#336 - Skyy Is Run Over By A Snowmobile During Her First NDE

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,480
From the time that they pronounced me deaf was a good 45 minutes.

2
00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:13,440
They cut my clothes and then they paddled my heart, my heart had stopped.

3
00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:18,120
And I could see people screaming and crying, but I didn't realize that was actually my

4
00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,320
physical body because I was somewhere else.

5
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:27,400
The only thing that I could feel, if you could imagine, absolute love and peace, there wasn't

6
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,400
anything else to be felt.

7
00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,520
I was greeted by people I'd known in the past.

8
00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,160
I'm back home again.

9
00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:36,720
Incredibly safe and felt at home.

10
00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:45,440
Welcome everybody to Round Trip Death and I'd like to welcome our special guest today,

11
00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:46,640
Sky Lynn.

12
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:48,080
Sky, how are you?

13
00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:49,960
Good morning, Buenos Dias.

14
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,440
Doing well, thank you and yourself.

15
00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:54,120
I'm doing great.

16
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:58,800
Now, tell us why the Spanish, maybe it'll tie in with where you live.

17
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:04,000
Yes, I am 18 miles from the Mexican border in Nogales.

18
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,320
It's Tubaq and we north to give people an idea.

19
00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:12,880
We're south of Tucson about 35 minutes.

20
00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,320
So between Tucson and the border.

21
00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:16,320
Correct.

22
00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:18,960
And it's kind of an artist community, isn't it?

23
00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:19,960
It is.

24
00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:22,400
It's been here for many, many decades.

25
00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:31,360
It's got a lot of like-minded spirit people that it's a creative valley for sure.

26
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:36,760
I would say the majority of the people that I've met here have come here with the best.

27
00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:41,080
They've retired, they've left whatever else was there and they've come back here to just

28
00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:48,680
enjoy the environment and all the recreation, the hiking and the lakes and so on and so

29
00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,240
forth and the creativity, which is wonderful.

30
00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,360
Now, it's going to sound like we're doing a pitch for the Chamber of Commerce.

31
00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:57,360
We're not.

32
00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:58,360
Okay.

33
00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:04,400
I did look up Tubaq or Tubaq online and it's a fairly small town, but it looks like you

34
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:11,120
have good restaurants and a lot of artists and what do you and your husband do for fun

35
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:12,880
or to keep yourselves busy?

36
00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:13,880
Yeah.

37
00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:15,120
Well, there's two seasons.

38
00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:21,560
There's high season where it's the tourists, which is next, they estimate somewhere about

39
00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:29,760
1,100 people a day visit and our whole village is 1,100 people and when low seasons here,

40
00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,080
only 30% of us live here year round.

41
00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:38,160
So that's our favorite season, but a lot of the restaurants close during that time too.

42
00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,360
And is low season summer because it's hot or winter?

43
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:46,720
Well, we should start April first, April to September and then again, January, we get

44
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,080
another group of people.

45
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,720
But we'd like to go over towards Patagonia, which is east of us.

46
00:02:53,720 --> 00:03:00,400
There's beautiful vineyards, there's hiking, they have a beautiful bird sanctuary for hiking.

47
00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:06,600
There's a couple of really nice lakes to go to and do some kayaking or floating and so

48
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:07,600
it's that.

49
00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,720
And then Tucson is really rich too in their art community.

50
00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:16,920
So we like to, which we'll be doing this week, we'll go up on Sunday afternoon, do some arts,

51
00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:21,280
stay overnight and then we do our appointments and whatever on Monday and then come back

52
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:22,280
home.

53
00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:23,280
Okay.

54
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,520
So, Skye, I know that you had an interesting near death experience.

55
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:28,520
Take us back.

56
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,400
How long ago was this?

57
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:35,560
The first near death experience that I had was at 11 years old.

58
00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:36,560
Okay.

59
00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:38,120
And how many total are there?

60
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:47,600
Two actual near death experiences and four brushes with death or vine intervention with

61
00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:48,600
death.

62
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:49,600
All right.

63
00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,040
Well, let's start when you're 11 years old.

