She Died and Saw Her Deceased Family Members | Near Death Experience | NDE
What Researchers Found
The Story
Karen Thomas, a physical therapist in Alaska, had back surgery for a ruptured disc in July 1982. During the procedure, doctors cut an artery, causing massive bleeding and her heart to stop. She left her body and floated near the ceiling, watching doctors swear and call for blood as they flipped her pale body. She passed through walls and doors without resistance, observing a surgeon in street clothes rush into the operating suite after an argument. She rose through the hospital roof, sped over mountains and city, entered a dark tunnel toward a bright light, and followed a guide up a rocky incline to a green field with flowers, trees, and a river. Across the river, she met her deceased father, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, feeling their love telepathically. Her guide took her to a white building with a library of life books, then to a room where she reviewed her life on a holographic screen, reliving events and their effects on others. Spirits showed her possible future events and said she could return. Seeing her family praying and her surgeon talking to her husband, emotional ties pulled her back; she chose to live for her children. She awoke in recovery, enveloped in peace and love for three weeks as her sign. After recovery, she confirmed details with the surgeon, who remembered her story, and her family, strengthening her belief. She shared her experience publicly years later, feeling a lasting sense of purpose and God's unconditional love.
“the gift of God's love and peace that was with me for all those weeks was the”
This NDE features strong veridical perceptions of a surgeon rushing to the OR in unexpected street clothes (brownish jacket, bag), slowed at doors, verified directly by the surgeon ('How did you know?') and recent email confirming details, plus family corroborating related observations. Multiple elements like OR crisis and back surgeon's appearance were confirmed by independent witnesses, with prompt reporting to husband before full verification. High scores across criteria reflect detailed, impossible-access perceptions with robust self-reported verifications.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.
Are you here because someone you love has died?
These accounts were gathered because death may not be the end. Thousands of people have experienced something beyond — and come back to tell us about it.
What Researchers Found
This NDE features strong veridical perceptions of a surgeon rushing to the OR in unexpected street clothes (brownish jacket, bag), slowed at doors, verified directly by the surgeon ('How did you know?') and recent email confirming details, plus family corroborating related observations. Multiple elements like OR crisis and back surgeon's appearance were confirmed by independent witnesses, with prompt reporting to husband before full verification. High scores across criteria reflect detailed, impossible-access perceptions with robust self-reported verifications.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.