Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body

Martin Pistorious

“I didn’t have proof that He existed, but I believed in Him anyway because I knew He was real. God did the same for me. Unlike people, He didn’t need proof that I existed—He knew I did.” 

Martin fell ill with a mysterious condition at age twelve and gradually lost the ability to move or speak and slipped into an unresponsive state. He was gone. Then Martin’s mind slowly ‘woke up’ but he could not control his body or speak. He could not tell anyone.

I found Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body by Martin Pistorious well written and the style easy to follow. The biography is deeply touching, inspirational, and heartbreaking by turns. Martin writes about his struggles, dreams, frustrations, desires, and trials. His observations on life, human nature, and love often spoke deeply to me.

This is an emotional read. I had to put this book down several times but was constantly drawn back until I finished reading. Because of the subject matter, it was not always easy to read, but is well worth the time.

This is a story of resilience of the human spirit and of reclaiming life.

The ending is a happy, beautiful one.

SPOILERS

Martin is assumed to be in a vegetative state, but his mind has slowly been regaining awareness while his body remains unresponsive to his will. One caregiver sees meaning in Martin’s responses and if not for that one person, Martin may never have been released from his solitary existence, unable to communicate.

Part of the book talks about physical and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of his caregivers and is downright horrific.

This is a story that makes you think and wonder about how many people who are assumed to be in an unresponsive mental state may actually be aware. The accounts of abuse are disturbing and bring to light the vulnerability of those at the mercy of untrustworthy caregivers.

I read the kindle edition of this book.

I found this blog post Five Reasons You Need to Read ‘Ghost Boy’ by Martin Pistorius on Ollibean. The article tells about the story, so contains spoilers.

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