64
00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:57,960
And I can't remember from the pre interview if this is the one where something very interesting

65
00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,040
and unusual happened or something else.

66
00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,040
What happened at 11?

67
00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:07,840
What started with the night before, I dreamt the whole experience very, very vivid.

68
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,480
I got up in the morning and my parents were in the kitchen.

69
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,520
I explained what happened in detail and my dad was a little town doctor.

70
00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:16,240
It was a Sunday morning.

71
00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,680
We're getting ready for church.

72
00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:23,800
And my parents, dad says, you know, be aware of what's happening to you, what's going on

73
00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:24,800
around you.

74
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:29,640
Cause we were out to babysit a group of kids, the parents are going snowmobiling or they

75
00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:31,760
call them poker runs.

76
00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,600
And we were in charge of five little children.

77
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,440
And my mom says, keep your eyes open.

78
00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:41,520
So we're out for the afternoon.

79
00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:46,080
It's a nice winter day and chilly as could be.

80
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,400
And we decided to go for one last run.

81
00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,760
A start in the sun starting to go down.

82
00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,960
And we're heading back to the farmhouse.

83
00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:58,520
Everybody's thinking of cocoa, hot cocoa and warming up.

84
00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:04,280
And as the toboggan, I was on the back of the toboggan and what we call a toboggan

85
00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:07,960
squat where the kids, we all wrap our legs around each other.

86
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,200
And I was the first one on where the curve of the toboggan is.

87
00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:16,560
And I actually had two twin boys in front of me and their little brother.

88
00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:23,880
As we came up to the road and the snowmobile turned around to go back to the farm, it hit

89
00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:25,760
me immediately.

90
00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,380
This is where the dream starts.

91
00:05:28,380 --> 00:05:33,840
And I can hear the roar of a snowmobile coming across the approach.

92
00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:36,240
So I leaned over and I pulled the first little boy off.

93
00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:37,800
The second little boy didn't want to go.

94
00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:39,720
I was able to pull him off.

95
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,440
But the third little boy right in front of me was hanging on.

96
00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,160
He wouldn't let go.

97
00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,120
So I knew something was going to happen.

98
00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:51,840
And the next thing I could smell the gasoline of the machine and it hit us.

99
00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:56,280
A 600 pound snowmobile hit us.

100
00:05:56,280 --> 00:06:02,160
And I thought for a moment that, you know, that I was just sitting there.

101
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:07,840
And as the snowmobile sped away, I saw its light and I saw the shattered toboggan.

102
00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:10,360
And I heard the scream of this little boy.

103
00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,000
Immediately, I felt pain.

104
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:19,920
I felt like the toboggan had hit us with the right ski over our left shoulder.

105
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,140
And this is where I was trying to protect him.

106
00:06:22,140 --> 00:06:24,200
So it went over my left shoulder.

107
00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,440
His left leg took off.

108
00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,760
What I didn't realize is I was stuck on the ski.

109
00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:36,440
So it took me down the ditch and then I rolled off at some of the coat tour or whatever.

110
00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:38,440
And now it's getting dark out.

111
00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:44,720
But what happened immediately after that is I had this peacefulness.

112
00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:51,400
I just felt like I had been dropped just gently somewhere and it got, I was freezing cold

113
00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,200
all afternoon.

114
00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,960
I had one of my brother's parkas on and it didn't fit.

115
00:06:55,960 --> 00:07:00,640
So there was a lot of cold going on throughout the day, my fingers were, but when I landed

116
00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:06,400
or where I stopped, all of a sudden the noise, everything, this light came on.

117
00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,280
It was actually the sun was setting.

118
00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:11,440
So it was just getting dark.

119
00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:13,520
But where I was, it was someplace different.

120
00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:14,600
It was very warm.

121
00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:22,960
It was this smell of lemongrass, which is a touchstone to me to my grandmother's farm.

122
00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:25,240
And I heard this voice.

123
00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:26,880
And it was very soft.

124
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,520
I'm going to say it was a man's voice talking to me.

125
00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,240
It was very peaceful.

126
00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:35,000
And it felt like I was there forever.

