Jacob Haendel became one of the first people in the world to come out of a rare condition that effectively put him in a coma, unable to move all while being 'fully aware' of his surroundings.
The Massachusetts man had a tough time in his 20s after his mom died of breast cancer when he was just 19. To cope with her death, Jacob turned to party drugs - and then hard narcotics.
Heroin addiction then took its hold on him and almost killed him by the time he was 28-years-old.
Medics believed the chef had suffered from a stroke as he recovered in what looked like a coma in hospital and thought he was brain dead.
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In actuality, Jacob was fully conscious - he just couldn't move or speak, like being in a coffin in his own body.
Speaking about his terrifying ordeal the podcast, 'We're All Insane', Jacob explained: "I'm essentially fully paralysed. I can't even like turn my head. I'm just there waiting to die, right [...] I'm still like the same guy inside."
He said he is 'fully there' but can't 'signal' for anything he needs to hospital staff.
Jacob said nurses would come in and talk to him but he couldn't respond.
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"I'm just like, this sucks. [I'm] trapped in my own body," he recalled.
However, he said the introductions from nurses and medics randomly stopped - and one time he overheard a conversation that sent him into a complete panic.
Jacob explained: "Two nurses come in and they're like working on me in teams. I have no idea what they're doing. One nurse just says 'I gotta tell you about this real awkward hookup I had last night' to the other nurse.
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"In my head, I'm like this is the best thing I've heard, I can't wait to hear this story. I think my pain actually stopped in that moment, waiting in anticipation."
"And this other nurse, she's kind of giggling and she's like, 'well, maybe we shouldn't talk in front of the patient'."
But what the nurses said next sent Jacob into a frenzy in his head which he can only describe as feeling like he's on a rollercoaster.
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He said the nurse replied to the other: "'Don't worry, he can't hear you, he's braindead'."
Jacob never heard the hook-up story as although he could hear, his mind was somewhere else.
He continued: "I'm like, what?! They think I am braindead? And I start freaking out. I'm like, oh my god, they have no idea I'm here. I'm the same guy. But then I'm like, wait, am I braindead? Is this what happens when you're about to die? Is this a hallucination? Am I dead?"
Doctors later discovered that his brain had been 'locked out of his body' due to a possible toxin he had ingested.
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They diagnosed him with a rare condition called Toxic Acute Progressive Leukoencephalopathy.
"There are only a few dozen people, since the first report in 1982 of the type of brain injury that Jacob experienced," Dr. Brian Edlow explained to CBS in 2021.
Jacob's stepfather said the family were also warned he had 'a couple of days' at one point.
Yet after six months on life support, doctors suddenly spotted a very slight movement in his wrist and after a few weeks, he miraculously regained the ability to speak.
Edlow added: "To go through all of that, being fully aware and having others not realize it? I can't even imagine the feeling of isolation, or the sensation of fear that one might experience."
Topics: Drugs, US News, Health, Mental Health, Podcast, YouTube
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