‘Ghost Boy’ Martin Pistorius Wakes After 12 Years, Reveals He Was Aware All Along.

It might feel like the most terrifying nightmare to be trapped within your own body, unable to move or communicate, with no one, not even yourself, realizing that you are still present.

Sadly, for some individuals, such dreadful stories are their everyday reality.

A 12-year-old boy from South Africa named Martin Pistorius experienced an unexplained neurological disorder. His ability to move and speak was swiftly taken from him. At least, that’s what everyone thought; they believed he had simply fallen into a strange coma.

Even though it seemed like he had no awareness of what was happening around him, that was far from the truth. A few years after he became bedridden, he became aware of his situation, but he was unable to move or speak, leaving him powerless.

It took years before doctors recognized that he was trapped within his own body.

“My awareness returned gradually, so it wasn’t as if I suddenly woke up from sleep,” he recounted to All in the Mind. “As my awareness came back, it took me some time to fully grasp that I was confined within my body,” Martin reflected after he eventually regained some aspects of his life, though never completely.

It’s hard for us to truly understand what it must have been like for Martin to endure such a terrifying experience.

Although Martin can walk now, he has lost the ability to speak. Instead, he uses a computer-assisted communication system to express himself.

He runs his own business from his home in Essex, UK, and is happily married.

Martin authored the best-selling book Ghost Boy: My Escape from a Life Locked Inside My Own Body, published by Simon & Schuster, where he shares his life story.

His interview with NBC News has been viewed by over 10 million people.