Derry's NDE

Experience:

I had a near death experience after I had been involved in a near fatal auto accident resulting in head trauma which caused me to stop breathing necessitating the use of a ventilator and an accompanying coma. Since coming out of my coma, I’ve had vivid remembrances of my Near Death Experience, the time I was on the other side in a heavenly realm.

While in this heavenly realm as a spirit, I remember communicating telepathically. I’m frustrated when other people can’t read my thought or I can’t read their thoughts. Speaking through my mouth is so physical, (and difficult, I might add). The phrase this world uses, being soul mates, (generally in romantic terms) is referring to the communication between two souls. This may sound unbelievable to some, even mystical to those who haven’t experienced this spirit to spirit communication. To communicate on a spiritual level is very profound, a great blessing.

HERE IS THE EXPANDED VERSION  

Experience description: 

I had a near death experience after I'd been seriously injured in a near  fatal automobile accident which caused me to stop breathing necessitating the  use of a ventilator and an accompanying coma.  Since coming out of my coma  I've had vivid  remembrances of  the time I was on the other side of veil in  a heavenly realm. There was a bright mist permeating everything.  The light was everywhere, it  even passed through me! I can remember looking at my hand and the light  passed through it.  I could see my hand was transparent, but this did not  surprise me.  As I walked with this heavenly personage his countenance shone  forth with such a brightness that I can't describe.  I knew this heavenly  personage was Jesus because I recognized him as a familiar friend.  He didn't  announce who he was because this wasn't necessary.  I remember walking with  Jesus, but we weren't walking in the physical sense, the best way I can  describe our walking was that we were walking in mid-air, floating a bar  spare above the ground of this beautiful garden we were walking in.   Everything in this garden had an  overall whiteness and brightness about it.  I was seeing the bright green of the plants.  I could see the water, and a  bright glow surrounded it & the burbling of the water had a musical sound to  it, this stream of water fairly sang!  The water was so sparkling clear!  I  remember wanting to bend over and take a drink from the stream that was  running through this garden we were walking thru.  When I tried to scoop up  water with my hands the water ran through my hands, literally, and it wasn't  wet!  Jesus stopped walking  and looked at me while I was bent over trying to  drink this water.  I could feel his eyes on me.  My thirst for this water  even though I wasn't able to put it to my lips and drink it was gone at that  moment!  I can't describe the sensation I felt when the water was running  through my hands, but I did feel something.  I felt this overwhelming desire  to experience everything about this garden.  When I and Jesus talked it  wasn't with our mouths, but I knew we were communicating, his countenance  fairly shone, and how he felt about me shone forth about him.  He simply  exuded love and concern and caring for me just by standing there.  The  feeling of peace I felt was indescribable!  I was given the choice that I  could either come back to this earth and live more life or stay with him  there in Heaven.  We both knew that returning to this earth would be a  struggle because I'd told him that I wanted to return to this earth if I  could help myself and others.  He knew that I didn't want to live more life  on this earth if life meant being trapped in an unresponsive body, unable to  communicate.  The look of love in his eyes filled me with joy then, and as I  remember that feeling of joy I felt then I'm filled with joy anew now.  I  don't know how I did this, but then I remember that I was in a hospital room  looking at my husband holding my hand and talking to me.  Only I wasn't  seeing from the vantage point thru my own eyes.  I recognized that was my  body, but I was outside of it, looking at my body from above.  As I viewed  this scene I felt a strong desire that I wanted to return to this earth and  live more life with my husband, if I could communicate with him and help him.   I was under- stood and the desires of my heart were heard.  The next thing I  remember was being trapped in my body while others cared for my physical  needs.  I can remember that I could tell what the nurses were thinking about  me by how they touched me.  I knew if they thought I was going to live or not  thru their touch.  I knew if they thought they were caring for a basically  dead person whose spirit wasn't there.  I remember trying to scream out,  "Look! I'm alive!  I'm in here!  I'm going to live!"  I relaxed and trusted  that person much more if I knew that they knew they were caring for a living  person.  I obviously could read their thoughts! While in my spirit body I  remember communicating telepathically, this is how I and Jesus communicated  in that heavenly garden.  It was so easy, it required no effort, you thought  the thoughts and they were communicated.  Speaking through my physical mouth  is so difficult, and frustrating, and sometimes you're misunderstood, and they  get the wrong meaning of  what you're trying to say.  The phrase the world  uses of being soul mates is referring to the communication between two souls,  spirit to spirit communication. To communicate on a spiritual level is a very  profound experience.   I believe I've had this spiritual gift ever since my  near death experience, and this gift profoundly blesses my life as I use it.   I feel this great need to communicate on a spiritual level with others, and  one of the only ways I'm able to communicate in  this way is through writing.   I have to prepare myself mentally to be able communicate on a spiritual  level. You have the time to do this as you are writing in your home, without  distractions. We are what we think.  I find trivial thoughts distracting, I  rarely watch TV & then only if it stimulates good thoughts.  I listen to  different music now, and gravitate towards the ethereal. My near death  experience has changed me, I desire righteousness and I abhor evil.  I'm  actually quite thankful for my accident, even though it has changed my  physical abilities adversely,  but at the same time my spiritual abilities  have blossomed enormously!  Ever since I woke up from my coma I've had an  attitude of peaceful hopefulness.  I believe the reason why I still live, one  of the reasons I came back to this earth to live is because I'm supposed to  testify that the spirit world is real and beautiful, and that Jesus is who he  says he is, he is our brother,  and we knew him well as a friendly brother in  the spirit world. This knowledge, this belief,  affects every facet of my  life, and my desire to communicate this to others. I believe, this  is why I  came  back  to live more life to relate this to all who will listen.  

