Being trapped inside your own body unable to move or communicate and without anyone, including yourself, realizing you are still there, might sound like the worst nightmare one could ever imagine. Sadly, such terrifying stories are some people’s reality.

Martin Pistorius, a 12-year-old boy from South Africa, was struck by a mysterious neurological illness. It didn’t take long before he lost the ability to move and communicate. He simply slipped into an inexplicable comatose state, or at least everyone thought so!

It seemed like he was completely unaware of his surrounding, but that was far from the truth. A few years after he became bed-bounded, he became aware of his condition, but there was nothing he could do as he couldn’t move or speak.

It wasn’t until years later that doctors realized he was still alive and trapped inside his own body. “My awareness was something that happened gradually, so it wasn’t like I was asleep and then I was awake,” he explained to All in the Mind. “As my awareness returned, it took me a while to fully comprehend that I was trapped inside my body,” Martin explained after regaining his life, albeit not fully.

We can never imagine what it must be like to go through something as terrifying as Martin did. Martin can now walk, but he has never been able to speak again. His speech is instead aided by computer-assisted communication. He is married and owns his own business in Essex, England. Martin’s life experience was documented in a book that became a best-seller, Ghost Boy: My Escape from a Life Locked Inside My Own Body, published by Simon & Schuster.

Over 10 million people watched his NBC News interview. For more on his incredible story, watch the video below and SHARE it with your family and friends on Facebook because it’s so worth it.