London, Nov 25 (ANI): A Belgian man wrongly believed to have been in coma for nearly 23 years says he feels like a newborn after being able to communicate again.

Rom Houben said he had felt “alone, lonely, frustrated” in the more than two decades he was trapped inside a paralysed body.

The 46-year-old Rom Houben was injured in a car crash in 1983 when he was 20 and doctors took him to be in coma, although they now agree that he was conscious throughout.

However, it was not until three years ago, when a specialised brain scan diagnosed that Houben was suffering from a type of “locked-in syndrome,” which hampers a person’s ability to speak or move, without affecting his power to think and reason.

Thereafter Houben was given an equipment to communicate.

He now uses his finger to point out letters on a touch-screen keyboard and is assisted by a speech therapist.

“It was especially frustrating when my family needed me. I could not share in their sorrow. We could not give each other support,” the Telegraph quoted Houben, as writing.

“Just imagine. You hear, see, feel and think but no one can see that. You undergo things. You cannot participate in life.”

He added: “I would scream, but no sound would come out…I will never forget the day they finally discovered what was wrong - it was my second birth.”

“Just like with a baby, it happens with a lot of stumbling.”

The expert who diagnosed Houben’s condition is now looking at numerous such cases to find out if other patients declared vegetative can communicate. (ANI)