A man who was thought to be in a coma for 23 years has spoken of his “second birth” after doctors realised that he had been fully conscious all along but unable to communicate.

Rom Houben (46) was paralysed in a car accident that left him in what doctors thought was a persistent vegetative state. Instead he was in fact awake and aware of his surroundings, heard his family speaking and could hear medical staff gradually giving up hope.

Researchers using new scanning techniques discovered that his brain was still active and trained him to use his right forefinger to express himself on a specially adapted keyboard.

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