{"id":410,"date":"2015-02-19T06:37:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T06:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/?p=410"},"modified":"2015-02-19T06:38:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T06:38:02","slug":"ghost-boy-a-story-about-love-courage-and-perseverance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/410\/ghost-boy-a-story-about-love-courage-and-perseverance\/","title":{"rendered":"“Ghost Boy” – a story about Love, Courage, and Perseverance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Martin-Pistorius-Joanna2\"<\/a>Do you believe in love at first sight? \u00a0Or, take it a step further, love without physically meeting the person yet? \u00a0A web chat was enough to ignite a spark for the once “Ghost Boy” Martin Pistorius and Joanna, eventually leading to each professing their love for each other – without physically meeting each other.<\/p>\n

\n

When I met Joanna, I wondered if she would be different. She was a South African social worker who\u2019d settled in Britain and become friends with my sister Kim, who was working there.<\/span><\/p>\n

We met during a family web chat in 2008 and started emailing each other, culminating in Joanna suggesting we get together in Britain. I was curious about why she wanted to meet me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Because you\u2019re the most honest man I\u2019ve ever met,\u2019 she said. \u2018And because, although I\u2019ve only known you for a few weeks, you\u2019ve made me so happy. You make me laugh, you\u2019re interesting and you understand what I say in a way no one else ever has before.\u2019<\/p>\n

Still, I wasn\u2019t sure. I explained that though I had made huge progress, I still needed a wheelchair and help with many daily activities. It didn\u2019t matter, she said; we\u2019d work it out. One night I wrote to her: \u2018I can\u2019t stop thinking about you. I love you.<\/p>\n

I had to tell you.\u2019 I\u2019d known her for only a few weeks, yet I was sure I would know her for a lifetime. \u2018My love,\u2019 Joanna wrote next morning. \u2018Do you know how long I\u2019ve wanted to start a letter with those words? But until now there has never been an opportunity for me to do it.<\/p>\n

How happy you make me. I love you so much it\u2019s almost painful.\u2019 My heart leapt when I read those words.<\/p>\n

I knew, though, I was taking a gamble with Joanna because there would always be a fraction of doubt, however tiny, until we met. The greatest lesson I was learning with her, though, was that living life is about taking chances, even if they make you feel afraid.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What made Martin call himself the “Ghost Boy”? \u00a0It has nothing to do with the movie “Sixth Sense” or “Ghostbusters”. \u00a0At age 12 Martin contracted an unknown disease that put\"Martin-Pistorius-Rodney\" him in a virtual coma, and paralyzed. \u00a0At about age 16 his mind began to wake up, and by 19 he was fully aware. \u00a0But he couldn’t make any majorly noticeable movements or sounds\u00a0to make everyone\u00a0know he’s back, making him feel\u00a0invisible:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My mind was trapped inside a useless body, my arms and legs weren\u2019t mine to control and my voice was mute. I couldn\u2019t make a sign or a sound to let anyone know I\u2019d become aware again. I was invisible \u2013 the ghost boy.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally Martin got relief in 2001, at the age of 25. \u00a0 At the urging of a\u00a0very special social worker, Virna van der Walt, who could understand his little movements as responses, he was taken\u00a0to the\u00a0Centre For Augmentative And Alternative Communication at the University Of Pretoria. \u00a0Martin got a way to communicate through computers, and progressed more and more each day. \u00a0In 2003, he started helping at the health centre\u00a0with Virna, fixing problems with computers. \u00a0Fast forward to the web chat in 2008, emails back and forth, finally meeting, and like a fairytale ending, his wedding with Joanna in 2009. \u00a0He was not only acknowledged, but fully accepted in romantic love:<\/span><\/p>\n

After months of longing, we couldn\u2019t bear to be apart even for a moment. I had never known a person who accepted me so completely and had so much peace inside.\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

True love. \u00a0Read more of Martin’s\u00a0story here:\u00a0 “<\/span>The Ghost Boy: The uplifting story of how Martin Pistorius survived a mystery paralysis to find love<\/a>“)<\/p>\n

\"Martin-Pistorius-Joanna\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Martin-Pistorius-family\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"MARTIN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you believe in love at first sight? \u00a0Or, take it a step further, love without physically meeting the person yet? \u00a0A web chat was enough to ignite a spark for the once “Ghost Boy” Martin Pistorius and Joanna, eventually … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[244,51],"tags":[261,267,270,266,269,35,268],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":431,"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.friendsmatchme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}