Man 'locked' in his own brain makes miracle coma recovery | 60 Minutes Australia

a vivacious young boy full of life full of energy full of hope stricken by a mystery neurological illness that Rob's him of his mind at just 12 years of age Martin Pistorius is in a virtual coma and doctors expect he will stay that way for the rest of his life then four years later Martin's mind steadily awakes but he's unable to move or speak Martin is looking out at the world understanding everything unable to communicate anything he lives like this for a whole decade until one person believes he can communicate and so begins the most incredible transformation the inspiring story of Martin Pistorius who became known as the ghost boy [Music] early morning in Johannesburg a plane touches down carrying a son and a brother the Pistorius family once thought they'd never see again [Music] he never ceases to amaze us because since his awakening he has achieved everything that he's dreamed of achieving as his parents you are allowed to say he's an extraordinary human being yes [Laughter] what makes him so extraordinary is that when he was 12 Martin Pistorius was struck down by a mystery illness that saw him suffer horror beyond imagination [Music] today he has his life back he speaks with the help of a computer and his voice is being heard around the world what really got to me was the complete and utter powerlessness the fact I had absolutely no control over what happened to me how terrifying was it to contemplate being trapped like that forever I think probably the scariest thing for me was I couldn't really see that this would ever change [Music] everyone agreed Martin Pistorius was a very special child growing up in suburban Pretoria to parents Rodney and Joan the eldest son the high achiever with a remarkable talent for electronics so that intelligence was that very very obvious Ruffman star bright boy you know he told us when he was three that it was going to be an electric man when he grew up what memories do you have of being a 12 year old boy I don't have any memories from my childhood but through photos and stories I have been able to piece together and get a sense of what I was like as a child it was 1988 and Martin complained of a very minor illness a sore throat and a headache and he came up to me and said I'm not feeling well and they never ever ever went back to school again it was far more serious than anyone could have imagined [Music] over the next 18 months Martin's body shut down he was losing his mind losing any trace of the boy he'd been [Music] margin was slowly but surely regressing into a state of nothingness [Music] for the next four years Martin was lost to the world his intelligence his memory his ability to function had all been taken from him this bright boy who is now assessed as being severely mentally [ __ ] and he had no control over his body doctors never could say what had happened to Martin all they could say was that he had no hope how difficult was it to watch as you lost your son chattering actually he went through a phase when he stopped speaking where you would go mmm in response to questions that was the only sound we heard after he stopped that totally he has never might sound since in those Lost years what was Martin like basically just an entity that was there and we were told that Martin had the mental age of a three-month-old [Music] day after day year after year Rodney would deliver his son to a daycare center for the severely mentally disabled Martin unaware he'd grown into a young man unaware to of the strain his illness was causing his parents it was so bleak the couple edge towards divorce Joan even tried to take her own life unable to accept what her son had become I'll try to commit suicide because I just couldn't handle it anymore and the psychiatrist told rod that I thought my child had died even they wasn't dead is that how you felt that Martin had died for the child that I knew had died yes and we didn't know who this boy was and we didn't even know whether he knew who we were but what no one knew was that inside Martin's body a miracle was happening after four years of a virtual coma his brain was coming back to life flashes of consciousness were lighting up the darkness [Music] were you conscious that it was consciousness returning what did you think was going on it is sort of like an image which is gram completely out of focus then gradually the colors start to trickle back and the image becomes clearer and clearer until it is crystal clear and in vibrant color with his mind fast returning but a body he was unable to control Martin had no way of telling the world he was conscious intelligent and desperate to communicate no one knew as he watched and comprehended some of history's greatest events we just saw on live television as a second plane flew into the World Trade Center now trapped in his body he was a silent witness to it all another plane just flew into the second tower this has to be deliberate folks how hard did you try to communicate in those early days I tried really hard to communicate but when I realized that my attempts to communicate weren't being noticed I eventually basically gave up trying it may have been a miracle but there was no joy in Martin's awakening he could not touch the world around him could not tell his parents he was there an onlooker to their anguish one night after yet another lengthy argument my mother turned to me and told me I must die obviously at that moment it was a really difficult thing to hear particularly coming from my mum I did actually say those words to him that's not a fabrication because our life was absolutely hopeless now knowing that Martyn heard you say those words you must die yeah how do you feel about that horrific oh absolutely horrified that he actually understood that I mean what mother says that to her child and I would never ever have said that had I known that he understood what were your greatest fears probably my greatest fear was dying all alone in some care home I never really thought all the worried about nobody realizing that I was an intelligent person I just didn't want to die alone [Music] Rodney always maintained he would never let Martin be institutionalized but to save the family he did leave Martin at residential care facilities for weeks at a time while here Joan and their other two children went on holidays for Martin it became a new dimension of his private hell can you tell me the worst of what happened in those care centers yes over the years I was physically emotionally and sexually abused that the care centers I was in I was hit pinched manhandled shouted at intentionally dropped and so on I was also sexually abused I think not being able to communicate makes you a perfect victim because you can never tell anyone it must be incredibly difficult to be confronted with the evil that some people have inside them to be the victim of them yes it is and there were many times I would get so scared and anxious that my heart felt like it would jump out of my chest I absolutely hated that a prospect of going back there was just too much then I had a thought the pillow I was lying on had a plastic cover over it so I thought if I could get my head inside of it then it would be like a plastic bag and I could kill myself that way I managed to get my head inside the pillowcase and for a while I thought it would work but obviously it didn't thankfully but in that moment the fact that it didn't work just made the agony a thousand times worse there was no escape coming up after all hope was lost she was the catalyst which changed the course of my life the one nurse who would save him you could see his eyes are talking back to you the emotional reunion and an impossible love story will you do me the honor of becoming my wife I feel like saying yes again that's next on 60 minutes for a decade Martin has been able to understand everything but unable to communicate anything it is a living hell but then a remarkable nurse named Verner van der