127
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:40,760
I was just in this delicate cocoon and I didn't want to go anywhere.

128
00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,480
The voice wasn't telling me to come or go.

129
00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,960
It was just telling me I was okay.

130
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:48,600
And I thought, well, I just want to stay here.

131
00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,400
I didn't feel any pain whatsoever.

132
00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,560
What was going on in the meantime, the ambulance had come.

133
00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,240
My father actually came along in the ambulance, which is unusual.

134
00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,520
Usually the police would call him and then he would go to the hospital.

135
00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:02,960
But he knew and he told him that.

136
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:04,600
He says, my daughter's out there.

137
00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:06,440
And they're like, how do you know that?

138
00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:08,000
You didn't want to get into it.

139
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,560
So he's sitting in the police car.

140
00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:12,480
The ambulance people are out there.

141
00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,640
They've gotten the kids into the ambulance.

142
00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,360
They want to go.

143
00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:21,280
And he keeps telling them, my daughter's out there to look for her.

144
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:22,560
And they're like, it's dark out.

145
00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:23,800
We got to go.

146
00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:25,280
So they got the flashlights out.

147
00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,400
And sure enough, there I was several hundred feet down the ditch.

148
00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:34,280
And the first adult to find me grabbed me and started shaking me.

149
00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:36,280
And all of a sudden in my little cocoon,

150
00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:40,600
there's sock little cotton candy blanket I was laying in disappeared.

151
00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,720
And it felt like my arm had been ripped off my body.

152
00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,240
The pain was unbelievable.

153
00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:47,160
Rest is history.

154
00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:48,080
I've lived through that.

155
00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:53,720
But they were telling me the adults and the ambulance.

156
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,080
Attendance were like, we couldn't get a pulse.

157
00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:59,840
We couldn't get you or not breathing.

158
00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:01,400
We thought for sure you were dead.

159
00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:04,320
We didn't know we didn't want a radio back to the police car

160
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:08,240
where your dad was to tell him that we're sorry, Scott's dad.

161
00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,000
But it was he kept saying she's out there.

162
00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,160
Go look for her.

163
00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:16,120
And of course, the next thing I am, I'm in the hospital.

164
00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,400
OK, let's let's fill in a little detail before we go down the road any further.

165
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:21,080
Yeah.

166
00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,160
First of all, before we do, I have

167
00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:28,200
to say on the show we've had guests that have had all kinds of accidents.

168
00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:33,000
Some people have died from diseases, sickness, heart attacks, whatever.

169
00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:39,680
But some we've had someone hit by a train, a bus, a van, motorcycle, cars,

170
00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:41,560
trucks, all kinds of things.

171
00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:44,160
You're the first one hit by a snowmobile.

172
00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,800
So congratulations on that.

173
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:51,840
But if you can remember any more detail, and I know this was a long time ago,

174
00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,680
but you mentioned the voice that you heard and then it felt.

175
00:09:56,680 --> 00:09:58,120
Did you say soft?

176
00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,920
What were your descriptions on the voice?

177
00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,840
The voice is very soft and it was a man's voice.

178
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:05,280
I could hear that.

179
00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:12,360
And it was as if it took me from my trauma to where I was to call me down

180
00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,240
and telling me that I was OK.

181
00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,200
It's OK. You're safe.

182
00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:17,320
You're OK.

183
00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:20,320
And you were feeling no pain at all at this point.

184
00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,600
Absolutely not. And I couldn't feel the cold, which we had been out there since

185
00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:28,160
one o'clock. So this is about four o'clock, five o'clock in the afternoon.

186
00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:29,920
Now the sun's down.

187
00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:36,520
This big parka that didn't fit me very well had been not keeping me warm all day.

188
00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:39,880
It was one of those old Air Force jackets that had the fake fur around it,

189
00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,840
big green things. And it was way too big for me.

190
00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:50,240
And that's why the snowmobile ski was able to pick it up and drag me as far as it did.

191
00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,520
Yeah, because of the loose clothing.

192
00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:52,920
Yeah.

193
00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:58,400
Did you do you remember seeing anything or was it just dark and you were hearing this?

