I was sitting in my parked car. My heart stopped beating. This happened with an intense sensation that started near my heart and rushed up my spine into my brain, where it appeared to continue out of the top of my head. It was a chaotic moment. I didn't know what had happened. Out of this chaos came a deep state of tranquility; I experienced this incredibly intense and calm state of awareness. There was no drifting of consciousness as in the normal living state. It was an all-consuming state of awareness. I remember first becoming aware of how quiet everything had become, how incredibly quiet my reality had become. I panicked for a moment, attempting to get up. I could not move any part of my body. I knew my heart had stopped beating and that I was dying. I understood immediately that I had no recourse but to experience my death.

I was born in 1930 by caesarian section. Prior to this, my mother had lost a daughter who was born dead at full term. After my conception, mother was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, and it was determined that I would be delivered by C-section, near term. When I was delivered, I did not take a breath or cry. The head-nurse in charge proceeded to wrap me in hot and cold towels and slap me until at last I gasped for breath. As a child mother told me about the circumstances of my near-death delivery; it was as though she was telling me something I already knew very well from an actual experience. I could visualize the delivery room from above and see the nurse handling me. I still have a strong visual impression of those moments and I wonder now if I may have been undergoing a near-death experience. I do not recall feeling any specific emotions at the time of this experience, only astonishment later as I relived it when my mother related it to me. It was and still is all so real. I could actually see everything that she would not have known as she would have been under anesthesia.

While having a family day at the beach I trusted my ability to swim at the time would allow me to follow a friend further into the water; however, I lost him. I looked around but could not see him. Then I got nervous and started floating because I was getting tired of swimming. The waves were coming over my face. It was hard to breath, and I knew I might not make it to shore.

I vaguely remember turning to see the shoreline for the last time with all the people having a good time, unaware of my whereabouts. Then I felt a calming sensation as if I were watching the people on a movie. I didn't feel afraid. I felt a sensation of floating over the water, watching myself and not hurting or having any thoughts about being in distress. The last thing I remember is seeing how a man grabbed my hair to pull me from the water. It all seemed to have happened rather quickly, but I have no idea how much time had passed. When I was taken ashore my first feeling of pain was having my chest hurt and choking to let air fill my lungs. My lungs felt like I had fire in them thus the burning sensation.

Friday, July 13, 2007 was the luckiest day of my life. I was attending our county fair where my children show cattle for competition. I was in a show barn arena sitting about three rows up on metal bleachers. The bleachers were four rows high. I remember the lady sitting next to me yelling for help and people pulling me from in between the bleachers. I also recall people shutting the doors to the barn to send others away. I believe I had died three times during this time.