Meghan NDE

Experience Description

It was a snowy day in Louisiana, something our state has no idea how to prepare for. I was wearing a pair of jeans, my running shoes and the thickest jacket I owned. My sister and I were granted permission to stay home from school with strict instructions to stay in the backyard because my parents didn’t want me driving. My sister and I were playing in the snow and throwing snowballs at each other in the backyard. My dad called me and asked me if I had gotten a picture he had taken at his work. I checked my phone and told him that I did, that it was beautiful, and that I was going to send him one of the neighborhood. I stepped in the front yard, snapped a picture and sent it to him.

I heard my neighbor screaming for help at this exact moment, so I put my phone in my pocket and realized her dog had gotten away and she was trying to catch him. She was terrified he was going to get hit by a car and was panicking. I ran after the dog and my sister followed suit. The dog ran past some large bushes and into the road. I looked and didn’t see a car coming and ran out into the road as well.

At this moment, I was hit by a truck and thrown 12 feet into a ditch full of water. I was unaware of this. I could physically feel myself running, although it didn’t feel like running anymore. I was floating, yet my feet were on the ground. I saw the very steep ditch on the other side of the road and I saw the dog running on the road, cutting back towards his house. I could see a truck stopped on the other side of me as I was beginning to run towards the dog again. All of a sudden, I had a brief moment of darkness and was being rolled over by my sister.

My neighbor was gone. The truck was now on the other side of me. My shoulder was stinging and I kept trying to stand up or crawl out of the ditch but she kept telling me to lay down and not move. Due to the adrenaline, I wasn’t in much pain except for my shoulder was stinging. I thought I had slipped into the steep ditch and scraped my shoulder, but when I started looking around I found I was on the opposite side of the road I thought I was on.

My injuries included a broken clavicle and road rash on my right shoulder, a broken hip and femur on my left side and a broken sacrum. I would later need 3 blood transfusions. When first responders arrived I was still lying still and wasn’t in much pain and oddly enough, I felt warm. I was pretty disoriented and my sister was very adamant that I not move, so I didn’t. I heard something about a broken femur and wondered how they knew that. I sat up and saw my leg extremely swollen because of internal bleeding. I wondered, how on earth does someone break their femur from slipping in a ditch? Then I heard my sister say that I had been hit by a car. I immediately began to internally panic. Pain from every injury I had sustained, washed over me at once. I realized I hadn’t been able to walk, so I tried wiggling my toes. I told myself if I can wiggle my toes that I would be okay. The paramedics pulled traction on my leg without realizing my hip had been broken as well and this caused further pain and trauma. The ride to the hospital was brutal. I kept begging for pain medication for my excruciating pain and was told each time that she couldn’t give me anything. My blood pressure was extremely low and I was in the beginning stages of shock and hypothermia.

We arrived at the hospital and my parents met us in the ambulance bay. I was placed in a trauma room and met by a team of nurses who took me rapidly to get the imaging done. I was placed back in the trauma room and the man who would be my surgeon walked in. He said that I would need emergency surgery on my femur. He stopped and everyone in the room held hands and prayed for a promising outcome. I was still begging for pain medication and as they were wheeling me down the hallway to the operating room, they started pushing what they called a cocktail of medications. I quickly began to drift off and was so thankful that I didn’t have to deal with the pain any more.

My very next memory was that of excruciating pain. I began screaming, 'PUT ME BACK TO SLEEP, PUT ME BACK TO SLEEP!' Although nobody could hear me. The pain faded and I could see a woman climbed almost on top of me and was putting heavy pressure on my leg. Blood was everywhere as my surgeon worked to stop the bleeding. I drifted back off into sleep.

The next time I woke up is when I was finally in my hospital room. My neighbor was visiting when I came to and began throwing up. I was in pain, but this time it was more manageable. I was very weak.

The following day began the talk about a blood transfusion. My blood count was continuing to drop. I was opposed to it as I was worried about HIV not being able to be detected. I would have rather died than contract HIV. He tried again the following day and I declined again. I was feeling worse by the day. I started feeling an impending sense of doom. The next day my surgeon tried to convince me to take blood from a trusted friend. Family was not possible because the match would be too close. I agreed. The following day they had 2 units of blood that they were able to rapidly screen for use. One unit from my boyfriend and one unit from my dad’s best friend who has been married for as long as I’ve been alive. On day 5, I was practically begging for blood. I received 2 units from family and finally agreed to a third unit from a stranger. It took a long time for me to begin getting my strength back, but the feeling of doom was going away at least. I spent a total of 8 days in the hospital and the next 3 months consisted of home health coming to my house to check on me. I received dDaily injections to prevent blood clots. I also was in physical therapy. It was 6 months before I was able to walk without a cane and a year before I started to walk without a limp.


Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 12/11/2008

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident Life threatening event, but not clinical death. I was hit by a car while crossing the street on a snowy day. A truck sent me flying 12 feet, face down in a ditch full of freezing cold water. I was knocked unconscious.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Neither pleasant NOR distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? No 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. Without knowing exactly what was happening, I seemed to have knowledge that what was transpiring was bad. Although everyone seemed calm during that moment, I knew I was bleeding out.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? Definitely during my surgery. I was aware of what was happening and that it wasn’t good. The fact that I was able to see people working on me told me everything I needed to know about how grim the situation was.

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. Time seemed to slow down and become unimportant. Everything moved slower while my thoughts stayed at what I would think would be the same pace they usually are but felt rushed in comparison to the scene that was playing out in front of me.

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. The best way I can describe it is being in a haze. My mind was foggy. People were moving slower than usual but with urgency still.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Everything was quiet. I could see people talking but not hear what they were saying. It was almost like a war scene in a movie where a bomb just went off, everyone is running in slow motion while the main character is looking around taking everything in. Then someone runs up to him and snaps him out of it. That’s what it felt like standing in the road and also watching my surgery.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere, as if by ESP? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? No

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 emotions did you feel during the experience? With the first out of body experience, I was completely unaware of what had happened, so I was more frustrated with the dog still running away from us than anything. With the second out of body experience, I felt full on panic.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? No

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? Everything about myself or others I feel like I had knowledge about what was happening with my surgery without anyone ever explaining it to me. I knew I was dying.

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- Other Christian Christian- non denominational

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes It strengthened my belief in God. Also communication with the dead has lead me down another path as well. I feel like there is a way to believe in both, I’m just figuring out what path that is for me. Christians get uneasy if I mention their loved one communicating with me. I’ve even had someone tell me that although I seemed to have knowledge of their loved one and was able to prove it through mentioning things I shouldn’t know about, that it was a demon trying to communicate with them and to not tell them about these things.

What is your religion now? Other or several faiths. Still trying to figure out what exactly I believe. I definitely believe in God, I’m just unsure which route to take to find him. Also the dead have frequently tried to contact me since my NDE. I have stopped trying to fight it and have learned to embrace it and enhance that gift is something I’ve been doing more of recently, which isn’t exactly the 'Christian' thing to do. I feel like those that have passed on wouldn’t be trying to contact me if they didn’t need my help, so I’ve attempted to expand on these abilities to better help them and their families.

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience I didn’t go to heaven, see god or have contact with my loved ones that had passed on. I simply existed outside of my body for brief moments in time.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes I valued my family more. Also, spirits will contact me frequently enough to where I have began communicating with them. This isn’t in line with the strict Christian beliefs I held before, especially because I’ve began actively trying to expand on my gift. However none of these spirits have ever indicated that there is no God and being able to talk to them actually strengthens my faith in God.

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

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? 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? An afterlife definitely exists Yes Yes, if there isn’t continued existence after death, then how was I able to have an out of body experience with such accuracy at all?

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 I have frequent contact with people that have passed on. I will either see spirits, feel their presence or they will visit me in my dreams.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes My sister and I used to fight constantly. She’s my best friend now.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes It’s hard to explain exactly what I was seeing or feeling in these moments. During my surgery I remember screaming at someone to put me back under but I was being ignored. I distinctly remember the feeling of being snapped back into my body and becoming unconscious once again. It felt like someone had grabbed me by the shoulders and slammed me down onto the table.

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 as accurately as other life events that occurred around the time of the experience When I was hit by the truck, my body never actually made it to the other side of the road with the steep rocky ditch. My body was thrown back on the same side of the road I originated on. My sister would agree that the dog did dart back towards his house shortly after I was hit. So me standing on the opposite side of the truck that my body was on and watching the dog run back home is an accurate descriptor of what the dog did. I also learned years later than an artery was nicked during my surgery.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes Wow. I wasn’t expecting this question to even appear on here, but yes I do have a gift now and I use it frequently.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? No. There is nothing that stands out.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes Yes. My surgeon claims I never woke up from my surgery before I was intended to. My sister agrees that the dog ran back home.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Yes Don Piper spoke about his experience with 90 minutes in heaven at our church. My experience was not his experience and I never read his book.

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was probably not real I thought it was my mind compensating for the events that were taking place.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real Surgeon confirmed an artery was nicked which would explain the out of body experience in the OR and the woman on top of me pressing down on my leg. And my sister confirmed the dog’s actions immediately after the accident.

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

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? Not at the moment

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? Unknown