How would you feel if you were confined within your own body, with your brain left functioning but without any means of communication? How do you stay emotionally healthy and mentally sane when everyone you care about isn’t even aware that you are conscious of them? Being confined to your own body while conscious of your thoughts and feelings but unable to express them or move is the stuff of nightmares. For more than a decade, Martin Pistorius lived with this reality. Martin even wrote a book titled the ‘Ghost Boy,’ which explains what he went through when he, unfortunately, fell into a vegetative state where he was conscious of everything but had lost all control over his body.

Martin had a normal upbringing until he turned 12

Martin Pistorius was raised in a normal household in South Africa. When Martin Pistorius was a kid in the 1980s, he was more interested in electronics like resistors and transistors. But his luck took a turn for the worse when he was just 12 years old.

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He suddenly fell ill, and the doctors couldn’t figure out why

Something unexpected happened, which caused him to get sick, and suddenly lose the ability to walk on his own. Soon after that, he fell into an unconscious vegetative state. Doctors, at first, couldn’t figure out what was wrong, he had no significant brain activity, and they told his parents that he would most likely never wake up. Finally, however, their best guess was that cryptococcal meningitis caused his condition.

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Martin’s condition began worsening over time

As time went on, Martin got progressively worse. He lost his ability to walk on his own, to make eye contact, and to speak. Finally, his parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorius, were told that he was as good as “a vegetable” and that he wasn’t there anymore. The hospital told them to take him home and care for him until he passed away.

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But Martin bravely struggled from within and did not lose hope

Martin, however, never died like everyone thought he would and remained like a ‘Ghost Boy,’ a book which he would later go on to write. His mother claimed- “Martin just kept going, just kept going.”

As soon as Martin’s father woke up in the morning, he would dress Martin up, put him in the car, drive him to the special care center, and leave him there. Then, his father says- “Eight hours later, I’d pick him up, bathe him, feed him, put him in bed, set my alarm for two hours so that I’d wake up to turn him so that he didn’t get bedsores.” They led their lives in this manner for 12 years.

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His mother began losing hope because she didn’t see any improvements in his condition

His mother, Joan, vividly recalls one day telling Martin when he was still in his vegetative state: “‘I hope you die.’ I know that’s a horrible thing to say. I just wanted some sort of relief.”

However, she didn’t expect her son to be conscious when she said it. But Martin was. Martin, now 39 years old and living in Harlow, England, says he was in a vegetative state for two years before he began to awaken.

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When all hope seemed lost, his mind started awakening three years later

Martin’s mind began to awaken three years later. He believes he woke up around the age of 14 or 15. After that, he said- “I was aware of everything, just like any normal person.” By the time he was 19, he says he was fully aware of what was going on around him, but he was unable to move. As a result, Martin was confined to his own body for the rest of his life, unable to speak, move, or tell anyone that he was awake and aware of what was happening around him for the next several years.

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He was trapped in his own body

Only his thoughts and memories kept him company as he watched the world go by. When he couldn’t shake his feelings of dread and doom, so he learned the art of focusing on the positive. He made life bearable by not thinking about anything and thus becoming even more immersed in his own thoughts.

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One of his caretakers noticed how he would react to things she would say

While caring for him, Virna van der Walt, one of his caregivers, noticed that he often reacted to some of what she had to say. The University of Pretoria’s Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, where she recommended he undergo testing, was informed, and his family took him there. Martin was able to respond and communicate there, and it was confirmed that he was conscious and aware. He had just turned 25 years old at the time.

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He then started healing with the help of modern communication software

Martin began to heal and re-engage his thoughts with the aid of communication software and a renewed sense of purpose. Slowly but surely, he was able to reintegrate himself into society after he broke free from his inner confinement.

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Martin met the love of his life and future wife Joanna just a year later

When he met Joanna (his wife) a year later, they immediately hit it off and decided to get married. Martin has written a book about his life and journey, titled ‘Ghost Boy,’ and has recently regained some control over his head and arms, which he previously lost. His story is truly inspiring, as he has turned his life around from a living hell.

Img Src: Martin met the love of his life and future wife Joanna just a year later