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A Father's Story |
Normally, we don't post experiences that
are not first hand accounts or that are not submitted to us directly by an
involved person. This is such a beautiful NDE story involving his 5 year
old son, I had to share. This was sent to me via a chain letter, so
presumably it was meant to be shared with hundreds of others. If anyone
knows Mr. Glenn, would sure appreciate letting him know that we have his story
on the website and would love to ask him a few more follow-up questions. -
Thanks, Jody
Experience description:
When I got off the plane a solemn-faced young man came toward me and said, "Mr.
Glenn., there is an emergency at your home. I do not know what the emergency is,
or who is involved, but I will take you to the phone so you can call the
hospital." My heart was now pounding, but the will to be calm took over.
Woodenly, I followed this stranger to the distant telephone where I called the
number he gave me for the Mission Hospital. My call was put through to the
trauma center where I learned that my three-year-old son had been trapped
underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes, and that when my wife
had found him he was dead.
CPR had been performed by a neighbor, who is a doctor, and the paramedics had
continued the treatment as Brian was transported to the hospital. By the time of
my call, Brian was revived and they believed he would live, but they did not
know how much damage had been done to his brain, nor to his heart.
They explained that the door had completely closed on his little sternum right
over his heart. He had been severely crushed. After speaking with the medical
staff, my wife sounded worried but not hysterical, and I took comfort in her
calmness. The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally I arrived at the
hospital six hours after the garage door had come down.
When I walked into the intensive care unit, nothing could have prepared me to
see my little son laying so still on a great big bed with tubes and monitors
everywhere. He was on a respirator. I glanced at my wife who stood and tried to
give me a reassuring smile. It all seemed like a terrible dream. I was filled-in
with the details and given a guarded prognosis. Brian was going to live, and the
preliminary tests indicated that his heart was OK, two miracles in and of
themselves.
But only time would tell if his brain received any damage. Throughout
the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm. She felt that Brian
would eventually be all right. I hung on to her words and faith like a
lifeline. All that night and the next day Brian remained unconscious. It seemed
like forever since I had left for my business trip the day before. Finally at
two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness and sat up uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard spoken. He said, "Daddy hold me" and
he reached for me with his little arms. [TEAR BREAK...smile]
By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological or
physical deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival spread throughout
the hospital. You cannot imagine when we took Brian home, we felt a
unique reverence for the life and love of our Heavenly Father that comes to
those who brush death so closely.
In the days that followed there was a special spirit about our home. Our
two older children were much closer to their little brother. My wife and I
were much closer to each other, and all of us were very close as a whole
family. Life took on a less stressful pace. Perspective seemed to be more
focused, and balance much easier to gain and maintain. We felt deeply blessed.
Our gratitude was truly profound.
The story is not over (smile)! Almost a month later to the day of the accident,
Brian awoke from his afternoon nap and said, "Sit down Mommy. I have something
to tell you." At this time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases, so
to say a large sentence surprised my wife.
She sat down with him on his bed, and he began his sacred and remarkable story.
"Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door? Well, it was so heavy
and it hurt really bad. I called to you, but you couldn't hear me. I started to
cry, but then it hurt too bad. And then the 'birdies' came."
"The birdies?" my wife asked puzzled. "Yes," he replied. "The birdies made
a whooshing sound and flew into the garage. They took care of me." "They
did?" "Yes," he said. "One of the birdies came and got you. She came to tell you
I got stuck under the door." A sweet reverent feeling filled the room.
The spirit was so strong and yet lighter than air.
My wife realized that a three-year-old had no concept of death and spirits, so
he was referring to the beings who came to him from beyond as "birdies" because
they were up in the air like birds that fly. "What did the birdies look like?"
she asked. Brian answered, "They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white,
all white. Some of them had green and white. But some of them had on just
white." "Did they say anything?" "Yes," he answered. "They told me the baby
would be all right." "The baby?" my wife asked confused.
