Vido NDE

Experience Description

I remember vague images and heightened senses. I remember a bright fluorescent light and a female voice (nurse)? I remember hearing an electronic beeping and the smell of adhesive tape. I had always had this sense of feeling that something had happened to me at birth and I remember upsetting my mother when I drew a picture of myself in a hospital room with tubes and wires attached when I was only six years old. I was always a very visual person.

I was later told around age eight or nine that I was lucky to be alive because I was not breathing and my heart was not beating when I was born. My parents said I was in an incubator for several days. I remember growing up with this terrible revulsion to adhesive tape and a relative said that they remember seeing all of these red marks on my stomach. Not sure if that may have been from tape used to attach monitoring equipment.

I had recurrent flashbacks of this fluorescent light above me and a pressure on my chest. I was always embarrassed about this and always cut off the conversation when family members would talk about it. I also always had this ability to perceive things before they happened and can vividly describe places I had never been. In November 1999, I was accidentally shot in the chest at work with an air gun that planted an inch and three quarter inch staple just to the left of my sternum. I felt as though time stood still. Everything was in slow motion. I remember the paramedics attaching heart monitors and starting medicines in both arms.

I was put on oxygen and remember being told that I was going to shock trauma, which was forty five minutes away instead of the emergency room, which was only a fifteen minute ride because the location of the staple constituted a cardiac emergency. I remember feeling cold in my hands and feet and I felt as though I was leaving my body. I vividly recall my life playing as if it was a video before my eyes in vivid detail. I can remember staring at my graph on the defibrillator monitor as my birth experience played out and I remember that female voice as she looked down on me while the delivery team resuscitated me and brought me to life. I had this feeling of sorrow and yet inner peace knowing that I may be dying. I always believed in an afterlife and was not afraid. I blacked out and came to as I was being rushed down a hallway into the trauma unit.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 11/1971 and 11/1999

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident. Childbirth. CPR given. Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function or brain function) I was born two weeks premature and had a prolapsed cord at time of delivery that had cut off my blood/oxygen supply. I had a second potential life threatening event when a safety on an air gun had malfunctioned and I was subsequently shot in the chest with a one and three quarter inch cabinet staple which constituted a cardiac emergency as I was rushed to shock trauma.

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

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I saw myself lying on the stretcher and in the incubator, but that's really the only answer I can give. 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 Time stood still; I remember having the medicines started and the paramedics checking my vitals. I remember these moments as though it was imprinted, photographic memory. There was no concept of time.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? At birth, I can't honestly answer. The second episode was when I was placed in the ambulance and was being wired up to the defibrillator. That's when I was aware of the severity of the situation and that I may die.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Incredibly fast

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning It felt that it was in slow motion and that time had stopped. There was no conception of time as I know it.

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. A greater clarity as if in high definition (not to be cliché).

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Heightened, the voices of the paramedics were loud even though I believe they were trying to whisper.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? 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 I was aware of a presence but uncertain as to whom it was. Possibly relatives.

The experience included: Unearthly light

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? An unusually bright light

Did you see an unearthly light? Uncertain

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? No

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Sadness and apprehension followed by an inner peace and serenity.

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

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 had a better sense of who I was as a person and that I have a purpose to which I had not lived up to.

The experience included: Life review

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control

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 When I saw myself lying there with all the equipment that was attached, I remember feeling that this was not the way I was going to leave. This may have been when I was born as well. I am a very stubborn person and I have never given up and I wasn't about to concede at this point either.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Moderately important to me

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Protestant I was baptized Catholic

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Greatly important to me

What is your religion now? Christian- Catholic I consider myself more Christian than Catholic in beliefs but practice Catholicism

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience I always liked the story of Scrooge and Marley and I felt as though I had squandered and wasted my life feeling sorry for myself when in actuality there was so much in my life that I had not appreciated and that my purpose was to help others instead of being engrossed in myself, a sense of reclamation

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes Make the most of your time and do not squander it on trivial things. I still struggle with this occasionally.

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.)? Uncertain I did feel reassured

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? Uncertain I always felt that I had lived before due to scenes and visions that I have had since I can remember but could never account for

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Uncertain A feeling of serenity and that something greater lies nearby

Did you believe in the existence of God prior to your experience? God definitely exists

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? Yes Not visual or hearing anything but feeling a presence

Do you believe in the existence of God after your experience? God definitely exists

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Yes To help others.

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are probably meaningful and significant

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? Yes That I wasn't living out my purpose in life that I was wasting my years

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? An afterlife definitely exists

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? An afterlife definitely exists Yes I felt a calming feeling as though this was just a chapter and it might open up into something else

Did you fear death prior to your experience? I greatly feared death

Do you fear death after your experience? I slightly fear death

Were you fearful living your life prior to your experience? Greatly fearful in living my earthly life

Were you fearful living your life after your experience? Moderately fearful in living my earthly life

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are probably meaningful and significant

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are meaningful and significant

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? Yes Sorrow over not appreciating life

Were you compassionate prior to your experience? Moderately compassionate toward others

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Yes That I was selfish and that I needed to open up more to people

Were you compassionate after your experience? Greatly compassionate toward others

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Large changes in my life I earned my degree, left factory work, became a parent and have a rewarding job of helping others in the social field/non-profit sector.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes All of my fears played out in slow motion. I could see myself both in the ambulance and in the incubator concurrently.

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 Everything was in vivid detail, the feelings of physical pain and distress, the sounds of the monitoring equipment and the medical staff both in the ambulance and in the trauma room....the feeling of heightened awareness....all converging at once

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes An ability to sense things and have premonitions.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? Being given a second (or third) chance.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes My wife immediately afterwards as well as with her friends from school later on. I repressed it then for about ten years and recently have reexamined it as I have gotten older.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Yes I have heard about it, but was always afraid to investigate it.

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real That my visions of my birth were confirmed. I always knew something had happened prior to being told. My ability to see beyond the surface of situations and people as well, so to speak.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real There are no doubts. It was real. No matter how fluke-like the accident was, it was real.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes Lately I guess as I reexamine my life I internalize a lot.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? Despite all that happened, I still have a fear of hospitals and adhesive tape. That’s strange, I guess.