Experience Description
I was about 46 years old and I have hereditary heart problems in my lineage. As for my beliefs, I became a born-again Christian when I was around 13 years old. I believe strongly that God created the universe, and that Jesus died on the cross to absorb man’s sins so those that wanted redemption and forgiveness would need to believe he was the son of God, and that he died on the cross for the salvation of man. In life, I always tried to act proper, follow the laws, treat others with respect and kindness, and help others when I could.
On May 29, 2008, I was having some chest pains so I went to see a cardiologist. He did an EKG, and immediately sent me to the hospital emergency room. They checked me in, planning to place a stent in a couple of my heart arteries. Unfortunately, they discovered one of the locations was not an option for a stent. They wanted to perform a bypass surgery the next morning.
On the next day, May 30 2008, they prepped me and rolled me to surgery. I had a large fear of the procedure, but was told hundreds of bypass procedures were performed everyday and with no issues. That statement did make me feel better, but I was still scared. I was looking forward to when the anesthesiologist started the knock-out gas flow.
I was very worried about my children, my wife, my mother, and my job. I was not able to imagine how they would manage and get along without me; especially my wife, since I handle 90% of the household issues. Yes, I was scared, but more for them rather than myself. Finally, I received the knockout gas, and at first, I was not aware of anything. It was just like I was asleep.
What seemed like just a few minutes passed by, and then I was wide awake. I had a terrible deafness, to the point I could not even hear my own yelling as I was trying to tell the doctors I was awake. Everything was dark, and that immense deafness was overpowering for me and close to the point of pain. It was as if I was in a vacuum. After a short time, I started floating up out of my body. I could see my body being worked on by a medical team. The deafness pressure started to subside, and I could hear again. I could also see clearly. I continued to float up and could hear the chatter of the doctors around me. I started to float back down, just short of going through the ceiling.
As I started a slow descent, I could see my father and my maternal Grandfather, standing at the end of a very long hallway. I was excited to see them, and was waiving and shouting to them. But they never acknowledged me. They were talking to each other, as if they had not seen each other for a while. They would look my way occasionally, and I would waive and shout again. But still, they never acknowledged seeing me. I couldn't hear what they were talking about. It did seem like they had not seen each other for a while though. They also appeared as they way I remembered them in my head. That is, my dad looked like he did before he got cancer, and my grandpa looked how he did when I was a teenager.
I finally descended and was sitting on a table next to the operating table. A door at the start of the hallway opened and a man walked out to greet me. He asked me how I was doing. I pointed over to the table where they were operating and told him it looked like I was not doing too good. The man gave a pat on my back and said, 'Not to worry, everything would work out okay.' I told him I thought my dad and grandpa must be mad at me because they were ignoring me. He told me that they were not allowed to interact with me. He told me that this was because this was not my time to pass the final barrier, and that I would be going back to my body soon. I asked the man who he was. He told me that he was my brother. He had a cast on his foot, that he said he had gotten from skiing. He said that he is in a place where the people get a re-do of life on the things they missed out on. They get to experience pain, pleasure, food, joy, happiness, and most other things. He explained it as a place for people who died young, before they got to experience life. Here, they were able to make decisions. He said the primary reason for life was to learn, and to choose your own paths. He said they stay there but could leave whenever they felt they had experienced and lived enough. He then said it was time for me to go back.
During this period, after I came out of the dreadful vacuum of silence, I did not feel pain, enjoyment, or pleasure. I had no memories of my loved ones still alive, so the pain and worry of leaving them was missing.
I did not see any bright light or tunnels. Although the hallway could have been viewed as a tunnel, I guess. I did not talk to anyone except my brother. I did not receive any messages to live better, or spread the word of God, or anything like that. Overall, I would say it was an uneventful happening.
It was about 4 days before I was awake enough to have normal thoughts and have cognizant abilities. I was told they stopped my heart to allow them better grafting of the harvested arteries to my heart during the surgery. I was kept alive with a machine that pumped my blood, and also a breathing machine.
