The Near Death Experience of a Cardiac Patient

After the loss of my father more than two years ago, I suddenly developed a fascination with what happens and where we go after we leave our earthly bodies. As a result, I began volunteering at a hospice, talking with people who have spent time in the ICU of hospitals and collecting stories from people who have experienced dying and then having been brought back to life through resuscitation. Here is one very compelling story from one such man, who wishes to have his name remain anonymous however has given me permission to tell his story. For purposes of protecting the person's identity, I shall refer to this person as "John" throughout the story.

John was told by his doctor that he would probably have to have one of his heart valves replaced one day, as it had started to and was continuing to deteriorate and calcify. John asked him how it could be replaced and was told that medical science had not yet figured that out, however time was on his hands and he had at least 10 years before he would need it replaced.

"I had been seeing an old doctor of internal medicine who had worked for several years past his prime and should have retired long before then." explained John. "I kept complaining of shortness of breath and being unable to run." John said he was getting increasingly worried about his physical condition and had told the doctor that he couldn't even jog around the block anymore, his former exercise of choice.

John explained to me that the doctor kept brushing it off and telling him not to worry about it even after he explained to him that more than fifteen years before he had been told that his valve would need to be replaced one day, and that it was calcifying and was not working properly, yet the doctor insisted that it was nothing to worry about.

About 3 months after that doctor visit, John drove himself to the emergency room of a local hospital thinking that he might have pneumonia. When he arrived, he found out that he had something a lot more serious then that! He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. His heart had become so enlarged that it was very weak, and as a result his lungs were filling up with liquid!

John was immediately admitted to the hospital and the staff went to work on him right away to remove as much liquid from his body as was possible before they could even open him up to perform open heart surgery and replace a defective aortic valve that had calcified and would no longer close or open all the way. More than 27 pounds of fluids were removed. All of the preliminary tests had been completed and the staff knew exactly what was needed to be done to fix John's valve. The doctors at the hospital were waiting for the heart specialist to arrive in order to perform the surgery.

Not long before the surgery, the Angiogram test was performed, where they put a small catheter into John's artery and ran it through his heart, then emitted dye that they could measure where the dye went and how strong the heart was pumping, then they checked each valve in this manner. After the initial test John was asked if he was willing to have an extra test for research. He agreed. They had John do the test where you ride a bicycle from a lying down position while in bed.

The doctors should have known better because John's heart was so weak and grossly enlarged that it would not withstand this kind of physical activity. When the small bicycle was placed above John that was attached to the bed, it finally dawned on him that they had inserted the catheter into his inner elbow instead of his groin, which is the normal procedure. Normal, because he had had 5 of them done in his life before this time and this was the only one that went through the elbow!

John was told to peddle as hard as he could in order to get the RPM Gage up into the red zone. Without really thinking that there could be repercussions John readily agreed and followed instructions.

"I remember just hitting the red zone and my heart stopped. Every thing went dark, but then immediately it turned in to a vast place with no dimensions, no time or sound. I was alone in this place, or I thought I was at the time" recalls John.

"I could still see and looked in all directions, even under myself and saw only a light glow. As years have passed since that time more than 5 years ago, I remember there may have been clouds, but not like normal clouds. They were a solid wall of tight knit clouds that surrounded me. They were neither near nor far, there was absolutely no perception of space, time or distance. I just felt the most wonderful peace and unconditional love I had ever imagined possible, and have not felt since in my earthly body. If you can imagine, I believe that the term of "unconditional love" is not a strong enough expression to truly describe it, however I can not think of any words that I know of that could possibly describe what I experienced. At the time, and I use the word "time" only as a descriptive term, I thought everything was normal as I didn't remember my earthly life or ever having a physical body nor an ego. I was completely engulfed in total love. This love was so intense, I did wonder a little about it I think. It felt brand new."

John Continues; "This is hard to put into words, however although time did not exist there, it seemed as if I was there for a long period of time I never thought of 'Time' as I did on earth as it would have been useless I guess, or it just wasn't an existing thing there. I was unaware of any kind of sound which I found very peaceful. I remember that I could see. I could look in all directions at the same time. I remember looking under me and over me and I saw nothing but beautiful light. It never even occurred to me that when I looked under me, I was missing my physical body. I remembered nothing of my human self, or even that I had ever existed before now. I saw no earthly things such as grass or water or hills. I did not see any of that so that may be why I have never told my story before. I did not want to talk about it expect to my wife, and even then it took my more than a year to tell even her. I thought that people would not believe me or would think that I was crazy or something."

John's heart had been stopped for 20 minutes when he came back into his body. John described to me as what he had experienced as "being in ecstasy and just existing in the love and peace". While he was out of his body, he tried explaining to me that there was nothing really for his sight to be drawn to. Then finally he heard a noise over his left rear. He turned in that direction slightly lower than him and he saw something that he thought he had never seen before. Something very odd that was moving in place. He later learned in his human mind that he was seeing what looked like a chalk mark outline of a human body, yet the chalk line was moving. It even became upright and began to shimmer and still moved in place like a shimmering cartoon character. It moved in waves, it couldn't be still. He now believes that the moving in place was to draw his attention. When he finally fixed his vision on it he was drawn closer and closer to it. He had no fear of it, only a new curiosity of it. He was not moving, but something was moving him. He never thought of it as a spirit, and still does not. After it or something drew him very close to it, he and the 'figure' that he was looking at seemed to have merged together and both were sucked down a very clear tubing. He could see the outline from very close up as together they went down the clear tubing.

John explained that the next thing he knew, he was in a worldly room that turned out to be my Hospital room with his body still there. He never actually saw his body on the table. He was up a little and behind a very dusty set of electronic equipment. His only thoughts were, 'Where am I now and who is going to clean off that dust." He somehow knew that it was dusty electronic equipment, but John knew little else. He heard a lot of commotion from the other side of the equipment, but each time he rose above the equipment, the blaring noise and the unbelievable bright lights made him hide from it again. He found it to be painful to experience.

"I had no idea where I was and still no clear thoughts of an earthly place, so I thought I was reborn again in a different world. This one was not pleasant at all" explained John. "It seems that I hid behind that equipment for some time and then the paddles must have been used on my body again and I was in my body and in such unbelievable pain, I remembered where I was and was so sorry for myself, but then determined to stay alive".

John Continues; "They brought me back with chemicals and liberal use of the electric paddles. When I came back to life I thought maybe I had died and gone to hell, which I do not believe in anymore. Nor was I afraid of death. I remember there were several nurses trying to get me to relax (my back was maybe 6 inches off the table after the last paddle blast) and they were pumping a type of sedative into me to get me to lay back down. I also noticed a very needle large sticking out of my chest with no one holding it. It was planted deep, to the hilt of the syringe. There was another large syringe coming out of my neck. I figure the one in my chest was in my heart and the one in my neck was in the carotid arteries to my brain to prevent stroke. I tried relaxing and did finally lay back down but then I started to dim out several times. I focused on one small screw that was on the light above my table and I concentrated on that single screw very intensely. When I would start to dim out, I would concentrate even harder until everything came back into focus. I know someone said they wouldn't have fought so hard to live again and would gladly have gone back to that wonderful place with all the love. However for me it felt as though it was my duty to stay alive. I didn't realize at the time what for, but I was challenged to stay alive somehow and so I fought hard".

When John was back in his body and his ego had taken over again he did not want to die. His human ego began to think about his family and he thought that he had to stay alive for them. Years later, John still can feel that complete love that he felt when he visited the great beyond.