In feeling out  the questionnaire #27 I wanted  to respond by answering thusly   but your questionnaire didn't allow me to copy and paste so I'll do it here. ================                          I thought it might prove helpful to the people  caring for the brain injured rehabilitating if I tell you in more detail my  own personal rehabilitation process.  Let me tell you a little personal  background information first.  I am a registered nurse, in fact, the day of  the accident, I had taken my 16 year old son to the DMV to take his driving  test for the 2nd time, after he'd failed earlier, so he could have his first  driver's license.  I let him drive home from the DMV where he was going to  switch to an old Mustang we'd bought him, and then he was going to go to high  school and I was going to see some patients I saw in their homes that were  expecting me.  I worked for an In Home Health place here in Las Vegas.    Instead the course of my life changed forever that day.  While driving home  my son came up to what he thought was a 4 way stop.  He stopped, then pulled  out in front of a gravel truck, fully loaded, heading from the gravel pits on  our side of town.  My son, Clint, thinking it had to stop pulled out in front  of it, not knowing that it didn't have to stop, the intersection was only a 2  way stop.  The truck was on the gravel truck route which has been rerouted  now  after my accident and  several other accidents had occurred at this  exact intersection.  Anyway, the truck hit the drivers side of my brand new  Chevy Prism, (3 weeks old), my son, Clint, was not wearing a seat belt, and  neither was I.  The police said that if he'd been wearing his seat belt, he'd  have been crushed and killed and I would have walked away, without a scratch.   The truck dragged us 80 feet before it stopped, and I think we had to be cut  out of the car.  My memory is totally blanked out of the accident occurring.   The last memory I have of that day was talking to my boss for  Hospice nurses  on my cell phone at the DMV waiting for Clint while he took his driving test  with my  car.   ( I also saw patients in their homes for hospice as well as  for In Home health nursing.)  As you can see I was one busy , productive lady  then!  Clint was knocked unconscious, suffered a pneumothorax, some cracked  ribs and a broken collar bone on his left side.  he remembers coming to in  the ambulance.  I was  much more seriously injured, I had to be resuscitated,  either at the scene, or in route to the trauma center, where I   underwent emergency surgery for a hemothorax (bloodclot) on my brain, and  abdominal exploratory surgery.  My husband was notified at work of my  accident and he called my two places I worked at that they'd have to get  someone else see those patients and he informed them of my  auto accident.   Nurses from both agencies showed up at the hospital and reviewed my records  and status and knew how seriously I had been injured, and that my death was  expected imminently.  The Chaplain for Hospice,  held a prayer service for me at a Lutheran church and invited other nurses as well.  I know they came because a  book was given to me later where the people who attended this prayer service  had signed in and wrote notes of encouragement to me.  All the members of  my  ward congregation were asked to fast and pray for me all on the same day.  My  parents, in Utah, who were temple workers,  a temple for  the Mormon church, had my name written on the prayer list of names prayed for  by those attending the temple that day for all the temples in the western  United States that day.  Prayer is a tangible force, a power for good here on  this earth!  Many people ask me what was the 1st thing I thought or felt when  I came out of my coma, about 3 weeks after  the accident.  What I felt, was  the incredible feeling of power by being thought of by many and them praying  for my recovery to God.  I could feel his love and compassion for me, and I  believe this communication led to my incredible experience with Christ in  that heavenly garden.  I now no longer hope that there is heaven and that  Christ's life experience and atonement are real,  Now I know!  Just like I  know that I gave birth to all 5 of my children and tangibly held them in my  arms.  My testimony of Christ burns within me, now when I think of him, I  have a visual memory of him looking at me there in that heavenly garden.  The  love and concern in his eyes for me is overwhelming if I think about it too  long I feel emotionally overwrought.  Since my accident all my emotions have  been on the surface,  many would think I'm emotionally immature, like a kid.   I am an innocent, emotionally, I say what I think, I'm very honest, but I've  never said  anything cruel or hurtful to anyone, just my observations  surprise people, and quite often they don't quite know how to take me.  My  husband is very protective of me, but he is often happily surprised how I say  & do things now.  He quite often says now I've lost the cautiousness I used  to  have in conversations with others, he says my naiveté is refreshing.  I  now pray  each day for and follow the promptings of the spirit of whom I  should talk to & about what, my soul tells me who I should speak with and  whom is distracted by other things, who wouldn't listen to what I had to say  and if they have good motives.  I was in a Convalescent Care Center for about  a month, that's where I came out of my coma.  Then I went to a Rehabilitation  Hospital for 2 days.  They had told my husband that I'd receive physical  therapy and speech therapy & occupational therapy everyday and that these  therapies would aid in my recovery but  my parents had come from Utah to see  me and assist in my care, because my husband had to go to work each weekday.   So what we all came up with was that I would go home and my parents would  stay for as long as I needed their help, and that I would receive the  therapies I needed from In House Home Health, from my friends.    Basically  all  my rehabilitative therapies have been done in my home.  From walking  around my house. exercising, walking around the block with my  physical  therapist from throwing & catching a foam ball with my  affected side, to  carrying a weight in my left hand while exercising.  The exercises got even  more complicated when the occupational therapist starting making visits.  I  had lots of memory exercises and hand eye coordination stuff to do, and in  between their visits I was  doing rehabilitative stuff  for myself just by  doing things caring for our home, instead of being tied in a bed peeing on  myself because no one answered my call button to untie me and take me to the  bathroom.  Everyone rallied around me, my Dad would massage my sore spastic  muscles each morning after I got out of a Jacuzzi tub we have in our master  bathroom, and then we'd go for a walk together, this is during the same  period of time the therapists were coming to the house.  My nephew is a  Chiropractor, but he lives in Laughlin, but  his partner lives and practices  here in Vegas, and so for about 3 months, I went to his partner 3 times a  week, finally graduating down to once a week.  My parents stayed for  1  month, then I was able to care for myself at home.  The ladies in my church  all signed up at  a Relief Society meeting for different days of the week to  go walking with me.  I now have many interested friends, involved in my life,  because they  had volunteered then to go walking with me.   In fact, even  now, when I do too much repetitive motions with my Left hand, like typing, I  get painful muscle knots around my left shoulder blade, and my left hand  starts to cramp.   

