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Yes it is true, very much so. You took one part of the argument and reflected it.
So how about the other part of that comment.
Do you believe you would still be you without your brain?
The real flip side of your question is: do you think you'd still be you as a "brain in a vat" without any body?
Ultimately this whole discussion boils down to challenging the definition of "you" or "I". Biologically every "singular" person is the result of many living things working together, so the concept of "I" is an illusion. Physically, there is no "I", but only "us".
This makes the discussion easier. If the hand is removed, then of course "we" are different because "we" lost a piece of "us". This would also be true if "our" brain was removed.
Nevertheless, there have been cases of brain dead people's body adapting to the lack of central nervous system, so the body is more independently alive than we tend to give it credit.
We're they on life support, or do you have an example of it happening without any outside assistance?
Being able to biologically adapt to a different control mechanism is cool, but it's not necessarily 'alive' depending on your definition. The biological mechanisms may still fire, but that doesn't mean that you're doing anything more than keeping a meat sack functioning while it otherwise atrophies.
You are correct, the person was on life support. But they grew and went through puberty like any other normal functioning human. (I believe the person was born brain dead, and the wealthy parents couldn't let go so they kept the person on life support at home).
Cells are living things by definition. So it is alive, though the body functions more like a tree than a mammal at that point. But a decentralized nervous system grew around the different vital organs.