Boy awakens 12 years later from coma

Imagine not being able to communicate for 12 long years, people think that you cannot understand what is going on around you (but you actually can). This is exactly what happened to Martin Pistorius, he fell into a mysterious coma as a boy at the age of 12.

Doctors tried to diagnose his condition without reaching any kind of resolution at first. Their best guess was that he had cryptococcal menigitis however this was wrong. It was something else which threatened his very life.

It was the later 1980’s when Martin grew up in South Africa. His first passion included electronics such as resistors and transistors among other electronic pieces. Martin previously has been called ghost boy and so far he has led a rather miraculous life even becoming invisible to others in some sense.

His vegetative state allowed him to observe many things happening around him. Some times these moments were simply not pleasant, while other times peoples true thoughts and actions showed themselves.

While we are here, the right thing to do is to treat one another with dignity and respect. This doesn’t happen most of the time as people simply get caught up in their own little worlds. Everything revolves around themselves and they don’t think about other people. Martin is a testament to this as he has endured a living hell which many cannot fathom.

His condition got progressively worse as he eventually lost his ability to even move by himself. He couldn’t even make eye contact with people. Not only this, but he couldn’t speak and communicate. Imagine how frustrating this would be.

Martin’s parents Rodney and Joan Pistorius were told there was no cure for him and that they should take him home, make sure he was comfortable until his death one day…only Martin refused to die, he wanted to live.

While their words of kindness and sorrow they thought Martin couldn’t hear them. But he could and his father would wake up each morning at 5 am to bathe and dress him. Martin would get put into the car and then taken to a care center where he was left for hours on end. This continued for 12 years. Joan his mother mentioned to him “I hope you die”.

She had no idea that he could actually hear her. She simply wanted some kind of relief of this stressful situation. It wasn’t until one nurse who came along, who helped realize he could still comprehend things. He communicated by breathing heaver when the therapist worked with him. Only then did she discover Martin could understand her by breathing back at her.

Martin is now 39 years old and he lives in Harlow, England. He has written a book about his experiences. Life has picked up for him as he found love and is able to communicate through technology to others—by typing on a keyboard which synthesizes a voice which he was missing all along. He plans to start a family of his own with Joanna.