Belgian coma man was awake for 23 years

Updated at: 1158 PST, Tuesday, November 24, 2009
BRUSSELS: A Belgian man diagnosed as comatose for 23 years was in fact awake and conscious the whole time, doctors have revealed.

Rom Houben, 46, had no way to tell his family and doctors he could see them and hear what they were saying after waking up following a bad car accident in 1983.

He spent more than two decades in excruciating isolation until a neurologist realised he was not in a coma just unable to communicate.

The former engineering student and martial arts enthusiast, now 46, told German newspaper that he meditated to pass the long years trapped in his own body.

He remains haunted by the moment he first woke from the accident and realised something was wrong.

Mr Houbens is now in care in a hospital near Brussels and able to communicate through a computer.