NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Martin Pistorius's miraculous journey back from life on the brink will inspire you to celebrate life and fight for those around you.

When you lose your voice, who will speak for you? When it all seems hopeless, how do you get through each day? In the New York Times bestseller Ghost Boy, Martin Pistorius tells the harrowing story of his return to life through the healing power of love and faith.

In January 1988, a happy, healthy twelve-year-old Martin Pistorius came home from school with a sore throat. Soon, he was sleeping all day, refusing meals, and starting to lose his voice.

His doctors were mystified. Within eighteen months, his voice fell silent and his developing mind became trapped inside a body he couldn't control. Martin's parents were told that the unknown degenerative disease he was struggling with would mean that he had less than two years to live. He felt invisible--like a ghost of himself.

The stress and heartache shook his family to the core, bringing his parents to the brink of separation. Their boy was gone--or so they thought. Martin started to come back to life. He couldn't make a sign or a sound, but he'd become aware of the world around him again and was finally finding his way back to himself.

In these pages, you'll hear the highs and lows of Martin's journey from his own perspective, including:

• A family's resilience in the face of hardship
• The consequences of misdiagnosis
• The gift of a wild imagination

Ghost Boy shares the beautiful, heart-wrenching story of a life reclaimed, a business created, a family transformed, and a new love that's blossomed. Martin's emergence from his own darkness invites us to celebrate our own lives and fight for a better life for those around us.

GHOST BOY

The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body

Thomas Nelson

Contents

Prologue...................................................................
ix
1 Counting Time............................................................
1
2 The Deep.................................................................
5
3 Coming Up for Air........................................................
10
4 The Box..................................................................
13
5 Virna....................................................................
19
6 Awakening................................................................
23
7 My Parents...............................................................
32
8 Changes..................................................................
36
9 The Beginning and the End................................................
39
10 Day by Day..............................................................
45
11 The Wretch..............................................................
50
12 Life and Death..........................................................
54
13 My Mother...............................................................
58
14 Other Worlds............................................................
65
15 Fried Egg...............................................................
68
16 I Tell a Secret.........................................................
71
17 The Bite................................................................
76
18 The Furies..............................................................
78
19 Peacock Feathers........................................................
83
20 Daring to Dream.........................................................
88
21 Secrets.................................................................
96
22 Out of the Cocoon.......................................................
99
23 An Offer I Can't Refuse.................................................
101
24 A Leap Forward..........................................................
104
25 Standing in the Sea.....................................................
109
26 She Returns.............................................................
112
27 The Party...............................................................
114
28 Henk and Arrietta.......................................................
120
29 The Healer..............................................................
124
30 Escaping the Cage.......................................................
129
31 The Speech..............................................................
135
32 A New World.............................................................
141
33 The Laptop..............................................................
144
34 The Counselor...........................................................
146
35 Memories................................................................
150
36 Lurking in Plain Sight..................................................
154
37 Fantasies...............................................................
158
38 A New Friend............................................................
162
39 Will He Ever Learn?.....................................................
164
40 GD and Mimi.............................................................
169
41 Loving Life and Living Love.............................................
173
42 Worlds Collide..........................................................
178
43 Strangers...............................................................
184
44 Everything Changes......................................................
189
45 Meeting Mickey?.........................................................
193
46 The Real Me.............................................................
197
47 A Lion's Heart..........................................................
199
48 I Tell Her..............................................................
203
49 Sugar and Salt..........................................................
205
50 Falling.................................................................
211
51 Climbing................................................................
218
52 The Ticket..............................................................
221
53 Coming Home.............................................................
226
54 Together................................................................
229
55 I Can't Choose..........................................................
236
56 Fred and Ginger.........................................................
240
57 Leaving.................................................................
244
58 A Fork in the Road......................................................
247
59 Confessions.............................................................
249
60 Up, Up, and Away........................................................
253
61 Saying Goodbye..........................................................
260
62 Letting Go..............................................................
265
63 A New Life..............................................................
267
64 Waiting.................................................................
271
Acknowledgments............................................................
275