Touching triumph over adversity… Man Spent 12 Years In A Coma! Says He Heard Everything Including His Mother Saying “I Hope You Die”

Published on January 4, 2016 by

“They all thought he was gone. But he was alive and trapped inside his own body for ten years.

In January 1988 Martin Pistorius, aged twelve, fell inexplicably sick. First he lost his voice and stopped eating. Then he slept constantly and shunned human contact. Doctors were mystified. Within eighteen months he was mute and wheelchair-bound. Martin’s parents were told an unknown degenerative disease left him with the mind of a baby and less than two years to live.

Martin was moved to care centers for severely disabled children. The stress and heartache shook his parents’ marriage and their family to the core. Their boy was gone. Or so they thought.

Ghost Boy is the heart-wrenching story of one boy’s return to life through the power of love and faith. In these pages, readers see a parent’s resilience, the consequences of misdiagnosis, abuse at the hands of cruel caretakers, and the unthinkable duration of Martin’s mental alertness betrayed by his lifeless body.

We also see a life reclaimed—a business created, a new love kindled—all from a wheelchair. Martin’s emergence from his own darkness invites us to celebrate our own lives and fight for a better life for others.” Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body Paperback – November 12, 2013 by Martin Pistorius.

TRANSCRIPT:

“Back now with an NBC News exclusive tonight the first

0:06

American TV interview with a man who lived essentially trapped inside his own

0:11

body

0:12

for about a decade of his life he could see and hear everything around it but he

0:16

couldn’t talk

0:17

and he couldn’t control his body movements doctors told his parents he

0:21

couldn’t understand the world going on around him

0:23

but that all changed one day one someone finally realized he was

0:27

in there then started the effort to unlock the man inside

0:31

we get his story tonight from NBC’s Kate snow

0:34

to look at Martin per story is now

0:37

you’d never know what he’s been through he was a healthy 12-year-old growing up

0:41

in South Africa

0:42

when he went home sick from school one day he never ever got better

0:46

his body weekend he lost control of his muscles

0:49

stopped communicating doctors believed it was a neurodegenerative disease

0:53

and told his parents he was unaware of the world around him

0:57

but that was wrong for nearly a decade he says

1:01

he was awake but no one noticed for some many years I was like a ghost

1:07

it was like I wasn’t there I was invisible

1:10

this is martin today this is how you communicate now

1:14

yes he speaks by taking into a computer that voices his words

1:18

because that takes time we gave him some other questions in advance

1:21

you must have overheard so many conversations

1:25

yes many times you get to see and hear things that you probably never would

1:30

things like what people really think and how they really are when nobody is

1:34

watching

1:35

like one night when he heard his mom in a moment of despair

1:39

I say to him one day I hope you die

1:43

and I had no idea that he understood that

1:47

and I’m very very sorry ass addict

1:53

while I was very sad and upset by what she said

1:57

are understood what that was coming from my mother often felt that she wasn’t a

2:01

good mom

2:02

and one of the hardest things for me was I couldn’t tell her back

2:06

know you are doing great she’s a good mother

2:09

Martin lived at home with his parents but was regularly in care centers

2:13

where he says at times he was subjected to abuse verbal

2:17

physical and sexual there was never a care home did I was in where there

2:21

wasn’t some degree of abuse

2:23

even if it didn’t happen to me I witnessed it happening to others

2:27

but he says most of his caregivers were good people like the therapist who

2:31

noticed a glimmering Martin died 10 years into his illness

2:34

tests revealed he could communicate I remember

2:38

feeling happier like wow but also thinking to myself

2:42

what next as you’re mine grew stronger did your body also get stronger

2:47

yes my body slower got strong go to

2:50

it took a massive amount work blood sweat and tears

2:54

literally over many years he went to college

2:58

even learned to drive using an adapted car and in 2008

3:02

he met a friend of his sisters Jonah I had to foot is really attractive

3:06

they got married five years ago Martin it sounds almost like a love at first

3:11

sight kind of story

3:12

yes I think it was it is hard to explain but you just

3:16

no I have heard people say the least all

3:20

yea right didn’t happen but

3:24

his message now don’t overlook what’s possible

3:27

treat everyone with kindness dignity compassion and respect whether or not

3:32

you think they understand or not

3:34

to never underestimate the power of the mind

3:37

the importance of love and faith and to never stop dreaming

3:41

Martin is a man who appreciate every joy in life his book ghost boy is now on the

3:47

New York Times bestseller list prime

3:49

incredible story what a message there at the end. about how to treat other people

”