The answer to Anderson’s question came in an astonishing way. He was treating Eunice, a patient in her late sixties, for diabetes and high blood pressure when she had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital in Nashville. Several hours later Anderson received a call from the treating physician in Nashville, Dr. Wong.
We took Eunice to the cath lab, Dr. Wong said. Everything was going well, and just as you suspected, she was having a large anterior myocardial infarction. She had a 99 percent blockage of the left anterior descending artery. We opened the vessel with the balloon and then . . .
“He paused. Everything he’d said up to that point made sense and frankly was what I expected to hear. But when he stopped mid-sentence, I wondered if something else was wrong.
Go on, I said.
We opened the vessel with the balloon and then, everything went south.
What happened?
She died on the table. I had a resident with me, and we worked on her for at least an hour. I was about to let her go, but my resident wanted to practice running a code, so I let him while I supervised.
What was the time of death?
Well, see, that’s the thing. An hour into the resident running the code, and two hours from the time she flat lined, her heart kicked in and started beating by itself.
Are you saying she’s alive?
I’m saying she was dead for two hours, and now she is alive.
What kind of condition is she in?
I have her on a vent in the ICU, and she’s in a coma. With that much time doing CPR, I’m really not sure how much functioning will come back.
Three days later Eunice awakened from her coma and asked to see Dr. Anderson. When he entered her room, he was surprised at how good she looked. “Her skin was radiant, her eyes sparkled, and she looked almost girlish, which no one had probably said about her for more than forty years.
Dr. Anderson! She said, reaching for my hand.
Hello, Eunice. How are you feeling?
Great, just great! She said with much more enthusiasm than I would have expected from a woman who had been legally dead only seventy-two hours earlier. Sit down. I have a story to tell you.
The last thing I remember was lying on the table while they did something with my heart. Then suddenly there was a lot of commotion. People were yelling and handing medical equipment back and forth. I knew they were working on my shell. They said that I died on the table—that I was dead for two hours! But I don’t remember it because I wasn’t there on that table. I was somewhere else where I was more alive than I’ve ever been. Everything was peaceful there and calm, very different from here. It was the exact opposite of the craziness that was going on where my body lay on that table. A sensation of total peace enveloped me, and I felt as though I were floating.
I didn’t feel any more pain. Even before my heart attack, I always had pain, what with the arthritis and the neuropathy. But now, I no longer had that burning in my legs; in fact, they felt strong. For the first time in three years, I stood up and walked without a wheelchair or a walker!
I walked down a path to a stream. I could feel its icy spray blowing on me as I passed. I stopped to take a drink, and the water was as cold and fresh as an Alaskan stream, but the water was sweet—it tasted like honey.
When I looked around, I saw an astounding array of colors, and the pigments seemed so concentrated! It was more colorful than anything I’d ever seen or imagined.
“By this time, one of the ICU nurses had entered and was listening too. Eunice started talking faster.
I walked around a bend in the path, and I saw an open field with the greenest grass—I’ve never seen that color of green before. Right in the middle of that meadow stood a horse-drawn carriage! My father loved horses. Seeing that beautiful animal reminded me of him.
Suddenly, my view was blocked. A crowd of people stood in front of the carriage. I looked closer, and I saw my father, my sweet mother, and my dear brother! They died years ago. Then I recognized other people in the crowd who had passed away decades ago. But when I saw them, it was as if no time had passed at all. Our spirits were united with an understanding that defied words. In fact, I’m not even sure we used words to communicate.
They all said they were doing great. They specifically asked me to tell you that what you’re doing here in Cheatham County needs to continue. They wanted to encourage you. I sat down with them in the grassy meadow. They’d prepared a picnic lunch for me, and you know what, Dr. Anderson? There was no diabetic food there! I could eat whatever I wanted!
“I smiled at the nurse. I knew how much Eunice must have enjoyed that. She hated having to watch her sugar intake.
Dr. Anderson, I’ve never felt that peaceful and content. It was like being snuggled in a velvet robe. I really wanted to stay there. But then, Jesus came and sat down beside me. He asked me if I could come back here for a while, so I could encourage others. He told me I wouldn’t have to stay long, and I would be able to come back soon. He said he wanted me to come back here for two reasons. The first one was to encourage you . . . to tell you that you are doing his will and should stay the course. I don’t know what that means, but that’s what he told me to tell you.
“I teared up; a minute later, I was crying. I knew what that meant. God wanted us to stay in Ashland City.
The second reason was to encourage my family and friends to believe that Jesus is real and that there truly is a heaven!
“I held her hand until she fell asleep. Then I turned off the lights and went to find Karen. She was in the lobby reading a magazine. She must have sensed my coming because she looked up as I came closer.
I can tell by the look on your face that this is a good one, she said.
“I burst into tears as I told her everything Eunice had said. I felt so honored and humbled to have received such a blessing of encouragement. It reminded me of the day I’d walked out of the Tennessee wilderness (both literally and figuratively) after my conversion dream. I’d felt the same way then. I knew there were people who did more for God, who were better Christians than I was, or who desperately needed to hear his voice because of something they were going through.
Why did he choose to send a message to me? I asked Karen.
“Her reply was simple. You’re his child.”
Reggie Anderson, Appointments with Heaven: The True Story of a Country Doctor’s Healing Encounters with the Hereafter (Tyndale, 2013), 221-229.
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