A man who spent more than a decade suffering from ‘locked-in syndrome’ while his mind regressed to the age of an infant has told how he felt ‘utterly powerless’ when he finally realised what was going on.

Despite defying the odds and the bleak prognosis doctors had given him, Martin Pistorius explained he was enveloped by sheer despair when he began regaining consciousness – as he was unable to tell anyone.

And tragically, he faced an extremely lengthy wait before anyone realised.

Martin, from Johannesburg, South Africa, was just 12 years old when his life changed forever after he came home from school one day in January 1988 while suffering from a sore throat.

As his condition continued to worsen, his parents rushed him to hospital where baffled medics tried to work out what was wrong with him.

Speaking to LADbible in April this year, Martin explained that doctors suspected he was suffering from cryptococcal meningitis and tuberculosis of the brain, so was treated for both – but these efforts were unsuccessful.

“My body weakened and I lost the ability to speak and control my movements,” he said, while explaining that he began to slip into a vegetative state which would end up lasting for four years.

Martin Pistorius spent his teenage years ‘locked in’ a coma (Supplied)

‘Utter powerlessness’

Doctors could still not determine the cause of the young lad’s condition and told his parents, Joan and Rodney, that he had no hope of survival.

His mum and dad were later informed that an unknown degenerative disease left him with the mind of a baby, wheelchair-bound and mute, while medics estimated he had less than two years to live.

Throughout his teenage years, Martin spent his days in a care centre while he would return to his family each night – and he described this dark period of his life as being like ‘an empty shell, unaware of anything around me’.

But four years after he first fell ill, there was an incredible breakthrough, which the South African says was the moment that he began to feel like himself again – which as you can imagine, was both thrilling and terrifying.

He explained: “I remember around my 16th birthday people talking about the stubble on my chin and wondering whether to shave me.

“It scared and confused me to listen to what was being said because, although I had no memories or sense of a past, I was sure I was a child and the voices were speaking about a soon-to-be man.

“I was able to hear, see and understand everything around me but I had absolutely no power or control over anything.

“For me, that feeling of complete and utter powerlessness is probably the worst feeling I have ever experienced, and I hope I never have to experience again.”

Sadly, nobody around Martin was able to realise he was conscious and they continued to assume he was still in a coma.

He began to regain consciousness when he turned 16 but couldn’t communicate this with anyone (Instagram/@martinpistorius)

Agonising wait

He would spend the next few years being shunted between his home and day-care centres, and he started to lose hope – fearing he would die alone in a care home without anybody realising he was conscious.

“What really got to me was the complete and utter powerlessness,” Martin explained.

“Every single aspect of your life is controlled and determined by someone else. They decide where you are, what you eat, whether you sit or lie down, in what position you lie in, everything.”

But in 2001, Martin met therapist Virna van der Walt at his day centre, who picked up on the ‘sparkle in his eye’ and sensed that her patient could understand a lot more than what other people thought.

She encouraged the then-25-year-old’s parents to take him to the Centre For Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) at the University Of Pretoria, who realised he had regained consciousness.

Martin described Virna as ‘the catalyst who changed everything’, while adding that he believes he would either be dead or ‘forgotten in a care home somewhere’ if it wasn’t for her.

He recalled how a researcher at CAAC held up a sheet of paper with symbols on it and he was asked to locate a ball with his eyes – and after finding that shape, he was then tasked with tracking down a dog.

This confirmed Virna’s suspicions that Martin was aware of what was going on, resulting in his parents purchasing him a computer that was preloaded with communication software so he could converse with them.

Martin is now happily married to his wife Joanna, who he shares son Sebastian with (Instagram/@martinpistorius)

Second chance

Martin would select letters, words or symbols on the device using a band attached to his head, which would act like a mouse, allowing him to finally regain his voice and his independence.

The medical marvel later started working with Virna at the care centre in 2003, before meeting his wife Joanna and emigrating to the UK – where the pair got hitched to in Essex in 2009.

Martin wrote a book about his harrowing experience, titled Ghost Boy, as well as later hosting a TED Talk in 2015 titled: “How my mind came back to life – and no one knew.”

He went on to welcome a son, Sebastian Albert Pistorius, in 2018 with social worker Joanna and has continued to come on leaps and bounds ever since.