 
Here is a sample of one of my poems.  ======================== Waiting  Waiting for answers to my prayers is a movement of my heart, I am  consciously abandoning thoughts of what I thought God would say to me, and being still & waiting.  I give myself time this morning to hear God's quiet voice. I give up my expectation of what I think he'll do, and give him a chance to do what is best for me. In watching the sunrise and awaiting God's voice I see in the dark morning sky a faint predawn light. A rosy glow is spreading from the horizon to the edges of clouds.  Orange gold beams of light are spreading out  fan like to touch the top branches of trees, to travel downward to bushes, to the cold, dark earth. The darkness has fled, illuminating me, I feel the rosy glow of his love, the warmth of his spirit with me, as I await answers to my prayer I prayed in the predawn dimness. I am preparing myself to hear his voice as I watch the sunrise. As I see the beams of sunlight breaking forth from the clouds, my soul finds joy! My spiritual aptitude is growing,  as I watch in thankful silence seeing the day dawn breaking as I wait, listening for God's voice this morning. What a beautiful way to begin a day!, Waiting. . . .    This is my  first poem I wrote after coming out of my NDE to share with  others.  I gave this to all the ladies at  my church who had volunteered to  go walking with me because I needed assistance during my initial  rehabilitation.  This poem was given out on Mother's Day 1998,  I had come  home from the hospital in Nov. 1997.  

THANK YOU, FRIEND

I'm in a deep fog,                                                           
                     
in a beautiful garden,
walking and talking to the Lord.                                              
            
I told Jesus
I wanted to stay on this earth,
to finish my earthly probation.                                              
                  
I told him I believed I was strong
enough to face the adversities
and temptations that awaited me,
with his help.  Jesus promised me
that I'd never be alone,                                           
his spirit would always be with me,
strengthening me,
giving me courage..
Jesus told me he'd send help
from his servants who listen to him.                                         
     
Jesus told me
that he had compassion for me,
that he loved me,                                                            
                      
that he knew I'd come back to him,
and that he'd give me the help to do so.                                     
           
Buoyed up by his promises,
and believing him,
I came back to this world.
I came out of my coma,                                                       
                 
against all odds,
and I began to fight!                                                        
                     
Jesus kept his promises.
I've had his spirit with me,                                                 
                    
and all the help I need
from his servants who listen,                                                
                
You!  Thank you
for being the Lord's servant,                                               
for keeping yourself open to his spirit.
I know the promises I made to the Lord,
and his promises to me will happen,
with his help.  You are the Lord's strength,
his help, and he is yours.
What a beautiful friendship!
Thank you, Friend !

Any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience:  No
Was the experience difficult to express in words?  Yes
      What was it about the experience that makes it hard to communicate?  When I speak about I used to be overcome with emotion remembering

At the time of the experience, was there an associated life threatening event?  Yes
      Describe:  I had a traumatic head injury and stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated and put on a demand respirator for +1-2 weeks because I would often stop breathing

What was your level of consciousness and alertness during the experience?  I was in a coma, the experience slowly came back to me after I'd come out my coma and I was rehabilitating

Was the experience dream like in any way?  Yes, in that I remember being transparent, water ran through my hands, literally, and i communicated through my thoughts

Did you experience a separation of consciousness from your body?  Yes
What emotions did you feel during the experience?  I feel very loved and protected and wish to share my NDE with people.

Did you hear any unusual sounds or noises?  no

Did you pass into or through a tunnel or enclosure?  No

Did you see a light?  Yes
      Describe:  It was everywhere! The plants and the water glowed from within

Did you meet or see any other beings?  Yes
      Describe:  Jesus, I recognized him having met him in my pre-mortal life, I remembered having lived in heaven as a spirit before I was born with him as my elder brother. I knew I was a child of God and I recognized Jesus as my elder brother and we non-verbally remembered our past together in heaven.

Did you experience a review of past events in your life?  I'm saying yes now when before I said No, cause back then the memories of my life review was too close to my heart to speak about.  Yes, I did have a life review, Jesus and I viewed it together, he in my thoughts and I in his. It was an amazing experience!!. Remembering, indeed, reliving pivotal life experiences , both good and bad. And reading, feeling Christ's sorrow or joy per my actions then as we viewed pivotal life experiences.  When 1st broaching the subject I found when I'd discuss my life review I'd reveal intimate information about my past life I was not comfortable sharing.  Now I'm more assured, confident about sharing personal 'stuff' with strangers, even though my life review would occasionally reflect bad on me and on significant others I was interacting with at the time that I now feel a need to protect from outside scrutiny.  During my NDE I was promised I'd have his spirit with me the rest of my life as needed. Initially, I didn't believe in day to day life this would come true. But it has! As a result, nowadays, I'm less reticent to speak about my past life, my spirituality, as I've found his spirit is always there to guide me over previously rough shoals, ie; [sharing my life review with tactful circumspection. Now I feel I can be circumspect in my online responses, so I say "Yes," (confidently) "I had a life review," Now, I know with an assurity, he's protecting me from the unscrupulous. I know I'm still naive, an innocent, and hopefully always will be. But I feel assured His Spirit will guide me by prompting me whom to talk to and about what.

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?  Uncertain
      Describe:  I told my husband I saw him talking to me in the hospital bed and told he held my hand while he spoke to me.  he told me later that he made it a point to always hold my hand when he'd talk me when I was comatose 

Did you see or visit any beautiful or otherwise distinctive locations, levels or dimensions?  Yes
      Describe:  a heavenly garden, with a singing stream running through it

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?  Uncertain
      Describe:  I knew I was in a heavenly garden , and who I was talking to, I knew I was floating above my hospital bed looking at my body in the bed and my husband talking to my body

Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?  Uncertain
      Describe:  nothing I didn't already know, its came to with a stronger force,  I now KNOW that Jesus is real not just have an uncertain faith of him

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure?  No

Did you become aware of future events?  No

Were you involved in or aware of a decision to return to the body?  Yes
      Describe:  read my NDE I e-mailed you for details 

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience you did not have prior to the experience?  Yes
      Describe:  I can often read other thoughts, and know of their intentions.  Who to reach to, and who to avoid

Did you have any changes of attitudes or beliefs following the experience?  No
      Describe:  I feel a stronger need to share with people my religious feelings, before I was ho hum and cautious to proceed in this area.

Has the experience affected your relationships?  Daily life?  Religious practices etc.?  Career choices?  I am known as the resident poet of my congregation, and I've become a better Sunday School teacher of kids and adults, and I'm called upon often to speak or teach.  Which is surprising to me because I'm easily misunderstood because I have slurred speech and double vision as a result of my head injury.  Of course, in church I taught 8 yrs olds before my NDE and I still do. But now I'm a phenomenal teacher ,if I do say so myself, even with my slurred speech. This is because I work harder and spend A LOT of time preparing for teaching in church, etc. Which means; "I strive to be the Lord's instrument in all that I do, by being open to promptings from heaven" " I feel since my NDE I have had a special conduit for help from above"

Have you shared this experience with others?  Yes

What emotions did you experience following your experience?  I feel an overwhelming feeling a love and compassion from Jesus and if I remember too much in one fell swoop I'm emotionally overcome

What was the best and worst part of your experience? Looking into Jesus' face and reading his thoughts about me as we together viewed the life I'd lived. the worst part was; reading the negative thoughts of the nurses who cared for me when I was comatose about my chances of survival. 

Is there anything else you would like to add concerning the experience?  yes, I'll send you another E-mail that explains where I am now

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience?  Yes
      Describe: My priorities have changed, I'm happier, more at peace and I focus on praying and feeling his spirit so he'll be with me and guide me each day

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?  No

Did the questions asked and information you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience?  Yes

Please offer any suggestions you have to improve the www.nderf.org questionnaire?  Allow a person to copy and paste their NDE instead of hand typing it in