Amber W NDE

Experience Description

I had a near-death-experience at age three years old. I am 28 years old. My own personal memory over the years of this experience has faded over time, but my family members remember it as if it were just yesterday.

We lived in a rural area on the outskirts of town in a trailer park. It was February and I was dressed in warm clothes, boots, and a jacket. The property had several man-made cisterns dug into the ground. Cisterns are holes that catch rainwater, and can be hazardous to small children.

I was with my mother at the time. My mother was in the middle of a dissociative disorder episode. I made my way out of the house because I wanted to play and she couldn't play with me.

My father was a medic in the Navy before my birth, so he knew CPR. My father had just run out to get some work tools near our house. Luckily, he was close by.

I drowned from getting trapped in a cistern and died. I was in that cistern for at least ten minutes. To me, it seems like I was probably in that water, unconscious and without a heartbeat, for well over five minutes.

When my father returned home after getting some tools, he asked my mother, 'Where is Amber?' She replied, 'I thought she was outside with you.'

My father tells me that he was frantic. He started running all over the property, searching for me. Five minutes had already passed, and he was going to stop searching in the area and start searching someplace else. He told me that as he was going past the cistern, a force that hit him hard in the chest. He had an instant knowing that I was in there. The water was dark, dirty, and mucky. The water soaked into my clothes The added water weight of my clothes caused me to the bottom of the cistern.

My father pulled me out. He immediately started CPR.

In a poem he had written shortly after my drowning, he called this 'The Fat Tuesday Incident.' He wrote that I was 'as close to death' as humanly possible. After I was breathing again, I was airlifted to the hospital.

My grandmother was the only one in the hospital room when I woke from a 3-day coma. I told her what happened and then my grandmother later, reminded me what I said (paraphrased):

I was floating above my body. I could see and hear my daddy yelling my name. He repeatedly was telling me to breathe. I saw myself lying there, but I chose to go further away from it. I was following the 'bright white light' that I saw. As I grew closer to the light, my dad's voice got my distant. I then heard a voice tell me that I have to return to my body because it is not my time yet. And I needed to listen to my daddy. I told my grandmother, that I heard the voice of her mother, Mary. She asks me, 'The mother Mary? Jesus' mother?' I said, 'No, your mother. Mary. The woman in the picture by your bed.'

My grandmother was startled and a bit afraid. A three year old cannot make this stuff up. I wouldn't have known my great-grandmother's name because I never heard her speak and was never told her name. Perhaps she was an angel who was disguised as my departed ancestor? Perhaps this angel did not want to scare me as she helped me back to my body?

I do believe in an afterlife, as I have seen a smidgen of the possibilities of life after death. Or.. life after, life?

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: February 24, 1998

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident Drowning CPR given Life threatening event, but not clinical death My heart was not beating. I was blue and unresponsive when I was pulled from the water. I needed a couple of rounds of CPR to get my heart beating again.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Both pleasant AND distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I heard my father yelling for me to breathe, while I was floating above my body. I saw my body lying there and my father crying for me to wake up. 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? More consciousness and alertness than normal I was able to tap into otherworldly sensations, heard a deceased loved one's voice telling me to go back to my body. I saw a heavenly light. I felt safe, loved, and was no longer afraid.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? Middle

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning

Were your senses More vivid than usual? Incredibly more vivid

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I was told that I became more aware, hyper-aware almost; and also, overly protective of my loved ones. I became more sensitive and empathic to everything and everyone around me. I felt more deeply and more intensely.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I heard an almost ringing sensation, followed by the voice of a deceased loved one. It was a calm, guiding voice. I was not afraid of it. The voice came from above me.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? Yes, but the facts have not been checked out

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? Yes

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes It was a bright light that looked like it was followed by a tunnel-like shape.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I felt content, safe, warm, loved, enveloped, calm, and apprehensive.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Relief or calmness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

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? Everything about the universe

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? I came to a barrier that I was not permitted to cross; or was sent back against my will

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Do not know. I was only three years old without religious indoctrination.

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes

What is your religion now? Unaffiliated- Nothing in particular- Religious unaffiliated I am not currently in practice with this faith, but I am going through what feels like a spiritual awakening, and I've been more open-minded to learning about all types of different religions. Right now, I'd consider myself non-denominational.

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

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes

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 My great grandma I who I described as being the voice of the entity I heard.

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 premortal existence? Uncertain

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Yes

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? Yes

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? Yes

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? Uncertain

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Uncertain

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Large changes in my life

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes. My mother and father lost their parental rights to me following my drowning.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes I was so young, that now my memory is fading.

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 less accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? Yes. I find it important and special that I was able to sense everything going on around my physical body and what was happening in the unearthly plane, after departing from my body.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I told everyone immediately, and continued to tell my story throughout my childhood years, but one day I stopped telling it so often because I was sometimes called a liar.

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

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? Yes I sometimes get snippets of far-away memories, almost like mini-snapshots of a past life, yet it is my current life.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? No thank you.