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BRUSSELS – For 23 torturous years, Rom Houben says he lay trapped in his paralyzed body, aware of what was going on around him but unable to tell anyone or even cry out.
The car crash victim had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state but appears to have been conscious the whole time. An expert using a specialized type of brain scan that was not available in the 1980s finally realized it and unlocked Houben’s mind again.
Houben, 46, is now communicating with one finger and a touchscreen on his wheelchair.
“Powerlessness. Utter powerlessness. At first I was angry, then I learned to live with it,” he said, punching the message into the screen during an interview with the Belgian RTBF network, aired Monday. He has called his rescue his “renaissance.”
Over the years, Houben’s family refused to accept the word of his doctors, believing he knew what was happening around him, said his mother, Fina.
The discovery took place three years ago but only recently came to light after publication of a study on the misdiagnosis of people with consciousness disorders.
During Houben’s two lost decades, his eyesight was poor, but experts say he could hear doctors, nurses and visitors to his bedside and feel the touch of a relative. He said that during that time, he heard his father had died, but he was unable to show any emotion.
Over the years, Houben’s skeptical mother took him to the United States five times for tests. More searching got her in touch with Steven Laureys of Belgium’s Coma Science Group, which put Houben through a brain imaging scan.
“We saw his brain was almost normal,” neuropsychologist Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse said.
A breakthrough came when Houben was able to indicate yes or no by slightly moving his foot to push a computer device placed there by Laureys’ team.
