At an IANDS support group meeting (International Association of Near-Death Studies), identical twin boys, 19-years-old, came with their mother to tell us this experience: The twins were in a bad auto accident a few months earlier. One had severe head injuries. The other was barely hurt. They both were in a coma for several days. The twin who was barely injured said he knew he had to stay with his brother on the other side because he was afraid his brother wouldn’t come back. He was afraid to leave him because it was so pleasant that he might go on and not be able to return. When I asked the mother what she felt during the ordeal, she said she knew her boys well and realized that one was staying to keep the other one from going on.
"His Children Helped Him Come Back"
When I worked at Mt. Sinai Medical Center on South Miami Beach, we had a young father in ICU in a coma from a severe heart attack. His wife tape-recorded the children at the dinner table and brought the tape in with a boom box that we placed just beyond his head, taped to the headboard. We played the tape of noise and chatter of the children 24 hours a day until he awakened. He told his wife days later that he was in the tunnel the whole time but couldn’t go on because the sounds of the children’s voices kept bringing him back.
"My Own Father Says Good Bye"
And finally, there was my own father’s coma. His doctor said he was in a deep coma and would die within 48 hours. Talking to him, and stroking his hair, brought him out of the coma after about a half hour. He stayed out of the coma long enough to talk to us and give us stories from his memories that we could cherish.
When he died in the middle of that night, I was sleeping on my parents’ sofa in the living room. I heard someone breathing in my sleep so I opened my eyes, trying to see in the dark if it was my mother or my brother. I was alone. The breathing went on for six or more breaths and then it stopped. Within five minutes the phone rang and I knew my father had died. I wasn’t with him so he came to me for his last breath.
"No One Dies Alone"
I have experienced people coming out of comas many times just before they die. And most of them tell me about deceased relatives meeting them, either standing at the foot of their bed and communicating with no words — heart to heart — or seeing them in heavenly landscapes. Perhaps this is why I believe/know that no one dies alone. It doesn’t matter if there isn’t another physical being anywhere around. There are Spiritual beings greeting them with the intention of guiding them, or, as my grandmother did, letting me know she’d be there when I returned.
Over the years many people have asked me to talk with them about death and dying. Sharing real-life stories like these with them and hearing their stories continually confirms to me that we neither live nor leave this life alone; even though it may not feel like it, you and I are never really deserted and without hope.
Do you have a story about near-death or similar experiences yourself or with others? Click on the "comments" link, below, and share them with us.
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