There are some incredible stories about miracles, but none are quite like the one about Martin Pistorious, the guy who woke up after being in a coma for 12 years while in a vegetative state.
You might have heard about Martin’s amazing journey – it took place around 30 years ago – but if you haven’t, get ready for a story that will totally shock and amaze you.
It all began in January 1988, when 12-year-old Pistorious left his school in South Africa, saying he had a sore throat.
In the months that followed, he got weaker, both physically and mentally. Reports say his muscles started to waste away, and his hands and feet curled up like claws before he finally fell into a coma.
Doctors eventually figured out he had Cryptococci meningitis and tuberculosis of the brain, but they weren’t really sure what caused his coma and paralysis. Feeling helpless, they told his shocked parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorious, at the end of his first year in a vegetative state that they couldn’t do anything more for him.
They also mentioned that the young boy now had the brain function of a three-month-old baby, and that his parents should just take care of him until he passed away.
They did exactly that, caring for him even when it felt like there was no hope. Rodney would wake up at 5am every day to prepare his son and take him to a care center. Each evening, he would give him a bath, feed him, tuck him in, and set an alarm for two hours later so he could wake up and turn him to avoid bedsores.
Then, after many years in his frozen state, Pistorious started to wake up.
All of a sudden, he could see and hear everything around him, but he was unable to move or speak. He later described his body as feeling distant, “like it was trapped in concrete,” and he couldn’t control it.
Worryingly, even though Martin could make small movements, his caregivers didn’t notice. Being “aware of everything” but unable to talk or move caused Pistorius a lot of distress. He remembered a moment when his mother said to him, “I hope you die.”
“I know that’s a horrible thing to say. I just wanted some kind of relief,” Joan Pistorius explained later.
With nothing to do but lie there with his thoughts, Pistorious tried to “disconnect” from the voices in his head.
But one day, Pistorius’ aromatherapist, Virna van der Walt, noticed his subtle “language” of nearly invisible smiles, glances, and nods. By that time, he was about 25.
Following her suggestion, Rodney and Joan took their son to the Centre For Augmentative And Alternative Communication at the University of Pretoria. There, tests revealed that Martin was aware and could answer questions.
His parents got him a computer with special communication software, and after years of therapy, he was able to use it to write messages and control a synthetic voice similar to the one made famous by the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
“Due to brain infections, I found myself in a vegetative state — meaning I couldn’t react, respond, or communicate at all,” Pistorious told MailOnline when he was 39.
“By the end of that year, the doctors informed my parents that they couldn’t do anything more for me and recommended they take me home to die, which is pretty much what happened.”
Speaking to NPR, he mentioned: “The harsh reality struck me that I would spend the rest of my life like that — completely alone. You don’t really think about anything. You just exist. It’s a really dark place to be because, in a way, you’re letting yourself fade away.”
I have a younger brother and sister, and they would go on vacations with my parents without me, which was really tough. The hardest part was my fear that they could get into a car accident and die, and I would never be picked up,” he shared with MailOnline.
“I never felt angry at my parents because I knew they cared about me and tried their best. But I was really upset about the whole situation. There were many times I cried inside. I got to a point where I almost gave up.”
After spending years learning how to read, write, and use a computer, Pistorious got a job at a health center in 2003.
In 2003, Pistorius began working at the health center, doing a paid job one day a week.
Trapped In His Body For 12 Years, A Man Breaks Free Via @nprnews http://t.co/HCAayKpVgO pic.twitter.com/WugzqCg7FF
— Marcel Rivera Paniza (@UtopiasArchitct) January 10, 2015
“Every time I opened my eyes, I was amazed by new experiences: like seeing a guy with bright hair that looked like parrot feathers on his head; tasting candy floss, which is like a cloud of melting sugar; feeling the joy of shopping for Christmas gifts for my family for the first time; or being surprised by women in short skirts,” he said.
He then learned how to create websites and finished university. In 2008, he met Joanna, the love of his life.
“I work with disabled people in my job, so I’m not scared of it, and I just knew — it’s hard to explain — that Martin was really special. I had other relationships before, but he seemed like a very unique and interesting guy. Right away, I looked beyond his disability,” Joanna shared with MailOnline.
“It makes me mad when people call me his ‘carer’. I’m not his carer. I’m his wife. His mind is amazing, and I learn from him all the time.”
In December 2008, Pistorius asked Joanna to marry him while they were in a hot-air balloon. They got married in June 2009 and now live in England, where Martin is a web designer.
Pistorius shared, “Joanna has helped me understand the real meaning of the Bible verse we had read during the ceremony: ‘There are three things that will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.’”
He continued, “My life has included all three, and I truly believe that love is the greatest of them all, in every way. I felt it as a boy and as a man, as a son, brother, grandson, and friend. I’ve seen it in others, and I know it can help us through the toughest times. Now, it’s lifting me higher than I ever imagined I could go.”
Martin wrote a book called Ghost Boy: My Escape From a Life Locked Inside My Own Body, which came out in 2011.
