Man who 'died for seven minutes' gave fascinating detailed account of what he saw
A man who says he spent seven minutes in cardiac arrest has described seeing three mysterious shapes in the moments when doctors were trying to bring him back to life.
The astronomer, who shared his account anonymously on Reddit, said the experience involved three oval-shaped forms appearing one after another in complete darkness.
He believes the visions were connected to what had been occupying his mind before he became critically ill.
His account was shared in response to a Reddit thread asking people who had 'died' and come back to life what they experienced.
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According to the man, he had gone to hospital after suffering shortness of breath and discovered he had a 'bad lung haemorrhage'.
He said he lost so much blood that his heart had nothing left to pump, leading to cardiac arrest. A 'code blue' was called, and doctors spent seven minutes attempting to restart his heart.
During the ordeal, he also suffered a stroke caused by a lack of oxygen reaching his brain.
He eventually woke up intubated and only semi-conscious, remaining in that state for two days before fully regaining consciousness and asking, 'What happened?'
What did the man see during his near-death experience?
According to his account, the first of the three ellipses appeared suspended in blackness. Each shape was upright, seemingly hanging from an invisible point, and had a thickness resembling a ring.
The first appeared to contain mountains, streams, forests and clouds across both its inner and outer surfaces. He initially found the scene beautiful, but said its colors gradually changed, taking on a yellow tinge before disappearing.
A second ellipse then appeared, which he described as resembling a ring of red-hot iron. Pieces seemed to crumble away from it as it cooled, and he said he could smell iron as the shape slowly disintegrated into darkness.
The astronomer later discussed the smell with a nurse, believing he may somehow have been able to smell his surroundings while unconscious.
He said the nurse told him that blood has a distinctive smell.
"I now take it that this is when I was in cardiac arrest," he said.
The final ellipse appeared when the scene brightened. This one was covered in light pink and blue clouds, resembling a sunrise or sunset, and he believes it appeared as his heart began beating again.
The man believes the answer may have been sitting in his mind for weeks before his medical emergency.
He had been studying Johannes Kepler's Astronomia Nova and trying to understand how Kepler established that planetary orbits were ellipses rather than circles.
"It had been on my mind for weeks, and when I haemorrhaged, my dying brain latched onto that shape," he said.
He believes the first and final visions represented things he valued, including the planet, the outdoors and the sky. He interpreted the yellowing of the first ellipse as reflecting his 'dying brain', while the second was connected to his brain's interpretation of the smell of blood.
"When I regained consciousness, those three ellipses remained firmly fixed in my memory," he said. "When I was told days later about my cardiac arrest and stroke, it all began to make sense to me."
Notably, he said his experience did not include a tunnel of light or deceased relatives waiting for him.
"That's all I saw. No tunnel of light or happy deceased family members welcoming me."
He said he felt like a 'dispassionate observer' throughout and was never afraid.
The man claims the main lasting effect of the seven-minute cardiac arrest was a slightly reduced capacity for short-term memory. He also says the experience changed his attitude toward death, leaving him no longer afraid of dying itself, although he remains fearful of the pain and suffering that can come beforehand.
"I learned something from all of this," he said. "But inside, all was calm. No pain, no discomfort, no worries."
"Accidents and disease may be terribly painful, but dying is easy. I'm not scared of dying, not in the least. Afraid of what comes before, sure, but nature makes dying easy."
Thomas Bamford