Latest news with #near-death
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I rejected my Catholic upbringing until God spoke to me after I died while giving birth
A New Jersey woman who once distrusted the Catholic faith she was raised in said her life changed forever when she died while giving birth at age 18. Rebecca Boothroyd, now 38, recalled the moment everything shifted, from a growing numbness in her body to what she believes was an encounter with the voice of God. 'During labor, I had an epidural,' she told Daily Mail. 'But instead of numbing me from the waist down, it numbed me from my back all the way up to my brain. It nearly killed me.' Boothroyd said she remained conscious and could feel something was seriously wrong. 'I told the nurse, 'You should get a doctor, something's wrong,' but they kept saying, 'You're fine,' she recalled. As the medication took hold, everything began to blur. 'I felt like I was drowning in sweat, but I wasn't even sweating,' she said. Then everything faded away and turned white. At the time, Boothroyd didn't realize it, but that moment would become a turning point in her life. It started in the hospital, in a haze of pain and beeping monitors, then came the light. Not just any light, but a blinding, all-consuming brightness that seemed to erase everything else. That moment changed everything for Boothroyd. Since then, she said, God speaks to her directly. The connection is clear, constant. And with it came something else: the power to heal. But she doesn't believe that hospital moment was random. There were other signs, brushes with death that now, in hindsight, feel like chapters of a bigger story in her life 'My first experience happened while driving with her dad pickup truck down the highway,' Boothroyd explained. One moment she was fiddling with the door handle and accidently swung the door open. The next things she remembered was she was hanging on the door for dear life as her father was driving down the interstate. Her father swerved just right, snapping the door shut and yanking her back to safety. She should have fallen. She didn't. The second episode was just as surreal. A simple trip to the movie store with her dad and sister turned into chaos. They'd barely pulled into the parking lot when her father hopped out, leaving her in the car. Moments later, the vehicle burst into flames. She doesn't remember exactly how he got her out, just that one minute she was inside, and the next, safe in his arms as the car exploded behind them. 'It always seems to be cars with me for some reason,' said Boothroyd. Boothroyd always had a sense there was something different about her, something deeper. She believed she was born with healing gifts, though for most of her life, those feelings stayed buried. Raised Catholic, she learned early that such ideas didn't belong in polite conversation. 'I have three kids. I was never married. Born and raised Catholic,' she explained. 'I always felt like everything I did was never good enough. There was too much judgment.' For years, she struggled under the weight of that pressure and the prescriptions. At one point, she was taking up to 25 pills a day. Her body was medicated. Her spirit was numb. But everything changed after what Boothroyd calls her 'rebirth.' It wasn't just a near-death experience. It was a moment of contact, an awakening. 'I realized it was a rebirth,' she said. 'I felt like I was in contact with the other side.' 'It opened me up to connect even more. Some people when they have near-death experiences, they have a whole download and instant awareness. Mine is integrated.' Now, Boothroyd said, her purpose is clear: to help others. She believes her gifts have finally surfaced because, for the first time, she's living life on her own terms, not by her parents' expectations, not by the rules of the church she grew up in, and not by the limitations of her past. 'I feel like that was a big reason why my gifts are coming out now, because I'm able to be my own person,' Boothroyd said. 'Instead of having to follow what my parents wanted, what my family wanted, what my church wanted.' God, she said, speaks to her directly now. And she no longer feels that meeting Him requires a steeple or pew. 'I'm very big on God, the Bible, all that stuff,' Boothroyd said. 'But only as long as it's being preached and taught the right way.' She recently became a licensed reverend. As for what lies beyond this life, she's not convinced it's as black-and-white as heaven or hell. 'Are you going there to learn some more lessons, or are you there to try to be free?' said Boothroyd.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
College Student Was Driving Home When Tornado Struck. Before She Got Thrown from Car, She Told Mom, 'It's Taking Me'
