Martin Pistorius of South Africa was able to wake up after being in a coma for 12 years.
Pistorius said that even though he was in a vegetative state and people thought he was unconscious, he was fully aware of what was going on around him at that time, according to the Washington Post.
His ordeal began in 1987 when he was 12 years old. Back then, Pistorius contracted a strange illness and doctors diagnosed him with cryptococcal meningitis, a type of fungal disease that affects the brain. He then began to lose his ability to speak and move before going into coma.
Despite being in a vegetative and unconscious state, his family established a daily routine when it comes to taking care of Pistorius.
Every five o'clock in the morning, his father would wake up to change Pistorius' clothes and take him to a local special care facility. He would then be brought home to be fed and taken to bed.
However, two years after slipping into coma, Pistorius began to gain consciousness. Unfortunately, he still couldn't move or speak or do anything to express himself. Since people are so used to his previous state, they would go about their daily activities without knowing that he could hear or see them.
"Yes, I was there, not from the very beginning, but about two years into my vegetative state, I began to wake up," he told NPR. "I was aware of everything, just like any normal person."
"Everyone was so used to me not being there that they didn't notice when I began to be present again," he added. "The stark reality hit me that I was going to spend the rest of my life like that - totally alone."
Pistorius said that he was able to cope with his seemingly hopeless situation by ignoring his own thoughts. He also developed a way to tell time by observing the sun's movement across the room.
However, his worst experience happened when his mother entered his room and said "I hope you die."
At first, Pistorius felt devastated by what he heard from his own mother. But eventually, he began to understand what she felt every time she looked at him.
"The rest of the world felt so far away when she said those words," he told NPR. "As time passed, I gradually learned to understand my mother's desperation. Every time she looked at me, she could see only a cruel parody of the once-healthy child she had loved so much."
After struggling for a few years, Pistorius was finally able to communicate with the help of a computer by age 26. Eventually, his condition began to improve.
He is now 39 years old and lives in England with his wife. Despite still being in a wheelchair and relying on a computer to communicate, his book, "Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body," was published in 2011.
