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    Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body
    Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body
    Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body
    Audiobook7 hours

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

    Written by Martin Pistorius

    Narrated by Simon Bubb

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    When you lose your voice, who will speak for you? When it all seems hopeless, how do you get through each day? In the New York Times bestseller Ghost Boy, Martin Pistorius tells the harrowing story of his return to life through the healing power of love and faith.

    In January 1988, a happy, healthy twelve-year-old Martin Pistorius came home from school with a sore throat. Soon, he was sleeping all day, refusing meals, and starting to lose his voice.

    His doctors were mystified. Within eighteen months, his voice fell silent and his developing mind became trapped inside a body he couldn't control. Martin's parents were told that the unknown degenerative disease he was struggling with would mean that he had less than two years to live. He felt invisible--like a ghost of himself.

    The stress and heartache shook his family to the core, bringing his parents to the brink of separation. Their boy was gone--or so they thought. Martin started to come back to life. He couldn't make a sign or a sound, but he'd become aware of the world around him again and was finally finding his way back to himself.

    In these pages, you'll hear the highs and lows of Martin's journey from his own perspective, including:

    • A family's resilience in the face of hardship
    • The consequences of misdiagnosis
    • The gift of a wild imagination

    Ghost Boy shares the beautiful, heart-wrenching story of a life reclaimed, a business created, a family transformed, and a new love that's blossomed. Martin's emergence from his own darkness invites us to celebrate our own lives and fight for a better life for those around us.

    Editor's Note

    Astounding…

    At 16, Martin woke from a nearly vegetative state but still couldn't communicate with those near him. This is an incredibly moving “Diving Bell and the Butterfly”-esque tale of love and resilience.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThomas Nelson
    Release dateMar 17, 2015
    ISBN9780718042592

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    Reviews for Ghost Boy

    4.5/5

    67 ratings15 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      Incredible story, I think everyone should read this book. The voice actor is great.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books I feel I will never forget! The writing is good, the story is wonderful and compelling, the truths about humanity revealed are both beautiful and awful but mostly beautiful.
    • 3/5
      This was a very quick read. I read most of it in one afternoon. The story of Martin and what he goes through is amazing. The book has a very uplifting and positive tone to it. He is someone who is truly thankful for the little things in life, and the fact that his life is turning out as it is, is amazing.

      So I give this book an "A" for content, but only a "C" for writing style. There were a couple of places in the book where Martin describes in great detail the fantasies that he is having. For example, in one he dreamed he was a pirate. These fantasies when on far to long, and were actually pretty boring. I would have left them out of the story.

      If you enjoy uplifting stories about people overcoming great odds, you will enjoy this one.
    • 5/5
      Awesome and inspiring autobiography! Very moving. Martin and his family went through such a difficult time, but salvation was at hand! Praising God for his hand in Martin’s life and recovery from the catastrophic illness that left him in a vegetative state for 12 years. A caregiver noticed he was trying to communicate, and he was on an amazing journey from there. I could not put the book down.
    • 5/5
      This story was so good. I've been saving this read for awhile. What a wonderful example of strength and perseverance.
    • 4/5
      When Martin comes home with a sore throat in 1988 no one is overly concerned. Unfortunately, the young boy never returned to school. From a mere sore throat, Martin's world turns from a typical boy's life to a world of nothing. He could no longer walk, talk, or even think. Years later, at age 16, he again becomes aware of his surroundings. But no one knew. He could not communicate that he was 'awake' until Vivian, who worked at the care center where he spent his days, talked to him. She knew that he was aware and talked to him, not around him. Vivian convinces his parents to have Martin tested. From the moment they realize he could communicate his family began a long battle to bring the ghost boy back to life.
    • 3/5
      At age 12, Martin Pistorius became seriously ill, ultimately losing the ability to walk, or speak, or control most of his movements. Doctors told his parents that he had the mind of an infant, and had little awareness of what was going on. Martin continued to live at home, but spent most of his days at a care center for severely disabled children. In fact, Martin was aware of his surroundings and had lost none of his intellectual abilities. When he tried to communicate, however, (he could smile and sometimes move his eyes and head), he was ignored because everyone had been told he was severely brain-damaged. Not until he was in his early 20's did a new caregiver recognize his attempts to communicate, and he underwent evaluation for an alternative communication device.The book is the story of Martin's return to life--learning to communicate by computer, and ultimately falling in love and marrying. Martin is currently an activist for those who are unable to communicate due to stroke or other illness, or for other reasons. This was at first a horrifying read, then uplifting.3 stars
    • 2/5
      It wasn't until after I read the book that I realized this is an autobiography. I was shocked. This book doesn't feel genuine. Obviously he must know how he feels so that can't be the reason it doesn't feel genuine. The only thing I can think of, is that the writing is not good enough to make me feel like I am inside the main characters head understanding how he is feeling.
    • 5/5
      "Have you ever seen one of those movies in which someone wakes up as a ghost but they don't know they've died? That's how it was..." - Martin Pistorius

