Andrew M NDE

Experience Description

I was working production on the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS SERIES Championships. This day began with stroke-like symptoms when I was in the shower. I felt dizziness and was dry heaving; then I felt a complete lack of equilibrium without dizziness or any other symptoms. Remaining was an extreme sensation of fatigue and lethargy that had been prevalent for the previous two days including the day of the event. I was in the office sending emails, typing the last one out and I hit 'enter' on the keyboard. At about 10:56 am, I felt a burp sensation without burping. The immediate drop in blood pressure almost caused me to pass out but I remained conscious. Knowing instantly that something was VERY WRONG, I put myself on the floor in the cardiac position. Two friends used two different phones, one was directed to call an ambulance and the other was directed to call my parents so I could tell them I loved them and say goodbye.

The pain was something indescribable, but it was like the movie Indians Jones when he was in the temple of doom and pulled the guy's heart out. This was the sensation I felt in real life, as if someone had shoved their long-nailed hands into my chest and began tearing the insides oof my chest apart.

Barely able to remain breathing, I remained conscious and was able to tell both my mom and dad that I loved them and they needed to come down to see me as soon as they can because, 'something is very wrong. I love you.'

The ambulance personnel assumed I was having a panic attack and called it in. They took the long way to the hospital and were stopping at red lights. Arriving at the first hospital, I was barely able to breath or describe the extent of my agony. My best friend presented my insurance card and I immediately began demanding a CT scan with Contrast. I gave the nurse the best medical history I could. My two friends with me did a lot to convey my cardiac history. Nursing staff informed them I was having a panic attack and began to administer a sedative. Having ABSOLUTELY NO AFFECT, the staff told me to calm down and that I was 'being very loud and disrupting other patients.' My feet and hands began to turn grey and my lips became hypoxic blue. At this point, the nursing staff decided to do a standard chest x-ray, despite my begging for a CT scan with contrast. When they found a widening mediastinum they did the CT scan, and that led to the phone call to the closest helicopter evacuation transportation.

My friend had grabbed my ankle and began praying for me when the attending physician FINALLY came in to say they called Life Flight. I saw the doctor for a total of about 43 seconds in more than 4 hours I was lying there. Shock took over and the pain subsided a bit. The helicopter arrived and I decided I was going to die having fun. I made some good jokes, I thought they were good anyways. No one else laughed though. I experienced a full OBE on the 2 minute ride to the hospital.

As soon as the helicopter took off, I experienced a muffled sound and watched the helicopter from about 100 feet away behind and slightly above the helicopter tail. It was incredibly peaceful and content, like I was wearing yellow, safety glasses. It was a completely wonderful experience. Upon landing, I returned to my body and the surgical team met me on the roof and began running me down the hall to the Operating Theatre. I remember making jokes about being in the movie 'ER' (abbreviation for 'Emergency Room') I looked at the bypass machine and asked for a strawberry slushy. Still, I got no laughs. The operating room was the classic mustard-yellow tile with stainless machines all packed in the room. I was in a shallow bath table, as often seen in the morgue. They began to pack my body in ice and cut my clothes off. Still smiling and enjoying the experience as best I could, I asked if they could video tape the procedure. The anesthesiologist stopped abruptly and said 'No.' He pushed the plunger into my body and I was out.

I remember the difference from being unconscious and being gone. I opened my eyes as if from a dream. There was no sound or light. But, I had the feeling my eyes were finally actually opened. The most perfect peace and contentment surrounded me like it was water and I was in the deep-end under the surface. I was surrounded and enveloped by it. I could sense others around me, my grandmother and grandfather, love and peace itself, and pure consciousness in my belief. I was duly conscious of the fact, I had not vanished or disappeared. I know I didn’t want to return to my body, but my grandmother told me that I needed to saying, 'I had more to do' and I 'wasn’t meant to stay yet.' I returned reluctantly to my body.

I woke up 26 hours after I went into surgery around 4:15 pm the previous afternoon. I told my now ex-wife, that I just had the craziest, wonderful dream. She said 'look down babe.' I was mostly blind and could barely make out the French drainage tubes coming from behind my lungs out of my stomach. There were IVs in almost every access point they could find and my hands brushed against the Swann Ganz catheter in my neck. It was surreal to say the least. My mother came in to see me with my brother. I smiled. My father couldn’t bear to see me in this condition. A Median Sternotomy was still oozing under the wires coming from my pectoral incision. The nurse came in and told me I had to start moving to avoid pneumonia or pleural effusion.

