From Book Review to Your Life Review

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Martin and Joanna Pristorius

I recently read an amazing book, after hearing about it on NPR. This week, the author has appeared on several U.S. talk shows.

If you want to be inspired, and hopefully to begin to think differently about your own life, read Martin Prestorius’s book, Ghost Boy.

Martin Pristorius, a native of South Africa, now resides in England with his wife. At age 12, he was stricken with a sudden illness, initially thought to be.streptococcal meningitis. His condition rapidly worsened until he sank into a coma-like state. It was believed that he would not survive, but he managed to do so. After about four years, he gradually “woke” up, However, nobody was aware he had a brilliant and active mind for another nine years. He was thought to have the intellectual capacity of a three-month old and could not speak, move his body at all, or communicate. His family did their very best to care for him, but he was often abused at daycare centers for disabled people, till, when he was twenty-five, a caring and perceptive worker at a facility noticed something unique about Martin, and his parents were convinced to have him tested. Gradually it became apparent that not only was there a working mind, but that Martin had an unusual brilliance.

The rest of his story is phenomenal. I was absolutely spellbound throughout the book, but also, at times, was horrified, and even frightened.

The thought of not being able to communicate is terrifying to me, as I am sure it is to many, if not most people. Communicating has always been a huge part of who I am. My mother claimed I was speaking in sentences by the age of six or eight months and never shut up after that! I have no idea if that was true, of course. By the age of three, I was reading and writing poems that I dictated to my sister and to my parents. More recently, when I reached a “certain age”, I became hyper (according to some, but not to my way of thinking) about creating my Living Will, so that if I should have something befall me that renders me in a “vegetative state”, I am not left that way, or worse, am not left in the hell of having an active mind inside of a body with no way to express my thoughts and feelings. I confess that sometimes reading about what Martin had to endure escalated my anxiety level, but it was fleeting, because I was so interested in the story, in the workings of his amazing mind, and in his attitude.

That Martin would have been able to remain as kind and perceptive a person as he seems to be, in spite of some of his treatment by some of his caregivers and experts, is a testament to his exceptional nature, spirit and faith. To me, Martin makes the Bible’s Job look like a lightweight.

Not only is this a fascinating story, but it is packed full of lessons for those of us who sometimes feel sorry for ourselves, and who feel we are trapped by our circumstances. If you are someone who feels you have been dealt a miserable hand, and therefore, you find it easy to give up, read this book and be uplifted. Yes, it is an uplifting true story, even if sometimes hard to read.

If you feel that you have been a target for misfortune, and that nobody has had to endure the things you have, and therefore, you view the world through a lens of helplessness, fear and negativity, then please, please read this book.

Yes, there are awful things that happen, and maybe some of them have happened to you, and to people you love. You can make choices though, that will enable you to transform your life into something different. Stop creating your laundry list when you wake up each day, stop focusing on everything that stinks about your life. Stop seeing yourself as a victim. Don’t cease to function and just merely exist in misery, like a sad and/or angry ghost. View your life as a challenge and challenge your life to a contest in which you become a winner. There are so many things we can’t change. That is absolutely true, but there are so many things we CAN change. Stop justifying your state of unhappiness right now.

Listen to the NPR story here:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=376084137&m=376174842

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