Updating his followers on his progress in an Instagram post, Martin explained: “Since 2010 I have: graduated with a first class honours degree in computer science, learnt to drive, publish my book (Ghost Boy), given a TED Talk, started wheelchair racing, set a European record, been awarded a Doctorate, travelled far and wide, and become a father.

“I am intensely grateful to the people who have passed through my life, and those who remain part of it, especially my wife. For without them and the grace of God, none of this would have been possible.”

These days, Martin is a computer scientist and web developer – with a kick ass life story which should serve as a reminder to us all to not take anything, especially our voices and independence, for granted.

Martin Pistorius was just 12-years-old when a mysterious illness rendered him ‘locked in’ his own body, unable to move or communicate.

It began with him complaining of a sore throat one day, when he came home from school in South Africa in the late 1980s.

Doctors initially thought he had the flu, but his illness worsened and Martin was hospitalized.

Martin’s mother, Joan, told NBC: “He just never, ever got better.”

From there, it quickly escalated into something far more serious. Martin tested positive for cryptococcal meningitis and tuberculosis of the brain, and was treated for both.

It all began for Martin Pistorius when he started feeling unwell with what he thought was the flu. (Supplied)

In spite of the treatments, his body weakened and he lost all voluntary movement and was unable to speak.

Doctors were baffled, unable to provide answers, and eventually, he was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition. He was expected to live out the rest of his days in a vegetative state.

His family, believing he was unaware of their presence and actions, carried on with their lives, providing care but also preparing for a life without their son as they knew him.

However, unbeknownst to everyone around him, Martin was aware of his surroundings but trapped inside his body, unable to signal to the outside world that he could hear, see, and comprehend everything happening around him.

The horror of being aware and yet utterly powerless to communicate his awareness was a torment he had to endure for years.

Martin was completely aware of his surroundings, despite not being able to move or communicate. (Supplied)

Martin, who is now in his late 40s, told LADbible in 2017: “For me, that feeling of complete and utter powerlessness is probably the worst feeling I have ever experienced, and I hope I never have to experience again.

“It is like you don’t exist, every single thing in your life is decided by someone else.

“Everything, from what you wear, to what you eat and drink, even if you eat or drink, to where you will be tomorrow, or next week, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Martin’s mind was a prisoner in his own body. He could hear the caregivers’ conversations, and, most heartbreakingly, his mother’s despair.

He was present when she, in a moment of profound sadness, wished for his suffering to end.

These words deepened his resolve to somehow make it known that he was still there.

Martin is now a computer scientist and is married with a son. (Instagram)

One day in 2001, a caregiver noticed something unusual – a flicker of response in Martin’s eyes. Encouraged by this, she began to engage with him differently, paying close attention to his reactions.

Martin was eventually able to reveal that he was not only conscious, but able to communicate.

Martin’s parents immediately invested in a computer preloaded with communication software. It was a painstakingly slow process, but Martin’s life gradually transformed as his ability to communicate improved.

Martin wrote a memoir, Ghost Boy, detailing his extraordinary journey from the depths of isolation to the joy of being able to interact with the world again.

He now works as a computer scientist, and is married to the love of his life with a young son.

In hindsight, the writing was on the wall all along that Belle Gibson was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Reflecting on her journey from being a so-called cancer sufferer to a wellness guru with an international audience of hundreds of thousands, her nearest and dearest can’t believe they didn’t clock onto her deceit sooner.

The Australian scammer’s online fame soon turned into global infamy after her web of lies surrounding her health, ‘curing’ her illnesses with natural remedies and nutrition, as well as fabrications about charity donations were exposed.

If you think it sounds like the ideal plot for a gritty new Netflix drama, you’d be spot on – as there is one in the pipeline, titled Apple Cider Vinegar, which is currently being filmed in Melbourne.

But if you can’t wait for that to come out, you can get an unprecedented insight into the bizarre case by tuning into ITV‘s two-part documentary series Instagram’s Worst Con Artist. Take a look at this:

Gibson’s family and friends have spoken out about how they started to poke holes in the social media influencer’s strange stories which she span regarding her alleged conditions.

Rise to fame

The woman, from Launceston, Tasmania, began to grow her online presence and gained thousands of followers after discussing her feigned illnesses on the internet.

