A Belgian man says he's gotten a second start in life now that doctors know he's not in a coma.

Rom Houben was completely paralyzed in a car accident in Belgium 23 years ago and was left unable to communicate with doctors and nurses.

Eventually, they gave up trying and assumed he was in a persistent vegetative state.

Houben remained in a nursing home in Brussels fully aware but helpless.

Finally, a doctor did a brain scan three years ago and discovered Houben's cerebral cortex was firing away.

Houban said of that day, quote, "It was my second birth." The now-46-year-old Houben was recently given a computer and a special keyboard to converse with the world.

His physician, Dr. Steven Laureys, says as many as four out of ten coma patients may be similarly misdiagnosed.

　

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