Near-death study: Brains explode with activity as heart stops

[Hekate]

59. That's "out of body" -- my mom experienced that; my dad had the full NDE

Mom was bleeding to death from a miscarriage in her mid-20s; she floated away, watched and listened to the doctors and nurses, and thought about just breathing out one last time and leaving all her troubles behind. She thought about Dad raising us by himself, and knew he would not do it well. She literally decided to take the next breath in, and return to raise her toddlers, which would be me and my brother. She never forgot it was a choice.

Dad had a heart valve replaced in his early 50s; it had been damaged by scarlet fever in his early childhood. The surgery took 12 hours instead of 4 because the heart was so "leaky" they wouldn't have tried at all had they known how bad it was. At some point he went down the well-known tunnel of light and saw people dancing in a field of flowers. He would have stayed, but was sent back.

His memory of the incident faded later, but some people retain it vividly forever. I once interviewed a woman in her 40s who had been drowned as a teenager -- there was nothing ambiguous about her recollection or the way it made her regard her life forever after.

My parents did not raise us in a religious point of view; actually quite the opposite. Mom, in particular, was a determined rationalist. She did, however, keep an open mind about what she and those close to her had experienced personally, possibly knowing that there was more in heaven and earth than was dreamed of in her philosophy.