The then-21-year-old informed people that she had suffered two cardiac arrests and a stroke, before claiming she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Gibson alleged that she had undergone three heart surgeries – during which she had died on the operating table twice – before medics supposedly told her she had an inoperable brain tumour and six months to live.

The mum-of-one, who was in fact fit and healthy, then continued to bend the truth for the benefit of her bank balance by claiming she had shunned traditional treatments and had managed to cure her stage four cancer.

She fooled thousands of followers. (Instagram)

Unstoppable success

She alleged that Ayurvedic medicine, oxygen therapy along with a gluten and refined sugar-free diet had healed her body, while encouraging thousands of people who were actually suffering from the disease to do the same.

With more than 300,000 Instagram followers following Gibson’s journey, she decided to capitalise on their vulnerability further by launching an app and a cookbook, which were both named The Whole Pantry, to push her popularity further.

A whopping 200,000 people reportedly downloaded the app within the first month of its August 2013 release, before it went on to get voted as Apple‘s ‘Best Food and Drink App’ that year.

Endorsement deals were rolling in and Gibson’s success showed no signs of slowing down, as she had become Australia’s sweetheart after promising to deliver her share of the profits to several charities…although she never did.

Chanelle McAuliffe, a former friend of the convicted con artist, explained she first met Gibson in October 2014 through mutual friends.

The pair quickly became thick as thieves, but it didn’t take long before the young mum’s mask started to slip.

‘Red flags’

Former friend Chanelle McAuliffe revealed how she began to realise things didn’t add up. (ITV)

Chanelle explained she started to think that something fishy was going on after Gibson suddenly collapsed on the floor and began to have a seizure.

Within the few seconds which were filled with her panicking and screaming for someone to call an ambulance, her pal had suddenly miraculously recovered, wiped the saliva from her mouth and insisted she was completely fine.

“I felt really sick in my stomach for what I had just seen,” Chanelle said. “This is the point where red flags really started to pop up for me.”

Coupled with her bewilderment that her supposedly terminally ill friend has the strength to run a ‘business empire’, Chanelle started to smell a rat – and realised something really was amiss when she saw Gibson’s new Instagram post.

Gibson still owes money for fines. (Instagram)

The scammer had announced that her cancer had spread, news which the journalist couldn’t believe she was finding out about via social media.

Speaking to The Sun, Chanelle said: “I started to question everything, to go over it all in my mind.

“She always looked so well, she never looked sick. I started to think about times where she had gone on tanning beds and another time when we went to a nightclub and she was ordering shots and drinks.

“I said to Belle, ‘This is not good’. But she said, ‘I’m going to die soon anyway. Why not have some fun?’

“Those weren’t things she was sharing with her online community. Things just didn’t add up for me.”

A shocking confession

The scammer eventually confessed to the fraud. (60 Minutes Australia)

Chanelle confided her suspicions in a close friend, who revealed they’d been having their own doubts about Gibson too.

The duo decided to confront her at her home and demanded to see ‘any type of medical evidence’ to corroborate her elaborate story, which she claimed she did not keep in her house because it had ‘negative energy’.

“I asked her which hospital she went to get diagnosed at and she said she hadn’t been, that a doctor came to her house,” Chanelle continued. “She was defensive. But the more she spoke, the more it became clear it was all a lie.

“She was profiting from a web of lies she was spinning by targeting vulnerable people and it just made my blood boil. She was misleading people on such a major level. They were choosing to eat fruit and veg over medical treatment.

“I asked her if she was ready to come forward and she got really aggressive and told me to ‘f**k off’.”

This made her ‘hell-bent’ on putting a stop to Gibson’s web of deceit, seeing her call on the police, journalists and lawyers to help expose Gibson.

Thankfully, the fraudster’s lies finally unravelled in early 2015 when a charity revealed they had never received the money Gibson claimed she had donated – as she’d splashed it on a flash car, a townhouse, designer clothes and cosmetic dental procedures instead.

“No, none of it is true”

An investigation into her life with a fine tooth comb ensued, which revealed that nothing was authentic about Gibson.

In a bombshell interview in April of that year, she admitted her health woes were made up, confessing: “No, none of it is true,” before she was fined £240,000 in 2017 by the Federal Court for The Whole Pantry scam.