Brian answered. "The
baby laying on the garage floor." He went on, "You came out and opened the
garage door and ran to the baby. You told the baby to stay and not leave."
My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for she had indeed gone and knelt
beside Brian's body and seeing his crushed chest whispered, "Don't leave us
Brian, please stay if you can." As she listened to Brian telling her the words
she had spoken, she realized that the spirit had left his body and was looking
down from above on this little lifeless form. "Then what happened?" she asked.
"We went on a trip." he said, "Far, far away." He grew agitated trying to say the things he didn't seem to have the words for. My wife
tried to calm and comfort him, and let him know it would be okay. He struggled
with wanting to tell something that obviously was very important to him, but
finding the words was difficult. "We flew so fast up in the air.
They're so pretty
Mommy," he added. "And there are lots and lots of birdies." My wife was stunned.
Into her mind the sweet comforting spirit enveloped her more soundly, but with
an urgency she had never before known. Brian went on to tell her that the
"birdies" had told him that he had to come back and tell everyone about the
"birdies." He said they brought him back to the house and that a big fire truck
and an ambulance were there. A
man was bringing the baby out on a white bed and he tried to tell the man that
the baby would be okay, but the man couldn't hear him. He said the birdies told
him he had to go with the ambulance, but they would be near him. He said they
were so pretty and so peaceful, and he didn't want to come back. Then the bright
light came.
He said that the light was so bright and so warm, and he loved the bright light
so much. Someone was in the bright light and put their arms around him, and told
him, "I love you but you have to go back. You have to play baseball, and tell
everyone about the birdies." Then the person in the bright light kissed him and
waved bye-bye. Then whoosh, the big sound came and they went into the clouds.
The story went on for an hour. He taught us that "birdies" were always with us,
but we don't see them because we look with our eyes and we don't hear them
because we listen with our ears. But they are always there, you can only see
them in here (he put his hand over his heart). They whisper the things to help
us to do what is right because they love us so much.
Brian continued, stating, "I have a plan, Mommy. You have a plan. Daddy has a
plan. Everyone has a plan. We must all live our plan and keep our promises. The
birdies help us to do that cause they love us so much."
In the weeks that followed, he often came to us and told all or part of
it, again and again. Always the story remained the same. The details were
never changed or out of order. A few times he added further tidbits of
information and clarified the message he had already delivered.
It never ceased to amaze us how he could tell such detail and speak beyond his
ability when he talked about his birdies. Everywhere he went, he told strangers
about the "birdies." Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he
did this. Rather, they always got a softened look on their face and smiled.
Needless to say, we have not been the same ever since that day, and I pray we
never will be.
IMPORTANT COMMENTARY:
Dr. Jeff's response to Azure:
Thanks! This NDE was sent to us via an e-mailed chain letter (as noted in the posting). We will add these additional comments to the posting. As noted, if there are legitimate concerns about the authenticity of any posted account, we are interested in hearing about it. Thanks again!
From Azure on NDERF's Bulletin Board Forum (under �fake, fake, fake�):
Lou's experience appears to be genuine. I got the certainty on reading the
sister site (near-death.com) yesterday - yes, his experiences have been
experienced by other as well and are not unique in the suspicious sense.
Extraordinary? Certainly! My apologies!
But this one is certainly airbrushed:
http://www.nderf.org/a_father's_story.htm
It is the famous "birdies" NDE, which is one of the most beautiful - so
beautiful it has been assumed to be fake. But
www.snopes.com has done research on this issue and
it appears that while the NDE itself is genuine (the father in question is
Lloyd Glenn from Alison Viejo, CA), it has later been airbrushed - to appear
more palatable to mainstream Christians and to appear even more beautiful.
Mr. Glenn is Mormon, as is his son; the original NDE contains components
distinctive to LDS creed. Both the original and airbrushed versions can be
found at
http://www.near-death.com/forum/fake/000/02.html