It may sound like the greatest nightmare ever to be stuck inside your own body, unable to move or communicate, and unaware that anyone, even yourself, is still there.
Sadly, for some people, these horrifying tales are true.
A mystery neurological disease attacked 12-year-old South African Martin Pistorius. It didn’t take long for him to stop being able to move and speak. Everyone assumed that he merely fell into an unfathomable comatose state.
He didn’t appear to be at all conscious of his surroundings, despite the appearance. He became aware of his situation a few years after becoming bed-bound, but he was unable to do anything because he couldn’t move or speak.
Doctors didn’t realize he was there, trapped inside his own body, until years later.
He said to All in the Mind that his consciousness “was something that happened gradually, so it wasn’t like one moment I was asleep and the next moment I was awake.” When Martin finally regained consciousness, though not fully, he said, “It took me a while to fully comprehend that I was trapped inside my body.”
We will never be able to fully comprehend what it must be like to go through something as terrifying as Martin did.
Martin can now walk, but he never regained his capacity to talk. Instead, a computer-assisted communication system helps him speak.
He lives in Essex, England, and has his own business there.
Martin wrote Ghost Boy: My escape from a life confined inside my own body, a bestseller that was based on his actual experiences, for Simon & Schuster.
Over 10 million people have seen his interview with NBC News. Visit the video link below for more information about this inspiring man’s life, and don’t forget to SHARE it with your Facebook friends and family because it is DESERVING of being shared.
