After being imprisoned for 12 years, “Ghost Boy” emerged from a coma
The story of Martin Pistorious, the man who awoke from a 12-year coma after being confined in a vegetative condition, is one of the few tales of odds-defying miracles that can truly compare. Maybe you’ve heard Martin’s amazing story before—it happened about 30 years ago—but if not, fasten your seatbelt and get ready for an experience that will leave you stunned and in a state of shock.
Pistorious, who was 12 at the time, left his South African school in January 1988, claiming to have a sore throat. He became mentally and physically weaker in the months that followed. He reportedly went into a coma after his hands and feet curled like claws and his muscles started to weaken.
Although they were unsure of the precise cause of his coma and paralysis, doctors finally determined that he had TB of the brain and Cryptococci meningitis. At the end of his first year in a vegetative condition, they told his startled parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorious, that they could do nothing more for him since they were at a loss for an explanation. They also revealed that the little boy’s cognitive function had improved to that of a three-month-old infant, and that his parents should care for him till the end of his life.
In spite of the apparent lack of hope, they continued to care for him, and they did just that. To dress his son and transport him to a care facility, Rodney would rise at five in the morning every day. In order to prevent bedsores, he would “bathe him, feed him, put him in bed, and set my alarm for two hours so that I’d wake up to turn him.” Then, after being frozen for a number of years, Pistorious began to regain consciousness.
He was suddenly unable to move or talk, but he could see and hear everything around him. He further clarified that he was powerless over his body’s feeling of distance, “as if encased in concrete.” It’s terrifying that Martin’s caregivers were unaware of his tiny motions. Pistorius suffered from understandable distress as a result of being “aware of everything” yet unable to speak or move.
His mother once told him, “I hope you die,” he recounted. “I am aware that saying that is terrible. Later, Joan Pistorius remarked, “I just wanted some kind of relief.” Pistorious tried to “disengage” from the voices in his head as he had nothing else to do but lie there burdened by his inner thoughts.
Pistorius was about 25 years old when his aromatherapist, Virna van der Walt, noticed his subtle “language” of almost undetectable smiles, gazes, and nods. On her advice, Rodney and Joan sent their son to the University of Pretoria’s Centre For Augmentative And Alternative Communication, where tests showed that Martin was conscious and able to respond to statements.
His parents then purchased a computer with communication software, and after years of therapy, he was able to use it to compose messages and control a synthetic voice akin to the one made famous by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
“I ended up in a vegetative state — in other words, I was unable to react or respond to anything or to communicate,” Pistorious told the MailOnline at the age of 39 due to the brain infections.
“I think the doctors told my parents at the end of that year that they could do nothing more for me and to take me home to die, which is basically what happened.” “The stark reality hit me that I was going to spend the rest of my life like that — totally alone,” he continued in an interview with NPR. You don’t give anything much thought. You just are. Since you are essentially letting yourself disappear, it’s a pretty gloomy place to be.
It was really challenging for me when my parents and younger brother and sister would on vacations without me. The scariest thing was that I was always afraid they might die in a vehicle accident and never come get me,” he told MailOnline. Since I knew my parents loved me and tried their best to provide for me, I never felt resentful of them. But the scenario infuriated me.
I shed a lot of tears inside of me. I basically gave up when I got to that point. In 2003, Pistorious secured a position at a health facility after years of effort to become literate and computer literate.
Pistorius started working one day a week at the health center in 2003 for pay.
“As I stumbled into new experiences, my eyes opened in awe at every turn: seeing a man with brightly colored hair that resembled parrot feathers running down the middle of his head; tasting candy floss, a cloud of melting sugar; experiencing the warm joy of going shopping for the first time to buy Christmas presents for my family; or the sudden shock of seeing women wearing short skirts,” he said. After graduating from college, he learned how to create websites. He met Joanna, the love of his life, in 2008.
It’s not anything I’m afraid of since I work with people with disabilities, and I simply knew—it’s difficult to put into words—that Martin was truly unique. Even though I’d been in relationships previously, he seemed like a really unique and interesting guy. I saw through his incapacity right away,” Joanna told MailOnline. “When people call me his ‘carer,’ it enrages me. I don’t look after him. His wife is me. He has an amazing mind, and I am constantly learning from him.
In December 2008, Pistorius asked Joanna to marry him in a hot-air balloon. Following their June 2009 wedding, the couple now resides in England, where Martin works as a web designer. “I learned the true meaning of the Bible passage we read during the service from her (Joanna): ‘There are three things that will endure — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.'” Pistorius remarked.
“All three have been a part of my life, and I am aware that love, in all its manifestations, is the greatest of all. I had witnessed it between people as a boy and a man, as a son, brother, grandchild, and friend, and I knew it could get us through the most trying situations. I never imagined that it would get me thus close to the sun. Ghost Boy: My Escape From a Life Locked Inside My Own Body, Martin’s memoir, was released in 2011.
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