Mya Grimes, a college student at Jackson State University, had a "near-death" experience when a tornado hit as she was driving last week The 20-year-old student said that her car was caught in the storm and spun in circles before being ejected from the vehicle "I really thought that was my last moment," she said about the terrifying experienceA college student is grateful to be alive after getting caught up in a tornado while she was driving last week. Mya Grimes, a rising senior at Jackson State University in Mississippi, was on her way to St. Louis, her hometown, when a tornado tore through the city and threw her out of her car on Friday, May 16. The 20-year-old college student had nearly reached her home when the storm caught up to her, according to ABC-affiliate WAPT. "I really thought that was my last moment," she told the outlet. Grimes said that the tornado broke the windows of her car and opened the driver's side door. Even though she said she was wearing a seat belt, she was ejected from the vehicle and "slid down the street 40 yards." Before the storm reached her, the student talked to her dad — who cautioned her to be careful, but get home if she could — according to local station KMOV. She also called her mom, Tina Grimes, but then her phone disconnected. 'When I answered the phone, I just wasn't prepared for what I heard on the other end," Tina told the outlet. After asking her daughter what was going on, to her terror, her daughter replied, "'It's taking me.' " "My car started spinning in circles and spinning in circles, and I was just literally terrified and holding on to my steering wheel for dear life," Mya told NBC affiliate KSDK. "The door opened and I flew out of my car." The student said that she was able to cling to a light pole as the gusts continued. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. In an Instagram post detailing her "near-death experience," Mya said that the paramedic she was able to flag down afterwards told her she was 'lucky to be alive.' 'I have gashes from the glass and sliding down the street," Mya wrote alongside images of the damage to her car. Fortunately, despite some minor injuries, she was otherwise unharmed. She went on to share that the incident has given her a new perspective that 'any moment could be our last." According to the National Weather Service, an EF3 tornado touched down in Clayton, Mo., and moved through the northern parts of St. Louis on May 16. It had winds up to 152 miles per hour. Read the original article on People
CNN
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Jeremy Renner describes the ‘exhilarating peace' he felt in his near-death experience
Jeremy Renner almost died on New Year's Day 2023 after being crushed by a snow plow near his Nevada home. He wasn't too happy when he was revived. During a recently posted appearance on SiriusXM's 'Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa' podcast, Renner talked about the incident that landed him in the hospital in critical condition and needing multiple surgeries. Renner told Ripa, 'It's a great relief is all I can say. It's a wonderful relief to be removed from your body.' 'It is the most exhilarating peace you could ever feel. You don't see anything but what's in your mind's eye. You're the atoms of who you are. The DNA,' he said. 'Your spirit is… it's the highest adrenaline rush. But the peace that comes with it, it's magnificent. It's so magical. And I didn't want to come back. I remember, and I was brought back and I was so pissed off.' The 'Avengers' star said he 'was gone for, I think probably for, it doesn't matter if it's five minutes or two minutes or 10, but I came back and I saw the eyeball again.' 'I'm like, oh, s**t. I'm back,' Renner said. 'Saw my legs. I'm like, 'Yeah, that's gonna hurt later.' I'm like, all right, let me continue to breathe.' The title of his new book, 'My Next Breath: A Memoir,' is a reference to the 45 minutes he focused on his breathing as he awaited emergency personnel following his accident. The 'Mayor of Kingston' star also talked about the profound effect it has all had on him. 'I'm going to live life on my own terms. And for nobody else,' he said. 'I invest into love and my shared relationships that I experience love with 'cause that is the only thing that you take with you.' 'My Next Breath: A Memoir' is currently available for sale.
Free Malaysia Today
19-05-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
Melaka man survives lightning strike
The dead durian tree which was broken in half by the lightning strike. (Facebook pic) PETALING JAYA : A man nearly died after a bolt of lightning sent him flying near his mother-in-law's house in Jasin, Melaka, yesterday evening. In the 5.30pm incident, Hafizuddin Mihat, 34, was walking to his car with an umbrella in the heavy rain to shut a door left open. He said lightning suddenly struck a dead durian tree near him, also hitting him. 'I went flying as if hit by a bomb. 'I was dazed and saw the tree broken in half by the strike,' Sinar Harian reported him as saying today. Hafizuddin, who is currently receiving treatment at Jasin Hospital, said he managed to get up and run back into the house. He said he collapsed as soon as he reached the house and feared being struck a second time by lightning. His wife, Noor Liza Ramly, 33, and other family members came to his aid. 'At the time, I thought I was going to die, but then felt the pain begin to subside,' Hafizuddin said. A medical examination confirmed no serious injuries.