Finally arriving in recovery, the nurses that were my age were definitely freaked out but wonderful and so caring. Religious representatives from multiple faiths visited me over the course of the next ten days I was in the hospital. They were asking me questions about what happened and what it was like. I didn’t, and still don’t know to a great extent, that a literal miracle had just occurred in that hospital. There were eleven days of pain management and talking about it. I was tired of talking about everything, but curious of what my odds of survival were. No one would tell me. Six months later, I asked my Thoracic Surgeon and he told me that I didn’t have odds, most people wouldn’t have survived five minutes. I came to learn that my survival was truly a miracle and I am so grateful.

About two months after the experience, I began to have horrible demonic night-terrors and woke to a dark figure in my room. With each nightmare, the figure came closer and closer to me. The last night I had the vivid, horrendous dream, the figure as reaching for my ankle and I was delirious and could barely function through the days. A friend came over to bless my apartment and pray over me. During the prayer I felt a strong force telling me to shout him out of my apartment and tell him to stop. When it was over I could function, I could breathe and I have had only one more night of those demonically possessive-type nightmares.

I have never shared my story beyond my circle of friends and relatives. I have never sought professional help to understand and unpack the event and experiences, mainly because I felt that people would see it as crazy or impossible to relate or understand. I am grateful for this life and I have to say that I have lost all fear of death and constantly seek to better understand and reach insight to that higher level of consciousness without the physical death. I have begun to listen to Eckhart Tolle and his works have greatly helped me to see that goal.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 05/21/2013

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes While under general anesthesia Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function)

I had suffered a fully emergent Type II DeBakey Aortic Dissection. Time from onset to initial surgical intervention was approximately 5 hours. Surgeons used deep hypothermic metabolic stasis, cerebral silence was confirmed for approximately 39 minutes (including carotid perfusion cessation), Cross clamp time (distal perfusion cessation) was approximately 220 minutes.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Entirely pleasant

Did you feel separated from your body? No I lost awareness of my body

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 aware of everything, I was alert, I wasn’t on this plane of existence but wherever I was, I was very alert and aware of my continued existence.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? I don’t know

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning. Time had no meaning and stopped completely.

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 don’t know how to, there was no seeming 'vision' during the experience. But it was like that sense had not left me.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. This was the same as I described in terms of vision.

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 sensed their presence

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes Previously alive family members, such as my grandparents, uncles.

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? Some unfamiliar and strange place

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Contentment, perfect peace, joy, love, comfort (emotional, spiritual and temperature)

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Incredible joy

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt united or one with the world

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe It was like everything was common sense, a general knowledge of everything.

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 My grandmother basically told me I had to go back and though I didn’t want to return because of the pain, I reluctantly returned.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Catholic

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Other or several faiths Spiritual not religious

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. I believed in the afterlife but did not yet have a concise idea of it.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes I believe that the actions and values I place in my life directly impacts my future ability to reach such a high level of consciousness at the point of death.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? No

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? I sensed their presence

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? 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? No

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? Yes I was fully aware that I was no longer on the earth, that I had no need for my body and that I continue. I am not my body or mind.

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? Large changes in my life

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes I married my girlfriend who was holding my hand when I woke up. We are now divorced. Seems it was more of a trauma-bonding than actual love.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes I cannot find suitable words to describe it accurately, everything seems to greatly understate the experience.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I do not know how my remembrance of the experience compares to my remembrance of 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 My empathic ability has greatly increased in sensitivity.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The entirety of the experience was incredible.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes It was about two months before I shared my experience with anyone. My wife thought I was crazy, my mother and father beloved me and so did my friends and coworkers. Few people thought I was out of my mind. I don’t know if my experience has influenced anyone's life since sharing it.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Yes I learned about them from “I shouldn’t be alive” tv show. I don’t think it could have affected my experience seeing as there was No brain activity to recall those shows.

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was probably real It seemed like a dream but it became more and more a definite reality as the vague memory of it became much more vivid.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real My experiences in life after death has shown me that I can sense the life beyond the physical realm.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No