By Laura Salas
He was a typical boy who was born healthy and grew up normal and beloved by his parents. But when Martin Pistorius turned 12, a debilitating illness began to take over his body. The doctors didn’t know how to help, and before long, Martin was completely paralyzed of mind and body.
Twelve years passed until Martin started to come back around. His progress was slow and at first wasn’t even noticed by those around him. When he finally woke back up, he revealed a painful truth: one that no one ever expected…
Martin Pistorius was a little boy just like any other. He was an active child who loved watching cartoons and was obsessed with resistors, transistors, anything to do with electronics. It was the early 1980’s and Martin was growing up with his parents in South Africa. Everything was perfect for their family, that is, until the day that Martin got sick.
It started out simple enough: 12-year-old Martin was complaining about a sore throat. But as the doctor visits increased and the symptoms became more and more severe, Martin’s parents were beginning to get worried. Martin had come down with a rare form of cryptococcal meningitis and tuberculosis of the brain. The disease slowly deprived Martin of his motor functions and it was only getting worse…
Martin’s condition was incurable, and the symptoms got progressively worse. Eventually, the boy lost the ability to move by himself entirely. Then, as if by some cruel twist of fate, he stopped being able to make eye contact. Finally, he even lost his ability to speak. It was as if he had entered a coma: a terrifying coma that slowly took hold of the frightened little boy until he was little more than a vegetable.
Martin’s parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorius, pleaded with the doctors for some sign that the disease was reversible. That their little boy would one day recover his motor functions, his brain functions. But it was not to be; they told him that all they could do was take him home and keep him comfortable until he died. Only, Martin didn’t die…
The Pistorius’ son was trapped in his body, unable to die and unable to move. Once he turned 14, it became clear that he was going to survive. His parents decided then that they would do whatever they could to help keep him comfortable. It started at first as home care visits during the day. At night, Martin’s father would take over. He would get up every two hours during the night to turn his son, just so he wouldn’t develop any bed sores.
