Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead on the first Easter Sunday nearly 2,000 years ago. Although his story is not quite as spectacular as that very first resurrection, my friend Dave has his own completely true resurrection story – and it too is spectacular. Dave has given permission for me to share his story on this 2025 Easter Sunday. I have not altered Dave’s wording in any way.
I repeat that this resurrection story is completely true.
To Die or Not to Die - A Resurrection Story - They say your life flashes in front of you just before you die. I suppose an hour of my life was spent this way. I had finished my work for the day, so I got changed, and was ready to cycle home, followed by another quick change into workout gear to drive to boxing training. That’s when this uneasy feeling came over my whole body and mind. I knew that this was my time to meet my maker as the saying goes. So, I cycled home, all 15kms, put my bike in the garage, went indoors and got changed for boxing. That’s when I realised, I had an important decision to make as there was only 20 minutes left before I would die. Yes, I can be that accurate. So, my choice was stay at home and die on my own not being found for a couple of weeks, or I could drive to boxing and die surrounded by people. Decision made - I would go to boxing – and a 10 minute drive turned into a traffic nightmare. 20 minutes later I was still only halfway to boxing. Then the Road Traffic Accident happened and I wrote off my car. I parked my car into a tree while travelling at 60 kilometres per hour when I blacked out. For some reason I walked away uninjured from the crashed vehicle. The off-duty Paramedic following me was amazed by this and explained what he had seen when I had blacked out at the wheel. He had called for all 3 of the emergency services, who were all amazed I was uninjured, given that the vehicle was a Total Write-Off. I went in the Ambulance and started talking to the Paramedic regarding symptoms and what had happened just prior to crash, i.e. Blacking Out. Then the real battle of Live or Die began. My heart stopped and I had to be Resuscitated by using a Defibrillator. I only remember the 1st resuscitation but apparently I had 3 in total from the crash site to the hospital. The next 3 hours are vague for me, because I kept drifting in and out of consciousness, but the details got filled in later by the A&E Doctor and the Paramedic who treated me on route to the hospital. Whilst in A & E, I experienced the out of body looking down at myself syndrome. This happened numerous times. I would float above my body trying to leave this world, then they would Resuscitate me by using the Defibrillator and I would return to my body. As for the other parts of Emergency Medical Team protocols during those 3 hours, I have No Memory. Apparently, this happened 12 times, and the A & E Doctor described it as a battle of 2 Minds and Souls, one wanted to die and the other wanted to live. After 3 hours I regained full consciousness and that’s when the full story unfolded. The off-duty Paramedic had apparently watched me drive from the blackout point which I remember as approximately 600 metres further up the road from the crash site. He stated that I was apparently driving normally in the outside lane, then moved across into the nearside lane, having indicated my intention, then I picked a dropped kerb driveway entrance to drive past the first big tree, then I took out a Stobie Pole and (finally) parked my car into the second big tree. I ended up parallel parked with driver side wheels against the kerbstone not blocking either of the two lanes of traffic. I awoke to a face full of Airbag. 2 weeks later whilst she was at work, I happened to meet by chance, the on-duty Paramedic who looked after me in the ambulance. When I described who I was and how she treated me at the scene of the vehicle accident, her face was a picture when she realised how quick a recovery I had made. She explained the double heartbeat printout of which she had kept a copy due to my unusual heartbeat patterns on the ECG Monitor. I explained that thanks to her, I am now fitted with a Pacemaker. She knew the Off-duty Paramedic and said she would pass on my Gratitude plus Thanks for what he did, as well as give him the update regarding the Pacemaker. I was kept in hospital for 2 weeks while they figured out what caused the heart malfunction etc. Eventually they diagnosed me with Bradycardia (slow resting heart rate); mine was in the low 40’s. I was then fitted with a Pacemaker and after a 6 weeks recovery period, I returned to work and continued my cycling plus all of my other fitness training regimes. |
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