When my wife and mother came to visit, I was out of ICU and I was alert again. I told them about my experience, and ended with saying it had to have been my imagination or a dream, since I did not have a brother. My mother teared up began to cry. She told me that I did, indeed, have a brother that he had died of crib-death. She had never spoken of him due to the pain she carried. The father I saw was my adopted father, not my biological father. He is the man I always called dad and I loved him as such.
I ultimately went back to work, but my health was never the same after that bypass. I had to have stents implanted within 6 months in one of the harvested arteries. I also had to have a pacemaker installed. All of this caused me to retire as disabled. I have days during the month where I do not have the energy to get out of bed, so I stay there for 2 or 3 days. This happens 3 to 5 times per month. The other days, I am able to shower, dress, and manage what most would call a normal life. I have near fainting spells 2 to 3 times every month, so I stopped driving. I live one day at a time, and no longer have a fear of death. – I am not wanting to get in the short line or anything like that, but I have accept my impending death and understand that dying is part of the living process. It is something we will all do. During those 2 or 3 days per month, when I cannot get out of bed, I have a constant feeling of doom. Yet it is a calming sense of foreboding, that is not laced with fear.
After the surgery, we started to position ourselves better financially by clearing all debt, so my wife will not have to struggle when I pass. I have worked with her to help her learn most of the things I always took care of around the house so she could be self-sufficient.
My takeaways from this experience are a few things:
1) When we pass away young, or with severe handicaps in this world, we have the choice to have a 'do-over' and live a life free of the medical ailments. These souls can progress when they feel ready. (I would equate this to a type of purgatory)
2) The loved ones are there for us and will rejoin us when the time is upon us.
3) The loved ones appear as you best remembered them. This could be when they were any age that you recall them looking their best, or when they were the happiest.
4) Our lives here are intertwined like a bowl of spaghetti. We are supposed to help people get un-twined. We are supposed to treat others with kindness, patience, and love. We are supposed to help people live the life-path they choose.
5) The people in your life now will not be missed when you depart. It almost seems like that pain of missing them is blocked out.
6) For the folks that have already died, they will be there to greet you when your time comes. I think it will only be the ones that were the most impactful to you, and that you had the strongest bond with. At least in that initial meeting. I have no knowledge or experience with what is beyond the final barrier, or how many other souls may be there to meet you.
7) My faith and beliefs have never changed. I am still a Christian, and I speak to the lord through prayers at times, with my core beliefs not being impacted one way or another. I have not been a group participant of the lord (like going to church regularly) for 20 years before the surgery, and that still remains today. I think churches are good for helping those in need, but I think the Lord cares more about how we live our lives, and how we treat and help others more than our church attendance habits.
On May 29, 2008, I was having some chest pains so I went to see a cardiologist. He did an EKG, and immediately sent me to the hospital emergency room. They checked me in, planning to place a stent in a couple of my heart arteries. Unfortunately, they discovered one of the locations was not an option for a stent. They wanted to perform a bypass surgery the next morning.
On the next day, May 30 2008, they prepped me and rolled me to surgery. I had a large fear of the procedure, but was told hundreds of bypass procedures were performed everyday and with no issues. That statement did make me feel better, but I was still scared. I was looking forward to when the anesthesiologist started the knock-out gas flow.
I was very worried about my children, my wife, my mother, and my job. I was not able to imagine how they would manage and get along without me; especially my wife, since I handle 90% of the household issues. Yes, I was scared, but more for them rather than myself. Finally, I received the knockout gas, and at first, I was not aware of anything. It was just like I was asleep.
What seemed like just a few minutes passed by, and then I was wide awake. I had a terrible deafness, to the point I could not even hear my own yelling as I was trying to tell the doctors I was awake. Everything was dark, and that immense deafness was overpowering for me and close to the point of pain. It was as if I was in a vacuum. After a short time, I started floating up out of my body. I could see my body being worked on by a medical team. The deafness pressure started to subside, and I could hear again. I could also see clearly. I continued to float up and could hear the chatter of the doctors around me. I started to float back down, just short of going through the ceiling.
