The Scariest Motivational Pictures

At 12 years old, Martin Pistorius became sick.

Doctors suspected a brain infection, but couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong or how to help.

Progressively he lost normal body functions — movement, ability to make eye contact, speech.

He eventually failed every mental awareness test, and his parents were told he was “as good as not there.” He was thought to have the intelligence of a three-month-old baby.

His father brought him to a daycare facility at 5 every morning, picked him up 8 hours later, and made sure to turn him over as he slept so he didn’t get bedsores. He had lost his ability to act for himself.

The scariest part is not what he lost though, it’s what he kept:

Two years into this unexplained coma, Martin said he “began to wake up.”

He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything. But he was very much alive inside. Trapped within a useless body.

At one point, his exhausted mother looked into his eyes and said out loud, “I hope you die.”

"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.”

He learned to “simply exist” to cope with this dark reality.

“I had become a ghost, a faded memory of a boy people once knew and loved.”

He observed how people acted when they thought no one was watching. As a “defenseless victim,” his caretakers used him to play out their darkest desires. For over 10 years, they physically, verbally, and sexually abused him.

“There were many moments when I gave up, sinking into a dark abyss. I remember one particularly low moment. My dad left me alone in the car while he quickly went to buy something from the store. A random stranger walked past, looked at me and he smiled.

I may never know why, but that simple act, the fleeting moment of human connection, transformed how I was feeling, making me want to keep going.”

After some time, an aromatherapist noticed how he responded to her with his eyes, became convinced he was fully aware, and because of her efforts his life moved on. Martin now has the use of his arms and head, with some facial expression, and uses a text-to-speech program.

Life has been especially difficult for him, but despite his many limitations, he is now a published author, freelance web designer, married, and a father.