On February 2, 2023, I had gastric bypass surgery. Forty-eight hours later, I was suffering from complications and was in incredible pain. I was rushed into surgery for a bowel obstruction in two places in my small intestine. Unbeknownst to me, my organs started failing and I was placed in a medically induced coma and placed on a ventilator. 

I found myself in a place that was crowded. The crowd was in black silhouette but I could hear their voices, like I was in a crowded restaurant. Sitting in front of me was my Godmother who had passed several years before. She was in color, like the color of honey. She looked very young, with shoulder length hair. She looked at me with the saddest eyes. My grandmother who had passed when I was 12 and my grandfather who passed when I was 19 were also there and the only people in color. They also looked incredibly young. There was a bright white light behind the crowd that seemed a small distance away. I kept asking, “Why can I see you all?” over and over with no response. I never felt anger, pain, hot, cold, fear, or anything negative, just sadness in my Godmother’s eyes. I awoke days later in the ICU.

When I woke up, I told my mother how my relatives looked and she told me they looked like that years before I was born.