I'm sorry to get so serious on you so soon, but have you heard about this guy in Germany who was in a "coma" for 23 years--HALF his life--but, really, he was just paralyzed? Yeah, Rom Houben was thought to be in a vegetative state since an accident in his twenties, but Steven Laureys, a neurologist from the University of Liege in Belgium, detected brain activity. Strangely enough however, this is making news now though it happened three years ago. I'm utterly shocked that this wasn't more of a media headliner three years ago, especially since the story would have placed closer to the widely-known Terry Schaivo case from 2005.
I guess what has gotten the publicity today is this man's resilience. Houben, ex-engineer fluent in four languages, plans on writing a book on his traumatic 23 years. The Guardian article explains that after intense therapy, he now communicates with one finger on a touchscreen. We are offered two snippets of his chilling and poetic accounts communicated through this touchscreen and then internet article, "I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," "I'll never forget the day that they discovered me. It was my second birth." What amazing words to come from a man who unwillingly took a vow of silence and immobility to fate for twenty-three years.
Can you imagine? No. It's virtually impossible to. My friend tried to explain her sensation of sleep paralysis, and I couldn't even fathom that fully, either from limitations in my mind or a barrier of fear. That's a hard kernel to chew...
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