Imagine being a prisoner of your own body, your arms and legs useless and hung motionless, not even your voice answers to your summons. Stricken with a mysterious coma that left Martin Pistorius in a vegetative state when he awoke, he endured that ordeal for 12 long years.

For the initial 2-3 years he was consciously absent, it was only when he reached 14 or 15 years old did he regain his mind.

"Yes, I was there, not from the very beginning, but about two years into my vegetative state, I began to wake up," Martin recalls. "I was aware of everything, just like any normal person. Everyone was so used to me not being there that they didn't 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,"

Left alone to his own thoughts, Martin recalls eventually reaching a state of mental blankness where he simply 'existed'.

"You don't really think about anything," he said. "You simply exist. It's a very dark place to find yourself because, in a sense, you are allowing yourself to vanish."

Martin does recall experiencing one strong emotion, hatred, a hatred for "Barney the Dinosaur".

His caregivers constantly played "Barney" reruns. Believing he was a vegetable as well, they didn't think it would bother him.

He said, "I cannot even express to you how much I hated Barney,"

One day, his mother told him, "I hope you die," leaving him angry, frustrated, and heartbroken that he was helpless to change his situation.

"As time passed, I gradually learned to understand my mother's 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.

At the age of 25, Martin's aromatherapist noticed him smiling slightly, his displayed cognitive understand by nodding and gazing. At her request, he went to get tested at the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication at the University of Pretoria. They were able to confirm that Martin was indeed aware and able to respond, finally setting him free of vegetative label.

From then on, it was all uphill as Martin improved over time. Martin, now 39, works at a health center and lives a happily married life.

His entire ordeal has been documented in his memoir 'Ghost Boy', which can be found here.