feeds him, talks to him, clothes him, and still buys presents for him to open on his birthday.
"I'll buy things so that he can have a nice room, such as pretty sheets, or some scent. He used to wear Paco Rabanne but his favorite one stopped so now I buy Sauvage by Dior," Bernadette told CNN.