vault saw something in Martin that nobody else could and his life would change in the most extraordinary way after nine long years of being locked in his body Martin pistorius's salvation came in a chance hiring at his daycare center her relief nurse and therapist Vern Evander Volt would give Martin his life back what signs did you say that Martin was there that he was alert that he wanted to be a friend when you spoke to him he you could see his eyes are talking back to you days us there was a sparkle in it he he was they was he one of your favorites yes and I just think because we reconnected I think what made Vern are different was she really talked to me and I think the fact that we were the same age also helped because she spoke to me I guess you could say almost like one of her mates and she almost expected a response back then has the patience of a saint and the dedication of a true carer over three years she learned to read what everyone else considered to be Martin's uncontrolled spasms as his desperate attempts to communicate over time they formed a language of barely perceptible eye movements and nods you know when you learn how difficult it was for him to make contact with you to communicate to nod just to even nod yeah what does that do to you you know he didn't think that anybody was going to see him for who he was so for him to actually trust me enough to even try to communicate that's that's just amazing I'm happy he did so I'm going to ask you once Verna realized Martin could communicate with her she fought for his chance to talk to the world by having him tested for the first time in nine years Martin had the chance to prove he was there do you ever let yourself imagine what life would be like if Verna hadn't spotted your abilities I would probably still be in some care home all dead it scares me sometimes to think how easily things could have been so very different she was the catalyst which changed the course of my life given the chance Martens seized it with everything he had from the most basic communication system of symbols Martin mastered computers and synthesized speech he didn't just learn slowly here n he just took in all this information and he just he know he learnt in doubles quick time but before he ran it was an arduous journey his mind a blank slate he had to relearn everything his mum helped him create a bank of words on every subject before he taught himself to read and write again it was quite a process I remember one time my mum and I was sitting in creating grids and we were adding words like hug and kiss my mom is a really down-to-earth tell-it-like-it-is person and so things quickly went from words about hugs and kisses to sex I nearly died from embarrassment as my mum sprouted words like erection ejaculation and orgasm thanks mom it comfortable conversation let's just say it was interesting I was actually really grateful embarrassed but grateful that I had those words because like any young man I was intrigued by sex he told me that you came up with the words around the sex education yes [Laughter] thinking of those words oh you want to swear words and everything you just don't know what he wanted Martin graduated with a degree in education from Pretoria University winning the presidential medal he became a guest speaker at conferences around the world and all without speaking a word but what Martin wanted more than anything in the world was love died remember one day when my father and I were driving somewhere looking out the car window and thinking I have so much love inside of me and nobody to give it to and he found us in Jonah a friend of his sister living in the UK then this woman pops up right what was it about Joanna that caught your attention well she is gorgeous for a start but I think what really attracted me to Joan now is her personality we just had an instant connection she made me laugh it was just so easy for us to sit and talk and for you Jonah what was it they attracted you initially the first day when I saw Morton I just thought wow we so attractive I loved his smile and his eyes you know but in late on us I got to know him I just found him to be such an honest and sincere man so the eyes the smile and the honesty you spotted all that over Scott first the first the eyes and the smile and then later the riskiest but it was all over Skype [Music] it was a whirlwind romance conducted for six months online and then finally the moment they met for the first time my heart was pounding as I went through the arrival doors of course when I saw her standing then I couldn't get to her fast enough I couldn't believe it we were finally together I was ecstatic I think ecstatic is a great word to use a Martyn for you to embrace and kiss this woman and for her to embrace and kiss you back that the feelings were real and that they were mutual after all these years of loneliness what was that experience like in a word exhilarating and surreal okay that's two words but it was truly wonderful finally someone loved me someone wanted me finally I could give all the love I had inside of me to someone in a way - I found serenity and kind of peace it was the most improbable and yet profound love affair [Music] I just thought whatever is disabilities whatever corner I'm more interested in what he can do but not even joining you how romantic Martin could be when he decided to ask her to marry him high above the African wilderness I was so worried about dropping the ring out of the balloon that I made sure there was string tie and weed so that if it fell it couldn't go anywhere [Music] because he couldn't speak the words Martin recorded his proposal onto his mobile phone you are my soulmate my best friend my companion my lover my rock and strength so will you do me the honor the enormous privilege of sharing the rest of my life with me by becoming my wife I feel like saying yes again and of course yes if I see you it was yes being married to Jonah meant moving to the UK at moments like this when it's so cold don't you regret not deciding to come to Australia [Laughter] but for Martin leaving his homeland meant leaving everything he knew not just the support he relied on but also the pain of his past but one point it just got too much for me and I completely broke down I cried and cried and cried confronting my past the little boy had been everything my parents my family I had been through just everything so do you think the emotion was about realizing what your parents had lost you know getting to know that little boy that you can't remember and knowing how much you meant to them you okay Martin in this new chapter of his life Martin runs his own web design business works tirelessly for charities and has written a best-selling book doctors were never able to say what caused his illness in the first place and nor do they know how much more he'll recover but the next and biggest adventure for Martin and Jonah is to start a family here's is now a life filled with joy and ultimately he has one person to thank which means a return to South Africa Virna and martin haven't seen each other in eight years she was the nurse who saw the potential the person no one else could see she listened to the Martin no one else could hear can you drive yet on your own and it's the gentle and understated Rodney who speaks for his son and his family in thanking her for Martin's return do you realize how special you are because you're the one who identified his communication ability sorry [Laughter] I'm glad that you are this wonderful person that you are and I just wish you all best [Music] there's someone who has experienced such anguish how happy a new today I am so very happy now life is good not without challenges but then whose life isn't but yeah I am really happy life is worth living now and I do my best to make the most of every moment it's good to see your smile is back hello I'm Tara Brown thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our Channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 2,663,688