She later said she was unable to pay the fine, and is believed to still owe over £257,000 in fines, penalties and interest.

Instagram’s Worst Con Artist airs tonight (25 April) and 2 May at 9.00pm on ITV.

Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.

The ‘hero’ teens who jumped on train tracks to stop a man from killing himself have explained what they were thinking in the moment.

Mates Freddie Corbett, 15, and Harley Hollingworth, 16, spotted a bloke in a sleeping bag on a train station platform in South Yorkshire.

But with just the two lads and two young women around, the man then walked towards the tracks before saying: “I’m going to kill myself tonight.”

The pair previously appeared on This Morning to discuss what happened last month after Freddie noticed the man in a ‘bad state’.

He explained what went through his mind. (ITV)

His ‘heart dropped’ when he realised what he was going to do and instantly jumped onto the tracks at Bolton-upon-Dearne station to save him.

At first, Harley didn’t see where his friend had gone because he was distracted by his phone and Freddie then didn’t want him to risk jumping down too.

The 15-year-old described what was going through his mind when he got onto the tracks: “I was just like ‘I can’t let him die, I’m putting myself at risk but it’s not just him and it’s not just me – it’s the train driver and everyone on the train’. People can be traumatised and it just ruins people’s lives.

“And obviously everyone deserves a second chance at life.”

With a train approaching, Freddie said it was just a ‘natural instinct’ and you ‘don’t think’ in that kind of situation.

“You’ve just got to do it, can’t think, you’ve just go to do it,” he explained.

Harley’s dad also appeared on the sofa as he described it as a ‘shock’ and moment of ‘instant fear’ when he found out what had happened.

But the next morning it began to sink it what his son and friend had done and now he just keeps ‘getting prouder and prouder and prouder’.

With his mate jumping down to help him, host Josie Gibson asked Freddie if he felt like a hero, but he replied: “I didn’t think it were as big as what other people thought, it was just another day. I’d do it again, in a heartbeat. Every single time.”

The teens were responsible for saving the man’s life. (Facebook/Gary Robinson)

After the pair had saved the man, who is now getting support, the teen said his own ‘heart were in bits’ and ‘tears were falling down his face’.

A Network Rail worker took to X to share the lads’ incredible bravery as he praised them for saving the man’s life and encouraged people to ‘buy them a J2O’.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.

In 2019, a team of workers were busy removing shelves and freezers from the closed down No Frills store in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The supermarket had been shut down in 2016 and was finally being cleared out when the team found human remains wedged in a gap behind one of the fridges.

Thanks to DNA testing from his parents, the body was identified as belonging to Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada, a man who had gone missing in 2009.

That meant he’d been dead in the store for seven years, while it was still open, and a further three after it closed down for good.

Investigators found no signs of foul play or suspicious activity and deduced that Larry had slipped into the 18 inch gap between the fridge and the wall and become trapped there.

25-year-old Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada was thought to have fallen between the fridge and the wall and become trapped. (Council Bluffs Police Department)

His relatives reported him missing the day after Thanksgiving 2009, saying he left his parents’ house barefoot and hallucinating during a blizzard.

The clothing on the body matched the description given at the time of his disappearance.

Larry had worked at the store and former workers said it wasn’t unusual for employees to climb atop the units to stock them.

The fridge was about 12-feet tall and any of the 25-year-old’s attempts to shout for help would have been drowned out by the noise of the cooling unit. His death was ruled to be an accident.

A rather horrifying simulation of what happened to Larry lays out how awful it would have been for the 25-year-old to be stuck on the other side of a fridge with no way out and nobody hearing him.

Zack D. Films

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Stuck Behind Fridge For Ten Years 😨

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8:00 PM · Aug 11, 2024

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Some were doubtful of the horrific story, wondering how people wouldn’t have smelled Larry’s body when he spent a whole decade trapped behind the fridge.

However, what happened to him is very much true and his body spent several years behind the fridge, while the store was still open and operating with people walking right by where he was.

That he wasn’t found for 10 years and his body was only discovered when the store was being cleared out indicates how hard it would have been to find him.

People getting stuck in places they then can’t get out of are sometimes said to have the ‘worst death imaginable’.

Some people who get trapped are fortunate enough to have a way of calling for help and are able to survive, but for Larry, nobody could hear him and nobody even knew that he was down there.