I died in hospital and woke up in afterlife – now I no longer fear death

For hundreds of years, people who have recovered from a close brush with death have described seeing their whole life "flashing before their eyes". While this phenomenon was once dismissed as a myth, neurologists now believe this is a genuine symptom, sparked by the brain's reaction to lack of oxygen.

However, Patty Ellen, who experienced her own encounter with the afterlife during an emergency C-section, is certain that her personal "life review" stemmed from something entirely different, and after being "given a choice" about returning to her body, has a vital message to convey about life's purpose. Patty is by no means the only person to have caught a glimpse of a life beyond.

Appearing on the NDE Diary YouTube channel, Patty recounted the instant she "died" on the surgical table: "I remember being wheeled in... I remember hearing the sound of the heart monitor beeping.

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"Then I remember it going flat. And at at the very same moment that I heard it go beep, I rose out of my body and I was like just hovering there. I remember seeing a body. I remember seeing the doctors. I remember seeing everything that was going on."

Yet within seconds she was no longer in the operating room, but "somewhere else."

She discovered herself at the heart of a 360-degree "movie screen" where she witnessed the pivotal moments of her life.

"It was stopping at certain points in my life," Patty recalled, "Some were good, some were not so good in the way I treated people."

As the replay of her life appeared to dwell on her most regrettable actions, Patty started to worry she was being condemned to Hell: "I think we all have done some things that that we were not proud of, or treated people badly or said an unkind word or something like that.

"Those are the things that I'm talking about, that [the replay] was stopping at. For [music] a split second, I thought to myself, 'I'm going to Hell... they're showing me this because they're going to say to me 'You're going to Hell'."

Yet, in that instant, Patty sensed someone next to her: "I felt them put a hand on my shoulder and tell me that I was doing OK and not to worry."

She maintains that this reassuring communication happened through the power of thought alone: "All you have to do is think something and the other person knows it... I wish that we could communicate like that now."

Patty explains that although her life review seemed to focus on her failures, the strongest takeaway was about forgiveness, stating: "I believe it's so important for our soul, for our spirit, and not only to forgive other people, but to forgive ourselves. I had a really really hard time forgiving myself.

"I've worked on that a lot. It's definitely a learning thing where we're meant to... it's definitely to teach us where we can do better, where we've done good and where we need to improve."

As the strange out-of-body experience came to an end, Patty heard her newborn's first cry. She recalled: "The very same moment that he was crying, the person that was with me, who I didn't recognise, I felt like he loved me forever and ever. It was almost like he just loved me for eternity from back from before I was born until my future. I just felt like he he loved me forever and is going to love me forever.

"That was very comforting. I only wish that I knew who it was. I have no clue."

The mysterious presence communicated with Patty through telepathy one last time, giving her the choice of remaining where she was or returning to her physical world. Recognizing that her baby had just been born, Patty made the immediate decision to return and be by his side.

She continued: "I was brought back brought back to the hospital room where I saw doctors and nurses, about six or seven {of them]. I believe that they were giving me CPR because I remember them saying, 'She's not breathing,' At that moment when the person asked me, "What do you want to do?

"I was immediately shot back into my body when I said, "I want to be with my baby. " The next day, I was in so much pain. My chest was hurting so badly."

Patty maintains she came back to her earthly body carrying a profound revelation: "The biggest thing that I took back from this is that what I was told is that we're here to learn unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, acceptance, you know, all these things is what I was told. This is what we are here to do."

Patty disclosed that during her younger years, she lived in absolute fear of dying, but her brush with death has completely altered her outlook. "The biggest, most important thing is that I'm no longer afraid to die," Patty said.

"And the weird thing is that I can't wait to go back."