Posted on 01/12/2015 5:26:57 PM PST by Coleus
In the 1980s, 12-year-old Martin Pistorious became seriously ill with what doctors 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 didnt die. Joan said, Martin just kept going, just kept going. According to NPR news, his father would get up at 5 oclock in the morning, get him dressed, load him in the car, take him to the special care center where hed leave him. Rodney said, Eight hours later, Id pick him up, bathe him, feed him, put him in bed, set my alarm for two hours so that Id wake up to turn him so that he didnt get bedsores.
For twelve years, Martins 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 didnt 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 mothers harsh words and began believing that no one would ever love him. He said, You dont really think about anything. You simply exist. Its 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 mothers wish for him to die. As time passed, I gradually learned to understand my mothers 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 werent mine to control and my voice was mute. I couldnt make a sign or sounds to let anyone know Id become aware again. I was invisiblethe ghost boy.
Martins 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.
Thank God this young man did not have parents that gave him over to “hospice “ ... they woud have dehydrated him to death and ask for your donations to do it
“Libs are aware...”
No they aren’t.
"His doctors told his parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorious, to bring him home and let him die. "
I used the term “somewhat unique” only in the context of her medical condition, regarding brain atrophy, shrinkage of her brain and core functions, not all of which is fully understood by the medical community.
I deliberately stayed away from the personal aspects you described, which BTW I’ve been thru with the death of my younger brother. Unless you PERSONALLY have been through it, you’ve no idea the pain families go through.
Protesting? Please. I wish it was just that simple.
My only response to your accusatory post is you were not in my position, you don’t know the facts and you don’t know how the outcome developed.
Murder? Wow. Your own circumstance is just that. Your own. I wouldn’t presume to know all the facts in your case, much less have the unmitigated gall to call you a murderer. Other words after your post? Yup. Murderer isn’t One of them.
Do try and have some compassion for the situations you aren’t 100% privy to. And the next time you hurl such an accusation my way you can bet the farm I’ll be subpoenaing FR’s IP address records that correspond to your nickname and suing you for everything you have for libel.
Do yourself a favor and NEVER post to me again.
You mean it wasn't when Reagan signed the California Abortion Act in 1967?
You and I won’t argue the point that Terri Schiavo was in no danger of dying until the government stepped in.
I absolutely agree with that. I think Jeb Bush and the State of Floridas interference in a family matter was inexcusable and IMO is the single biggest issue why I cannot vote for him.
Yes, Terri’s husband was a real piece of work. She deserved far better than his plans for her, and God Bless her family for all they did to save her from an excruciating death.
My commentary was deliberately limited to the science (and lack of still) around our own understanding of the human brain, how it works, and how it can seemingly heal itself.
I posted earlier in this thread about a young girl from the church my family belongs wh suffered a horrendous accident and had been pronounced brain dead by a hospital, only to wake up thirty days later. I hope you read that post. The thing is, we have no idea why some people seem to recover from really horrible brain injuries, and others don’t. So much we don’t know yet. I wish science would hurry up.
What a beautiful story!
I didn’t accuse you of anything. I simply pointed out the fact that I chose not to commit murder long before I was faced with the opportunity to do so. I have no idea if you chose to kill anyone for having a brain injury. For the sake of discussion, I’ll take your word for it. But I won’t pretend that killing someone for having a brain injury isn’t murder. If that bruises your conscience, take it up with God.
First you said only those who have been faced with the decision have the right to voice an opinion. Now you say only those who agree with you have the right to voice an opinion, and you threaten legal action against Jim for providing the forum, and against me for choosing life. Do you threaten Jim with legal action every time somebody says something you disagree with, or am I special?
I’m not going to make it a point to avoid posting to you. If you’re going to hang out with the grownups, you need to put on your big girl panties.
Because I have not been able to see it, going back through all your posts on this one thread.
“I think Jeb Bush and the State of Floridas interference in a family matter was inexcusable and IMO is the single biggest issue why I cannot vote for him.”
That's a very ignorant summation of the entire case.
The “family matter” was the husband wanted the courts to order his disabled (and no longer wealthy wife,since he had wasted the money that was supposed to be used to pay for her care) be executed by intentional starvation and dehydration.
Her parents wanted to care for her, at no expense to him.
He had two children with his girlfriend, while Terri was in nursing homes, but for some reason pretended he was her faithful,loving husband.
He prevailed in the courts and public political arena, mostly due to people such as yourself.
So very wrapped up in your own private personal angst, and absent the ability to apply any common sense or logic towards another.
You've been here for a long while.
Were you one of the many FReepers who actively advocated for Terri Schiavo’s execution?
A few months ago I attended a psychiatry grand rounds at Duke University Hospital on this subject. They were able to communicate with people in a coma using MRIs and brain patterning to elicit responses.
One interesting question raised related to the competency for the individual in a long term coma to answer for themselves.
The research involved performing MRIs on a group of people when they were thinking of standing in place and hitting a tennis ball. They then did the same thing on the group with them imagining running around the tennis court but not hitting the ball.
They compared the two MRI patterns and found definite differences. They then asked the subjects to alternate every 30 seconds between the two thought images and monitored the differences.
Next they asked a question and said that if the answer was “YES” the subject should imagine standing in place hitting a tennis ball and if the answer was “NO”, they should imagine running around the tennis court without hitting the ball.
This yielded definite yes or no responses to questions.
Next they began asking questions to patients in a coma while in an MRI and found they could get “Yes” or “NO” answers from them by reading the MRI pattern.
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