As I started a slow descent, I could see my father and my maternal Grandfather, standing at the end of a very long hallway. I was excited to see them, and was waiving and shouting to them. But they never acknowledged me. They were talking to each other, as if they had not seen each other for a while. They would look my way occasionally, and I would waive and shout again. But still, they never acknowledged seeing me. I couldn't hear what they were talking about. It did seem like they had not seen each other for a while though. They also appeared as they way I remembered them in my head. That is, my dad looked like he did before he got cancer, and my grandpa looked how he did when I was a teenager.
I finally descended and was sitting on a table next to the operating table. A door at the start of the hallway opened and a man walked out to greet me. He asked me how I was doing. I pointed over to the table where they were operating and told him it looked like I was not doing too good. The man gave a pat on my back and said, 'Not to worry, everything would work out okay.' I told him I thought my dad and grandpa must be mad at me because they were ignoring me. He told me that they were not allowed to interact with me. He told me that this was because this was not my time to pass the final barrier, and that I would be going back to my body soon. I asked the man who he was. He told me that he was my brother. He had a cast on his foot, that he said he had gotten from skiing. He said that he is in a place where the people get a re-do of life on the things they missed out on. They get to experience pain, pleasure, food, joy, happiness, and most other things. He explained it as a place for people who died young, before they got to experience life. Here, they were able to make decisions. He said the primary reason for life was to learn, and to choose your own paths. He said they stay there but could leave whenever they felt they had experienced and lived enough. He then said it was time for me to go back.
During this period, after I came out of the dreadful vacuum of silence, I did not feel pain, enjoyment, or pleasure. I had no memories of my loved ones still alive, so the pain and worry of leaving them was missing.
I did not see any bright light or tunnels. Although the hallway could have been viewed as a tunnel, I guess. I did not talk to anyone except my brother. I did not receive any messages to live better, or spread the word of God, or anything like that. Overall, I would say it was an uneventful happening.
It was about 4 days before I was awake enough to have normal thoughts and have cognizant abilities. I was told they stopped my heart to allow them better grafting of the harvested arteries to my heart during the surgery. I was kept alive with a machine that pumped my blood, and also a breathing machine.
When my wife and mother came to visit, I was out of ICU and I was alert again. I told them about my experience, and ended with saying it had to have been my imagination or a dream, since I did not have a brother. My mother teared up began to cry. She told me that I did, indeed, have a brother that he had died of crib-death. She had never spoken of him due to the pain she carried. The father I saw was my adopted father, not my biological father. He is the man I always called dad and I loved him as such.
I ultimately went back to work, but my health was never the same after that bypass. I had to have stents implanted within 6 months in one of the harvested arteries. I also had to have a pacemaker installed. All of this caused me to retire as disabled. I have days during the month where I do not have the energy to get out of bed, so I stay there for 2 or 3 days. This happens 3 to 5 times per month. The other days, I am able to shower, dress, and manage what most would call a normal life. I have near fainting spells 2 to 3 times every month, so I stopped driving. I live one day at a time, and no longer have a fear of death. – I am not wanting to get in the short line or anything like that, but I have accept my impending death and understand that dying is part of the living process. It is something we will all do. During those 2 or 3 days per month, when I cannot get out of bed, I have a constant feeling of doom. Yet it is a calming sense of foreboding, that is not laced with fear.
After the surgery, we started to position ourselves better financially by clearing all debt, so my wife will not have to struggle when I pass. I have worked with her to help her learn most of the things I always took care of around the house so she could be self-sufficient.
My takeaways from this experience are a few things:
1) When we pass away young, or with severe handicaps in this world, we have the choice to have a 'do-over' and live a life free of the medical ailments. These souls can progress when they feel ready. (I would equate this to a type of purgatory)
2) The loved ones are there for us and will rejoin us when the time is upon us.
3) The loved ones appear as you best remembered them. This could be when they were any age that you recall them looking their best, or when they were the happiest.
4) Our lives here are intertwined like a bowl of spaghetti. We are supposed to help people get un-twined. We are supposed to treat others with kindness, patience, and love. We are supposed to help people live the life-path they choose.
