I can attest to the remarkable recovery powers of a sourdough starter. I have had my starter for nearly 20 years (obtained from King Arthur). It has survived severe neglect, the latest being that I forgot about it for almost two years in the back of my refrigerator. When the pandemic arrived, and yeast was in somewhat short supply, I decided to try and revive it. I had about a cup of starter -- it had a dark brown liquid layer on top and smelled sort of alcoholic, but underneath it looked fine albeit inert. I was unsure if it still viable and flour was also in somewhat short supply, so I took only a 10 g. blob of it, and fed it using a 1:1:1 ratio. For three days almost nothing happened (might have been a bubble or two on the third day), but when I checked it on the morning of the 4th day, it had tripled in size and was actively bubbly. It is now active and healthy. These days I maintain a small starter (50 g) in the refrigerator, which I feed every 1-2 weeks.

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