Robert Tremblay: My NDE with Cancer
What Researchers Found
The Story
Robert Trembley, a former US Army combat medic and police chief, experienced an NDE in 2010 due to terminal colorectal cancer. He was in a coma in the hospital, 39 days after a 30-day prognosis. During the NDE, he entered a dark, weightless expanse and approached a reddish-orange glowing edge like a volcano lip. A small white light grew, swirled, and formed the face of an older man. The man asked, 'Are you ready?' Trembley replied no. The man smiled and said, 'There's something important you're supposed to do.' Trembley reached out and touched the man's cheek. The light exploded, filling him with peace as he saw vivid green valleys, blue mountains, and streams below. He then returned to his hospital bed. After the NDE, Trembley sat up, demanded to see doctors, and began aggressive treatment. He endured a year of therapies, entered hospice, but improved and achieved full remission. He recognized the face as his deceased grandfather from a family photo. His personality changed with childlike wonder, deeper appreciation for beauty, and a thirst for knowledge. He repaired broken family ties and wrote the book '20 Seconds: A True Account of Survival and Hope' to share his story of perseverance and trust.
“my life and felt great I I just I was non-stop I just I wanted to be outdoors”
The account features a striking veridical recognition of an unknown deceased grandfather's face seen in a visionary NDE, confirmed later via family photo and testimony, with high specificity and unpredictability. However, it lacks any claims of impossible physical perceptual access (no OBE or medical details observed), has only one verified element amid many unverified visionary details, and the identification was made after encountering the photo.
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.
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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
The account features a striking veridical recognition of an unknown deceased grandfather's face seen in a visionary NDE, confirmed later via family photo and testimony, with high specificity and unpredictability. However, it lacks any claims of impossible physical perceptual access (no OBE or medical details observed), has only one verified element amid many unverified visionary details, and the identification was made after encountering the photo.
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.