Man trapped in coma for 12 years was aware of everything, hated 'Barney' reruns

Barney toys line the shelf of a toy store.

At age 12, Martin Pistorius became mysteriously ill and fell into a coma. For the next decade, he was trapped inside his own mind, gradually pulling himself out of a vegetative state.

For most of his time in the coma, he was aware of his surroundings. Today, after a miraculous recovery, the 39-year-old South African man recalls being forced to watch Barney reruns for hours at the special care center where he spent most days.

"I cannot even express to you how much I hated Barney," Pistorius told NPR. The show's theme song, "I Love You, You Love Me," was revealed last year as part of a list of songs used in "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the CIA, according to The Houston Chronicle.

That hatred was part of what triggered him to start regaining control of his mind and body.

Trapped inside his mind with Barney and a host of depressing and lonely thoughts, Pistorius decided he'd had enough. He began to reengage his mind and think about things that gave him a sense of control, like determining the time of day by watching sunlight and shadows in the room.

It would still be a while before his family realized he was aware of what was happening around him, but he remembers most of it.

"I was there, not from the very beginning, but about two years into my vegetative state, I began to wake up," Martin told NPR. He remembers historical moments like the inauguration of Nelson Mandela, and the death of Princess Diana.

Martin Pistorius and his father, Rodney.

He also remembers his father, Rodney, who never gave up on him:

"Each day Dad, a mechanical engineer, washed and fed me, dressed and lifted me. A bear of a man with a huge beard like Father Christmas, his hands were always gentle. I would try to get him to under-stand I had returned, willing my arm to work. 'Dad! I'm here! Can't you see?' But he didn't notice me."

He remembers mother, Joan, wracked with depression, telling him, "I hope you die."

In a first person account for The Daily Mail, he explained his frustrating situation:

"Have you ever seen one of those movies in which someone wakes up as a ghost but they don't know that they've died? That's how it was, as I realized people were looking through and around me."

After a few years, his family began to notice slight movements that seemed to be more than just random occurrences. A twitch of the finger here, a faint smile in response to someone talking to him there.

Eventually, he was taken to see an aromatherapist who learned to read his various attempts at communication, according to the Mail. She recommended that he be sent to the Centre For Augmentative And Alternative Communication at the University Of Pretoria.

It was there that at age 26 that he learned to operate a computer that could speak for him with slight gestures.

His family was stunned. When Pistorius began slipping into the coma in the late 1980s, doctors had told his parents that he had cryptocococcal meningitis, and that the best they could do was keep him comfortable until he died.

Now his condition is known as "total locked-in syndrome," according to the Washington Post. It can be caused by a stroke or an overdose of medication, and has no known cure.

Martin Pistorius and his wife, Joanna, on their wedding day.

After regaining the ability to communicate, he went on to get a job, study computer science in college, start a web company and write a book called "Ghost Boy," which published in 2011. In the book, he describes himself as "a man-child reborn in a world he didn't know."

Pistorius also fell in love with a woman named Joanna, who is now his wife. They live together in Harlow, England.

In 2011, Pistorius talked about his condition with the British TV program "The Wright Stuff." Listen to him recount his struggle to rejoin the world in the interview, and leave a comment below.