Experience description:

I was 16 years old. I had just completed my junior year of high school a summer vacation had just started. It was Sunday, around noon. My boyfriend and I had just gone out for a hamburger and I started feeling horrible. I asked him to take me back home. When we got there I thought I would sit on the porch with him to talk, but I was continuing to get sicker and sicker and asked him to leave. That was my last meal for nearly a month.

I vomited, and took my temperature and it was 103, I told my mother I was very sick, but she said it was probably just the flu. I called our family doctor and explained my extreme stomach cramps and fever and vomiting and he said it was probably just the flu. But it was not the flu, I never got the runs, I could not keep anything down, not even a glass of milk. The cramps and fever were extreme. My married sister, Claudette stopped in for a visit and told my mother she should take me to the hospital, but mom said she would take me to the doctor at 2:00pm during his office hours the next day.

It was warm out and our bedrooms were upstairs and we did not have any air conditioning and my fever persisted, and the pain was unbearable, so it was impossible for me to sleep. I stripped down to my underpants, but the elastic hurt me so bad I kept tearing at them and by morning, they were shredded.

The next day, when we got to the doctor's office I couldn't sit in a chair, I laid on the cool tile floor, trying to soak up some of the cool.

When the doctor arrived and saw me looking so sick, he called me into his office and did an exam. He told my mother to take me straight to the hospital and he was closing his office and would meet me there soon.

As soon as the doctor got to the hospital, he performed an emergency appendectomy. My appendix was supposed to be the size of my little finger, but it was the size of a hotdog, it had a small hole and had been leaking poisons into my stomach cavity for over a day and I had peritonitis. Shortly after I awoke from the surgery they began pumping my stomach which had become dangerous.

For weeks I was fed intravenously as they pumped my stomach and administered antibiotics as my fever raged between 103 and 105 until I went into a coma. I was in a coma for 3 days and my health continued to decline. That night my mother and father were called in the middle of the night and told that they should go to the hospital because I was about to die. They were told that it was a blessing that I was going to die because the weeks of high fever between 103-105 had destroyed my brain and if I lived I would be a vegetable and never be able to walk again.

What I remember happening next was thus: I opened my eyes and saw my mother and father standing at the foot of my bed and between the two of them was Jesus - he was wearing a white robe and he was holding his hands out to me. Where the wall of my hospital room used to be, there was blue sky studded with soft white clouds and a wide, white staircase leading high up into the clouds to a beautiful huge gateway to heaven. I told my mother, 'He is here.' She said, 'Who is here?' I said, 'Jesus, he's standing right between you and daddy, and he is holding out his bands to me.' Mom said, 'Don't take his hand.' I wanted to. I felt at peace, loved, serene, and more comfortable than I'd been for weeks. But, I resisted taking his hand and everything went black again.

My mother told me that when they went to the hospital I never woke up and talked to her, they stayed for hours and I made it through the night and started to rally, so they went home.

When I awoke from my coma, my health was improving and once my fever got down to 100, I was allowed to go home to recuperate. I was in the hospital for 30 days all together. Before I left the hospital, a nurse brought in a scale and weighed me. I was just 52 pounds, I could barely walk 20 feet I was so weak, but I had 2 months to get well before my senior year of high school would start. It wasn't long enough.

Because of the high fever all the taste buds on my tongue peeled off and nothing tasted right. The skin on my hands and feet peeled off too, and my hair fell out. Because of the gangrene of the stomach, no matter what I ate it would not stay down. When I asked the doctor for something to fix my stomach. He said I should be happy I was alive, because it was a miracle I was alive.

When September came around, I tried to go back to school, but my high school was about 2 blocks long and 3 stories high and we had 5 minutes to pass classes and I frequently could not make it to my next class on time and no allowance was made for my condition. I finally quit school in December and got a job as a typist so I could sit all day. And that was where I met my husband, Ron. Ron had just gotten out of the hospital from having brain surgery after 4 years of suffering the after effects of getting a fractured skull while serving in the air force.

I often wonder if that was 'Why' I underwent all this. So we could meet. We were married for 61 years when he passed away in January of 2021.

As for me being a 'vegetable', my brain is fine. Actually, better than fine. In the 1980's while working at a major electric utility company they had a program to encourage their employees to go back to school. Any college classes you took and passed were reimbursed. I took the GED test and got my high school diploma and I found that New York University, Albany campus had an external degree program. Any college courses you took, any CLEP tests you took which were proctored, any GRE upper level tests you took, were added to my transcript and I got my bachelor degree in about 2 years. Then I enrolled in an accelerated master's degree program at night and got an MA at the local air base through Webster University. From the time I took my first CLEP test, at the end of 1981 until I earned my Master's degree in July, 1985 was less than 4 years, while I was working full time. I could see that I was accomplishing what seemed extraordinary, so I contacted Mensa to see about being tested and found I had a 157 IQ which is actually at the 99.72 percentile in world intelligence and I joined both Mensa and Intertel (the 1% society). I've often wondered if this was a gift from Jesus, and what my mission in life is. Perhaps I am meant to relate my story.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: May, 1958

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Illness Life threatening event, but not clinical death I was dying of peritonitis; I was in a coma and the hospital had called my parents in to say their good-byes because my death was imminent. My parents were told that it was a blessing that I was dying because my long illness with associated high fevers of 103-105 for weeks had destroyed my brain and if I lived I would be a vegetable and never be able to walk again.

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

Did you feel separated from your body? No

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? Normal consciousness and alertness My consciousness was normal

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? When I saw Jesus holding out his hand to me

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? No

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. It seemed like it was happening just the same as all my experiences happened. The difference is that It is imprinted so boldly in my mind that I can remember it like it just happened, I can clearly see it in my mind.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Like normal

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? I actually saw them

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes Jesus

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? I was happy, serene, calm, at peace. I felt loved and comfortable.

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

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? No

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

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- Protestant

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Christian- Protestant

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

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes I became totally confident that there is a Heaven and Jesus loves me and dying is nothing to fear.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin I saw Jesus in my hospital room

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? I actually saw them

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.)? Yes I was visited by Jesus

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? Yes Jesus is real, I have no doubt

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 Jesus was inviting me to walk up the stairway to Heaven with him and I saw the gates to Heaven, I KNEW there was an after-life up there

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? Yes I definitely felt incredibly loved by Jesus

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Moderate changes in my life I became more spiritual

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No

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. I have never forgotten any part of this experience, I can clearly see every detail in my mind's eye, I KNOW what Jesus looks like, I can describe the pearly gates, and it is an incredible experience.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? No

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? I feel that Jesus saved my life, and that he healed me, and that he probably enhanced my intelligence, and that my life took on a special meaning, like I have a mission in life, which may be to relate my story in order to help others through their passing

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I guess it was probably about a year after that I told my husband, Ronald about it. But I'm not sure of that

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real

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

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? I think you did just fine