Trapped in his own body for 23 years - the coma victim who screamed unheard
• Misdiagnosed man's tale of rebirth thanks to doctor• Total paralysis masked fully functioning brain
Other falsely diagnosed coma cases
For 23 years Rom Houben was imprisoned in his own body. He saw his doctors and nurses as they visited him during their daily rounds; he listened to the conversations of his carers; he heard his mother deliver the news to him that his father had died. But he could do nothing. He was unable to communicate with his doctors or family. He could not move his head or weep, he could only listen.
Then a neurologist, Steven Laureys, who decided to take a radical look at the state of diagnosed coma patients, released him from his torture. Using a state-of-the-art scanning system, Laureys found to his amazement that his brain was functioning almost normally.
"I had dreamed myself away," said Houben, now 46, whose real "state" was discovered three years ago, according to a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel this week.
Doctors presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983. They believed he could feel nothing and hear nothing. For 23 years.
Read the full article here: The Guardian
That male reporter is horrible using words as amazing and frustrating, 23 years with your own thoughts i would not wish that on my worst enemy.
ReplyDeleteI feel for that man 23 of his life gone, i hope he gets well soon..