      I remember the first time I heard about Martin. A friend had read an early copy of Ghost Boy and highly recommended it to our book club. We put the title on our book club's future read list and I set out to find an advance copy of my own. I was so fortunate to receive a free advance copy from NetGalley.com in exchange for my honest review.

      Without question, Ghost Boy is one of the most inspirational and engaging books I have ever read. It is almost impossible to believe that this gifted human being was kept from us because he had no method of communicating with the world. This riveting story is told with candor and poise revealing what it was like to be trapped inside his own unresponsive body and the changes in everyone's lives as he makes his slow entry back into the world of the living.

      Martin, a native of South Africa, tells his story from his point of view. The book opens in the day care center where he is strapped upright in a chair and pushed in front of a television for hours and hours mentally tortured as he is force-fed Barney and Teletubby reruns.

      When he was 16 years old he began to have spurts of "daylight" and it scared him to learn that he was no longer a little boy but now a half-grown man. Over time he regains full cognitive abilities but has no way to tell the world he had come out of the darkness. Unaware of his ability to see and hear everything around him, he hears intimate conversations never meant to be shared with him. He is physically abused and sexually violated by insensitive and abusive day care workers. He sees the hardships and strain his care places on his family and has no way to express his appreciation and love.

      Hope flutters to life when a day care aid first realizes that he understands what is going on around him. You feel the frustration as he struggles to find the best way to communicate. And you feel the deep love of his family that surrounded him in his darkness and while rejoicing in his "rebirth" struggles to forge a new relationship with Martin.

      Please, pick up a copy of this book. It will enrich your own life and will open your eyes to the lives of others in your community. You will never disability in the same light again.
    • 5/5
      I heard about this book through an NPR article. I am so glad I did. Martin tells of his life's story in a way that is interesting and very readable, but more than that, it's inspiring. For me, it was especially interesting since I work with nonverbal teenagers. Their stories are a little different from Martin's, but many of the circumstances are the same. I was horrified at the abuse he received, and it makes me appreciate what goes on with my students every day, that they are surrounded by caring people who treat them so well. I know that when I get to Heaven, I will someday see my students for the people they are without their disabilities, and I hope that they can share the stories of hope and kindness that Martin also saw. Martin never loses his faith, and what's even more remarkable is that he actually found his faith in God while in his silent world alone. I recommend this book to any caregiver of someone who cannot communicate and to anyone who wants to read an uplifting story.
    • 5/5
      Wow. Wow. Wow. What an awesome, tragic and inspiring story! Just absolutely uplifting! I started this and was hooked from the first sentence barely able to put it down. Martin provides us with such an immense insight into the value of life, one that doctors washed there hands of, one doctors said should be left to die, a life people thought worthless, a life many objectified and abused. Just imagine being fully cognizant in your own body but unable to communicate in any manner, no sounds, no movements, nothing, a "vegetable". Martin knew God was real and with him in the darkness just as he knew God knew he, Martin, was real. With God's strength he percevered until oneday a caregiver convinced others that there was more to Martin than they all thought. An inspiring story of love and the preciousness of all life. A must read!!
    • 5/5
      Absolutely amazing book! Very inspiring with a romantic ending that I didn’t expected when I first picked up this book.
    • 3/5
      An interesting, sometimes empowering, sometimes heartbreaking story told in a very matter-of-fact manner.
    • 5/5
      fantastic inspirational book. couldn't stop listening. an amazing story of an unusual life
    • 5/5
      I read this book. I couldn't put it down it was a very remarkable story about a person. I couldn't imagine how he felt when he couldn't do anything about what was happening to him.