Daily Mail
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Hollywood star Jeremy Renner reveals 'beautiful' image he witnessed the moment he 'died' following horrific snowplough accident
Hollywood star Jeremy Renner has hauntingly detailed exactly what he experienced in the moment he momentarily 'died' in 2023. The two-time Oscar nominee was crushed by a 14,300-lb snowcat outside his Lake Tahoe home on New Year's Day, leaving him with 38 broken bones as well as a collapsed lung and pierced liver. He was put on life support for three days following the accident, with his family left on tenterhooks over whether he would pull through. Now, the star of Hurt Locker and The Bourne Legacy has claimed he felt 'electric peace' in the moment and witnessed his 'life review'. Recalling his near-death experience—labelling it 'the most pure, beautiful existence'—the 54-year-old also said he felt he was surrounded by 'everyone' he has ever loved. These phenomena, which have been a source of fascination for medics and the public alike for decades, are believed to occur when people are clinically 'dead', and extremely unlikely to survive. Many of those who've had such an experience claim to have seen the afterlife. Speaking on the High Performance podcast, he told host Jake Humphrey: 'It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. 'You get to see behind the curtain and there's some sort of solace that comes—look I didn't want to come back, let me put it that way.' Questioned why he didn't want to come back, he added: 'It's the most pure, beautiful existence for us to be. 'There's not much to see, that's a human experience. In your mind's eye, in your imagination what you witness when you die, you don't see, you don't have vision, you don't breathe. 'There's no time, place or space. Love is the only thing that exists. That is what you feel, that is what you experience. 'You experience your life review. You have anyone you ever loved, anything that is attached to love, there with you at all time, space and place. 'I mean everything and everyone is there, everyone. Magic. It is the most electric peace.' Experiences of seeing and hearing things while clinically dead do have some scientific basis. For years studies have shown the human brain still functions normally for a very brief time after the heart stops, although it appears to have ceased activity on regular scans. Research has also revealed that the brain can still experience sporadic bursts of activity even after an hour without oxygen, during resuscitation. Such discoveries have led to some medics calling for an overhaul of the standard practice that rules people should be declared dead after three-to-five minutes of oxygen deprivation to the brain, as these patients could still in theory be resuscitated. Renner's horrifying snowplow accident occurred after he forgot to engage the emergency brake on the monster vehicle after plowing his property. To his horror, it began careening towards his nephew, Alexander Fries, who was out helping him that day. Acting purely on instinct he said he attempted to jump back into the driver's seat and get the snowcat under control. But instead, he was pulled under its tank-like tracks, leaving him with life-threatening injuries including 38 broken bones in his ribs, knee, ankles, pelvis, face and hands. He also suffered a collapsed lung, pierced liver and major laceration in his head. In his 224-page memoir released last month and titled My Next Breath—all about his near-fatal accident—he also revealed that he laid on the ice for 45 minutes waiting for emergency vehicles to reach him. During this time his pulse bottomed out at 18 beats per minute, by which stage, 'you're basically dead', he wrote. 'I know I died—in fact, I'm sure of it,' he added. While he has undergone a remarkable recovery in just over two years, the actor still suffers one agonising injury in his mouth. 'Every time I'm talking, or eating, or sleeping, I want to scream inside because of the chaos in my mouth,' he wrote. 'My teeth will never line up properly again. One side got pushed so far offline by the Snowcat and it's unfixable.' Despite this, he added, he said he was grateful to be alive. 'I knew then, as I know now to this day and will always know: Death is not something to be afraid of. Death is something to look forward to, a return to that electric serenity outside of time.' 'Dying, you become connected to the collective energy everywhere all at once, which is itself a kind of divinity.' People have previously told MailOnline of their near death and out of body experiences such as seeing bright lights at the end of a tunnel or meeting deceased relatives. Others, meanwhile, have also recalled seeing a heavenly afterlife. While evidence on something happening in brains after clinical death is still being explored, exactly why so many people have similar experiences remains an issue of contention among experts. Some theorise that as the brain is undergoing these changes essentially the 'brakes' come off the system and this opens our perception to incredibly lucid and vivid experiences of stored memories from our lives. However, this is only a theory and other experts dispute this. Clinical death also differs from brain death. Brain death is when a person on an artificial life support machine no longer has any brain function, which means they will not regain consciousness. Such patients have no chance of recovery because their body is unable to survive without artificial life support. In the UK this means a person who has suffered brain death is legally dead. This can be difficult to comprehend for families of the deceased as they can see their loved one's chest rise and fall with every breath from the ventilator as well as their heart continuing to beat. Brain death can be caused by both illness and injury when blood and/or oxygen supplies are cut off to the vital organ. The condition is different from a vegetative state where a patient's brain function remains.
