In the late 80s, a 12-year-old boy fell into a coma and remained in this vegetative state for 12 years.
Today, this boy is a 43-year-old man, Martin Pistorius, and he is no longer in a coma and is living a normal life.
Even though he’s wheelchair-bound and uses a computer to speak, his awareness is fully back and he can move his body.
Man Wakes Up from Coma & Writes a Book
After coming out of the vegetative state and recovering well, Martin decided to write a book in which he talks about all the things he remembers from those 12 years being locked inside his own body.
The, book, titled Ghost Boy: My Escape from a Life Locked inside my Own Body is sad and shocking in the same time.
When the boy fell ill, the doctors in South Africa weren’t sure what the reason for his disease was, but they suspected cryptococcal meningitis. Eventually, the youngster lost the ability to speak, move, and make eye contact.
The doctors claimed the boy would die soon however, his family did their best and fed him, bathed him, and put him to be.
They even had alarm clocks every two hours to move his body to avert bed sores. And, this was the family’s day to day life for 12 years.
I Was Aware of Everything, Claims Martin
Today, the man claims that although he was in a coma, he was aware of everything, just like a normal person is. He was in a way stuck in his body without the capacity to move or communicate.
He says that he was particularly angry when they would be placed in front of the TV to ‘watch’ children’s shows. He claims he hated Barney.
At one point, the man recalls he heard his mom saying to him ‘I hope you die’. His mother wanted some relief after she was caring for her son who’s in coma for such a long period of time.
Martin claims that one day, he had enough and began taking control over his thoughts. As his mind got better, his body did too. He persevered and this is why he’s now where he is.
43-years-old, Martin lives in Harlow, England. He believes he started to ‘wake up’ somewhere around the age of 14 or 15.
Despite the ability to see and understand everything, he was still unable to move his body.
He felt trapped with his thoughts as the sole companion. And, most of the time, these weren’t nice thoughts. He thought ‘no one will ever show me tenderness.’ And ‘no one will ever love me.’
He figured out that the only way to fight is to leave his thoughts behind, which sometimes worked, but sometimes, it didn’t.
He decided to disengage his thinking by just existing and not thinking about anything. He claims this can be quite a dark place to be in because in a way, you allow yourself to disappear.
Sources:
