I am glad to see that people are acknowledging their experiences. I have only very recently thought that I should think in more detail about my own experience, since it may hold keys to my purpose here.

My family was building our house, which was about halfway finished, in August of 1978. My mother was in the woods gathering wood for the new woodpile she was fashioning and I was playing in the mostly-shell of a house we had with a neighbor friend of mine. That day the stonemason had been scheduled to stop by and look at our chimney/basement area so that he could get a good idea of starting his work shortly thereafter. Normally, the holes for the future chimney on each floor were covered with heavy boards so that no one would fall through them. They had removed these, unbeknownst to me, that day for his measurements and not replaced the boards. The basement had also been steamrolled that day in preparation for the cement to be poured. Two floors above the basement, I prepared to yell "Boo!" at my friend coming down the top stairs, and instead fell through the uncovered hole. I remember specifically thinking how wonderful it was to fly, and then how scary it was that the ground was racing up toward me so quickly. I then screamed, which my mother heard out in the woods. I was told that I landed on the back of my neck, flat on my back, where the spinal column joins the brain stem. I remember at first being very cold and scared, in a place completely black except for a tiny shining light at the end, like a pinhole. I could feel the wind as I moved forward toward that light, slowly enough for me to see that I was in a fairly small tunnel as the light increased. I could see the texture of the sides of the tunnel looking like a rough, earthen tunnel might. As I approached the light, my speed slowed and I noticed the incredible warmth emanating from the light, unlike any warmth I had ever felt. When I was nearly in the light, if such a thing can be described as such, I had stopped and was floating in front of a figure which looked human, though the background light was so bright that no face could be made out. The arms were held out as if to embrace me and I wanted nothing more than to be in that light. I experienced an acceptance and love unparalleled by anything on earth. I was perhaps feet away from entering those amazing arms when I (we) heard my mother scream my name. This was the only sound or vocalization I heard during my entire journey. I hesitated, looking to see whether this person had also heard her, and felt angrier than I have ever been at my mother that she was going to prevent me from going into that light. Sure enough. The figure's arms crossed and then were held out in front, pushing me slowly back where I had come from, back into the darkness and cold. I have never wanted anything in my life as much as I wanted to be in that light. I now know that I will never again experience anything so wonderful as to return to that place and finally be accepted. I look forward to that day, yet do not feel that I have completed what I have been put here to accomplish. In the tunnel, as I floated farther from the light, I could see my long hair streaming in front of me. I was very angry and panicked when I awoke on my back with my thumb in my mouth, to my mother sitting over me crying and looking more scared than I have ever seen her again. The ambulance was arriving from 25 miles away with its siren on, and I could feel the burning of my lungs as they struggled to intake air. My back was quite sore as they packed me away to tests, shots, and finally the children's intensive care unit for the night. I don't remember thinking about my tunnel experience until I heard another, similar story when I was about 14. It was then that I realized what had happened. I can still recall that tunnel and the light as if I had experienced it just last night. I know it was not a dream, because dreams fade quickly and become less distinct with the passing hours. For all of the doctors who claim that near-death experiences are induced by the use of drugs, I say that I was a healthy, active 8-year old child who had never been to a hospital after birth until that day. I emerged from the hospital the next day, after my parents had been assured that I would be paraplegic at best and that I would have suffered long-term brain damage from the trauma to my head/neck. I never had even a bruise and have gone on unscathed to graduate from college with no adverse side effects.

I am very open to answering any questions you might have. If I need to elaborate on certain parts of my experience, please let me know. I admire your courage in this research and believe that it is very important that NDEs become accepted for what they are in society in general.

In the meantime, those of us who have been chosen will go forward loving and knowing what the real importance of our tenure here on earth is.