A Belgian car crash victim who was misdiagnosed as being in a vegetative state for 23 years was conscious the whole time, it has emerged.
For years he listened to the conversations going on around him but he was unable to communicate with his doctors or family.
Rom Houben was 23 at the time of the near-fatal car crash in 1983 that left him paralyzed. Doctors presumed he was in a vegetative state following the accident and they believed he could feel and hear nothing.
Neurologist Dr.Steven Laureys of the University of Liege, in Belgium carried out a brain scan using state-of-the art scanning system and discovered that Houben's brain was fully functional.
In an interview with the UK's ITV news Monday, Rom communicated by typing on a special keyboard attached to his wheelchair, and aided by his carer.
He said: "At some moments it was terribly lonely but I knew my family was believing in me."
"I simply want to enjoy life," he added. "I notice a big difference now I'm back in contact with the world."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/24/coma.man.belgium/index.html
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