Posted on 01/12/2015 5:26:57 PM PST by Coleus
In the 1980’s, 12-year-old Martin Pistorious became seriously ill with what doctor’s believed was Cryptococci Meningitis. His health started deteriorating and Martin lost his ability to move, make eye contact and even speak to others. His doctors told his parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorious, to bring him home and let him die. They told them he was as good as a vegetable.
However, he didn’t die. Joan said, “Martin just kept going, just kept going.” According to NPR news, his father would get up at 5 o’clock in the morning, get him dressed, load him in the car, take him to the special care center where he’d leave him. Rodney said, “Eight hours later, I’d pick him up, bathe him, feed him, put him in bed, set my alarm for two hours so that I’d wake up to turn him so that he didn’t get bedsores.”
For twelve years, Martin’s family cared for him without any sign that he was improving. Joan started to despair and even told her son, “I hope you die.” Today she acknowledges that was a horrible thing to say but says she just wanted some sort of relief. Remarkably, now Martin is 39-years-old and says he was totally aware of everything going on around him.
He said, “Yes, I was there, not from the very beginning, but about two years into my vegetative state, I began to wake up. 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. The stark reality hit me that I was going to spend the rest of my life like that — totally alone.”
Unfortunately, Martin was even aware of his mother’s harsh words and began believing that no one would ever love him. He said, “You don’t really think about anything. You simply exist. It’s a very dark place to find yourself because, in a sense, you are allowing yourself to vanish.”
Martin spent most of those days at a care center where his caregivers played Barney reruns over and over again. They did this because they believed he was a vegetable too. He said, “I cannot even express to you how much I hated Barney.”
But eventually, Martin became frustrated with being trapped in his own body and started to try and take control of his life. He learned to tell time by the rising and setting of the sun and would reframe even the ugliest of thoughts that haunted him like his mother’s wish for him to die. “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,” said Martin.
Now Martin is married and has penned a memoire about his life. He has gained control of his body and in his book Ghost Boy, he writes, “My mind was trapped inside a useless body, my arms and legs weren’t mine to control and my voice was mute. I couldn’t make a sign or sounds to let anyone know I’d become aware again. I was invisible—the ghost boy.”
Martin’s survival is a testament to how little we actually know about the human brain and a good reminder that we should value all life— even when we hear the terrifying words “your loved one is a vegetable” or in a “vegetative state” from a medical professional.
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I have been, unfortunately, on the receiving end of jaded nurses. Just horrific. 10 surgeries, many with long hospital recovery times. Nurse Ratchet would have been a blessing.
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With his wife
Ping!
I’m not sure if it’s inspiring. It seems horrifying of how many people may be living like this and no one suspects!
If you are skeptical of this story, why did you not look it up?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBFntsxK-vc
What a story. This guy should write a book.
He went through a literal hell on Earth! Just unimaginable what that poor guy went through. His family too! Imagine what his mother must feel like right now having said that to him, and knowing that he heard and understood it. She’ll probably agonize over that until the day she dies.
Maybe...and only Maybe...he might figure out what we are all upset about
Reg, Terri was my first thought--the horror she must have had of realizing she was to be put to death.
And without mercy either. It took 13 days for her to die of dehydration--an extremely painful way to die.
I cannot forget nor forgive Jeb Bush for his astonishing lack of moral courage. Terri had every right under the Florida Constitution to live and not be put to death.
We don't even allow dogs or cats to die in this manner.
I have also heard that unconscious people can hear, stroke victims can hear, even if they cannot respond.
My wife and I always spoke endearing and encouraging words to those who were not conscious, believing they could hear us.
This story, as well as others, show this to be the right thing to do.
Advancements in MRI technology using contrast (MRA) to show activity in the brain is increasingly being used. Families have to demand it before the Neurologist (the Doctor that declares "brain death") declares the patient "brain dead."
Went through this with my younger brother in August 2012 when he had a massive aneurysm at the point where the brain stem connects to the brain. His aneurysm was genetic in nature, meaning my older sister, my youngest brother and I received immediate MRI/MRA's to determine if we were walking time-bomb's ourselves.
I wouldn't wish the experience we went through on anyone. Those who haven't been through it really have no business criticizing others for the decisions they had to make.
Base brain function, meaning the lowest function a brain can perform while still being a live, functioning brain is to simply keep the body's major organs functioning, which includes breathing.
That function was clearly there in the Schiavo case despite brain atrophy and shrinkage. Anything else is cognitive function and IIRC (I may not ....) the jury was out on whether or not she had any cognitive function.
Still, base brain function was there supporting her body's ability to sustain itself provided intravenous feeding.
It's unfortunate that her case was far ahead of what modern medicine was able to test, examine for and base conclusions on at that time. If she were alive today, her case may still be ahead of what modern medicine can test for and base conclusions on.
We're still learning so much about how the brain functions and even at times, heals itself.
because Im in the middle of a bunch of projects now and dont have time. My point was the recovery of getting muscles to work that haven’t worked in 12 years is long and painful if it can be done at all... which remains true whether the story is true or not.
Thank you.
BTTT.
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