Rom Houben, 46, became paralysed after a car accident in 1983. For 23 years, doctors thought that Mr Houben was in a coma. Until 2006, the University of Liege doctor discovered that despite the paralysis, Mr Houben's brain was working the whole time, which means that he understood what was going on around him and was trapped in his body without being able to communicate to others.
Naturally, Mr Houben was frustrated by and angry at his powerlessness to convey.
"I screamed, but there was nothing to be heard," he revealed at the German magazine Der Spiegel.
"Other people had an opinion of me," he also told the BBC. "I knew what I could do and what I was capable of but other people had a rather pathetic image of me. I had to learn to be patient and now finally we are on an equal footing."
Mr Houben's mother never gave up her hopes and has always believed that her son could communicate.
"He is not depressed, he is an optimist," she said. "He wants to get out of life what he can."
After researchers discovered that his brain was still active by using new diagnostic techniques, Mr Houben has been trained to use his right forefinger to express himself on an adapted keyboard.
His "awakening" has been highlighted in, particularly, Belgium by doctors who are researching on new ways to understand coma patients, hundreds of whom around the world could actually be conscious but just locked in paralysis - and able to feel pain, unlike a true coma patient.
"All that time I just literally dreamt of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt." Mr Houben tapped out on his keyboard. "I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth,"
A recent video has documented the latest conditions of Rom Houden.
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