A Kentucky man was declared brain-dead. Then he woke up, moments before donating his heart, his sister says

Nearly three years ago to the day, Anthony Thomas "TJ" Hoover II was admitted to a Richmond, Ky. emergency room amid a bout of cardiac arrest. Hoover's family says they were told he showed no signs of brain activity, and the following day, they decided to take him off life support.

Then, amid a series of procedures to prepare to donate his heart, the unexpected happened:

Hoover woke up.

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"Probably about an hour into [the surgery], they come out and got us and the doctor … told us that he wasn't ready -- that he had woke up," Donna Rhorer, Hoover's sister, told WKYT News in a televised interview.

It wasn't the first sign of activity that Hoover showed, Rhorer says. The family would eventually learn that during a cardiac catheterization procedure earlier, there were also signs of activity. She also said that during the ceremonial honour walk to commemorate Hoover's imminent organ donation, his eyelids appeared to open.

"His eyes were tracking; looking around," Rhorer said. "We were told by the ICU supervisor that it was just reflexes; it was just a normal thing."

Rhorer took Hoover home to care for him. Though WKYT reports she was told at the time he didn't have long to live, Hoover is alive today, three years on from the episode.

According to Seth Karp, Surgeon-in-Chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., it's not the only time something like this has happened.

"It’s not infrequent that something comes up around the donor and whether or not the donor is dead," he told a U.S. congressional committee at a hearing in September.

Rhorer didn't learn some of the details of the case until earlier this year, WKYT reports, when she was made aware of the group Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates by Nyckoletta Martin, who testified in the September hearing.

“He made several attempts to [say], ‘Hey, I’m here.’ But, it was kind of ignored," Rhorer said in the interview.

WKYT reports that Baptist Health Richmond, where Hoover was admitted, said in a statement that personnel "work closely with our patients and their families to ensure our patients' wishes for organ donation are followed."

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The Kentucky Attorney-General's office has said they are reviewing the case, WKYT reports.

Rhorer says if it encourages other families to speak up, or if it could save another life, she doesn't plan to stop telling Hoover's story.

"In my heart of hearts, I know something went on," Rhorer told KWYT. "All I had was my gut instinct, for three years, that something wasn't what we were told."

With files from WKYT News' Grason Passmore via CNN Newsource