Martin Pistorius

During the late 1980s, Pistorius and his parents were living in South Africa, when at the age of 12 he slowly began developing symptoms that included losing the ability to move by himself. Doctors were unable to diagnose the exact ailment and believed it was cryptococcal meningitis and tuberculosis of the brain. Pistorius eventually fell into a vegetative state that lasted four years, during which time doctors informed his parents that they did not expect Pistorius to re-awaken or survive for much longer. Upon her recommendations, Pistorius was sent to the Centre For Augmentative And Alternative Communication at the University of Pretoria around age 25. There, they confirmed that he was aware and could respond to statements. He has learned to use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate with others. == Personal life ==

Pistorius met his wife Joanna, a UK resident, in 2008 through his sister Kim, who had moved to England for her job. He later moved there, and they were married in 2009. Their son, Sebastian Albert Pistorius, was born a few months later on 6 December. == Published work ==

In 2011, Simon & Schuster published Pistorius' autobiography, Ghost Boy, which he co-wrote with Megan Lloyd Davies. The book met with a favourable response. By 2011, Pistorius had regained some control over his head and arms and could communicate with others via a computer equipped with text-to-speech software. == Media appearances ==

Pistorius's story found a considerably larger audience after being featured on the first episode of NPR's podcast Invisibilia, titled "The Secret History of Thoughts". In 2015, at the TEDx event in Kansas City, Pistorius described how he freed himself from a life locked inside his own body in his talk "How my mind came back to life — and no one knew" and how he suffered from extensive abuse from his caregivers, including sexual abuse. In 2018, he made a video describing his illness and recovery, and the experience of being fully conscious but unable to communicate. == References ==