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Peter Overton, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, martin pistorious, Martin Pistorius, locked in syndrome, coma, coma man, coma recovery

Id: IZr5VS7HDO8

Length: 24min 14sec (1454 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 01 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Crazy how to this day, no one knows what illness caused this.

Interesting how he has no memories of being a child which means his earliest memories were his conciousness slowly coming into existence in a body that doesn't work.

[u/MonsterCalvesMcSmith]

60 Minutes Australia? Is it always this shitty?

All the dramatization , and the superlatives and bullshit?

I know about this story since before, told in a much better way.

[u/CloudCityFish]

This is one of my worst fears. Like that biographical movie/book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly where Jean could only communicate through blinking. I feel like there's no way my family would notice I'd be trying to communicate with them.

[u/tetrapods]

Read his autobiography "Ghost Boy" it tracks his experience and his recovery.

[u/kingcal]

That is one of my absolute worst nightmares.

Being conscious trapped in my useless body.

I'd go insane.

This guy is stronger than I'd ever be.

[u/[deleted]]

I bet he heard the doctors discussing organ donation with his parents

[u/nodnodwinkwink]

"my mother turned to me and told me I must die"

To have a child hear that from their mother must be brutal. Their despair is very understandable but those are words that would leave a very deep scar.

[u/Yell0wBeard]

This is my absolute nightmare... open water unsettles me, heights make my knees shake but this scares me to my core. I dont know what I saw when I was young but before I was a teenager I had the fear that this would happen to me. This was long before the movie Awake so I really dont know what planted this seed in a 9 or 10 year old.

My mom told me I used to call it fake sleeping and that sometimes she would walk into my room and I would just be lying there staring at the ceiling when she called out to me I would respond that I was "just testing to see if I could still talk".

[u/philhouse64]

It's shit like this that makes me realize how lucky I am on a daily basis and makes me feel stupid for complaining about my problems.