5) The people in your life now will not be missed when you depart. It almost seems like that pain of missing them is blocked out.
6) For the folks that have already died, they will be there to greet you when your time comes. I think it will only be the ones that were the most impactful to you, and that you had the strongest bond with. At least in that initial meeting. I have no knowledge or experience with what is beyond the final barrier, or how many other souls may be there to meet you.
7) My faith and beliefs have never changed. I am still a Christian, and I speak to the lord through prayers at times, with my core beliefs not being impacted one way or another. I have not been a group participant of the lord (like going to church regularly) for 20 years before the surgery, and that still remains today. I think churches are good for helping those in need, but I think the Lord cares more about how we live our lives, and how we treat and help others more than our church attendance habits.
Background Information
Gender:
Male
Date NDE Occurred:
05-30-2008
NDE Elements
At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event?
Yes Surgery-related. Heart attack. While under general anesthesia Life threatening event, but not clinical death
Heart attack and bypass surgery
How do you consider the content of your experience?
Entirely pleasant
Did you feel separated from your body?
Yes I saw the medical team working on my body. They chatted about normal, everyday things, like their plans for the night, or weekend, etc.
I clearly left my body and existed outside it
How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness?
Normal consciousness and alertness. No pain, and no emotions for loved ones still alive.
At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness?
In under a minute
Were your thoughts speeded up?
No
Did time seem to speed up or slow down?
No
Were your senses more vivid than usual?
No
Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience
No variance
Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience
I had a period of extreme quietness as I began to leave my body. It was as if I was in a vacuum, and was just below a pain level. I had fear during this. This lasted for what seemed like a minute or less. Once my hearing returned, my vision also returned, and the fear was swept away.
Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere?
No
Did you pass into or through a tunnel?
No
Did you see any beings in your experience?
I actually saw them
Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings?
No
Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light?
No
Did you see an unearthly light?
No
Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world?
No
What other emotions did you feel during the experience?
I only had fear during the extreme silence. After that, I felt joy and excitement when I saw my father and grandfather, but that went to sadness when they did not acknowledge my presence. Once I was told they were not allowed to interact with me, all other emotions left me.
Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness?
Relief or calmness
Did you have a feeling of joy?
No
Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe?
I felt no longer in conflict with nature
Did you suddenly seem to understand everything?
No
Did scenes from your past come back to you?
No
Did scenes from the future come to you?
No
Did you come to a border or point of no return?
No
God, Spiritual and Religion
What was your religion prior to your experience?
Christian- Protestant
Have your religious practices changed since your experience?
No
What is your religion now?
Christian- Protestant
Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs?
Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience. My prior beliefs were that there was this living realm, followed by a place of disposition. (Heavan or Hell) - During the experience, I was told of an 'in-between' realm, where those that died young or lived with a medical problem, could go to experience life. But it was their choice if they did, and for how long they would stay.
Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience?
No
Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice?
I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin. I met a man who said he was my brother as he interacted with me.
Did you see deceased or religious spirits?
I actually saw them
Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc?)
No
During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God?
No
During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness?
No
During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God?
No
Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion
During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose?
No
During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life?
Yes I was told we are on earth to learn, and to choose our own paths to follow.
During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife?
Yes I was told there was a life as we know it. Then there was a type of purgatory, or 'do-over' realm. And then there was the final barrier, where you go when the life as we know it is over. I did not see nor was I told how things would be beyond the final barrier.
Did you gain information about how to live our lives?
No
During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships?
No
During your experience, did you gain information about love?
No
What life changes occurred in your life after your experience?
Moderate changes in my life
After the NDE
Was the experience difficult to express in words?
No
How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience?
I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience. After 16 years, the memory is the same, and has not faded. There are no other memories I have that are as vivid as this.
Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience?
No
Have you ever shared this experience with others?
Yes I shared it the first time when I first became cognizant after surgery.
Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience?
No
What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened?
Experience was definitely real. I think I was shown what I was, to serve as a calming situation.
What do you believe about the reality of your experience now?
Experience was definitely real
At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience?
No