Houben's is an extreme case of locked-in syndrome, as described by late Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was completely paralyzed by a stroke except for his left eyelid, in his memoir Le Scaphandre et le Papillon which was made into a film by Julian Schnabel:
Locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is aware and awake, but cannot move or communicate due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes. Total locked-in syndrome is a version of locked-in syndrome where the eyes are paralyzed as well.[1] It is the result of a brain stem lesion in which the ventral part of the pons is damaged. The condition has been described as "the closest thing to being buried alive". In French, the common term is "maladie de l'emmuré vivant", literally translated as walled-in alive disease; in German it is sometimes called "Eingeschlossensein".[2] Locked-in syndrome is also known as cerebromedullospinal disconnection,[3] de-efferented state, pseudocoma,[4] and ventral pontine syndrome. Locked-in syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is aware and awake, but cannot move or communicate due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes. Total locked-in syndrome is a version of locked-in syndrome where the eyes are paralyzed as well.[1] It is the result of a brain stem lesion in which the ventral part of the pons is damaged. The condition has been described as "the closest thing to being buried alive". In French, the common term is "maladie de l'emmuré vivant", literally translated as walled-in alive disease; in German it is sometimes called "Eingeschlossensein".[2]
Locked-in syndrome is also known as cerebromedullospinal disconnection,[3] de-efferented state, pseudocoma,[4] and ventral pontine syndrome.
Locked-in syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I find Houben extraordinary for having maintained his sanity/self/identity, whatever the word for it is, for so long. Effectively, was it not similar to eternal solitary confinement? Interestingly, he says he did a lot of "meditation":
The Belgian former engineering student, who speaks four languages, said he coped with being effectively trapped in his own body by meditating. He told doctors he had "travelled with my thoughts into the past, or into another existence altogether". Sometimes, he said, "I was only my consciousness and nothing else". The moment it was discovered he was not in a vegetative state, said Houben, was like being born again. "I'll never forget the day that they discovered me," he said. "It was my second birth". <...> Houben hopes to write a book detailing his trauma and his "rebirth".
The moment it was discovered he was not in a vegetative state, said Houben, was like being born again. "I'll never forget the day that they discovered me," he said. "It was my second birth".
<...>
Houben hopes to write a book detailing his trauma and his "rebirth".
I look forward to reading that book. La Chine dorme. Laisse la dormir. Quand la Chine s'éveillera, le monde tremblera.
I'll certainly be in the queue for that book.