194
00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:04,160
No, it was extremely bright, like a sunny afternoon,

195
00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:10,680
walking through a field of lemongrass and that smell and that comfort it gave me.

196
00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,400
And the light was warm, glowing.

197
00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:16,000
It wasn't like a spotlight.

198
00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:22,040
Like everything around me was this completely warm, almost a yellow warm.

199
00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,840
Maybe that's where the lemongrass in my mind's eye went with that.

200
00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,320
That was just peaceful.

201
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:29,920
And it was like I was laying down.

202
00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:31,360
I know I felt that.

203
00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:36,800
That I just, wow, I woke up in this great cotton candy blanket.

204
00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:41,680
It's the best way to explain it. Yellow cotton candy blanket.

205
00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:46,960
Sounds sweet and comfortable and warm and everything else.

206
00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,480
The lemongrass smell of lemongrass.

207
00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,920
Where does that come from? Do you think?

208
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:58,720
Again, my grandmother up in Northern North Dakota, she had it growing around the farmstead.

209
00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,200
So when we went, the first thing getting out of the car and running to grandma's farmhouse

210
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:09,280
was this smell of lemongrass. So it's that comfort that you're okay, you're safe.

211
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:10,960
And that's how I felt.

212
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:17,760
And feeling the peace that I was going to be okay, whether I stayed there or not,

213
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,760
it just felt like I was fine.

214
00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,120
And I didn't want to leave that.

215
00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:28,040
It was the abruptness of the first adult that got to me and started shaking me

216
00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,520
because he couldn't get a pulse or he couldn't feel the breath,

217
00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,840
which in, you know, it's freezing cold out. You can see mist of air.

218
00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:37,160
They could get nothing out of it and started doing a little CPR.

219
00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:38,320
They weren't getting anything.

220
00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:42,320
And he literally grabbed the jacket and started shaking me.

221
00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:47,560
This was my best friend's father who I'd stayed at his farm many, many times

222
00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:49,160
and Snow will build with him.

223
00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,880
And he kept yelling, you're not going to go, you're not going to go stay here.

224
00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:58,880
And it was just as if I'm in this little blanket and pulled out immediately

225
00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:06,080
and the pain and the coldness and all the commotion around me was like sensory overload.

226
00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,400
It was exactly the opposite of where I had been.

227
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,440
Voice is gone, warmth gone, yellow is gone.

228
00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:13,560
I am in the dark.

229
00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:14,680
I'm screaming.

230
00:13:14,680 --> 00:13:17,400
The pain hurts terribly.

231
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,720
My clothing had been ripped.

232
00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:21,360
So that's more cold.

233
00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:26,920
And they told me the arm was upside down and out of the side of the jacket

234
00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:31,400
that they could see so they could see that it wasn't attached any longer.

235
00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:32,920
So that was very painful.

236
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,000
So that was a root awakening.

237
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:35,880
Yeah.

238
00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:37,240
And you went to the hospital.

239
00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,640
What other did you have any other injuries besides your arm?

240
00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,840
Not that they could tell.

241
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:47,280
The first three or four days they fixed the arm.

242
00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:49,040
We lived across from the school.

243
00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,520
I get home and dad says, OK, you missed just about a week of school.

244
00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:54,040
Go to school.

245
00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:55,640
So they set it up.

246
00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:58,760
I walked over and I went in between classes.

247
00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,560
This is a three story old stone building.

248
00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:06,120
I'm at the top of the third floor with my where my locker is.

249
00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:10,640
And I run into this kid that ran me over.

250
00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:13,520
And I said, hey, no hard feelings.

251
00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,440
And he goes, yeah, well, my plan is to kill you.

252
00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:21,760
And he pushed me backwards down the marble steps.

253
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,400
And along the way, the cast shattered.

254
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,000
And I fell to the very bottom.

255
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,680
And you could see blood bubbling out of the shattered.

256
00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:30,720
And he looked down.

257
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,840
He says, next time I won't miss.

258
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,600
So now we've got injury on injury.

259
00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:38,520
Holy cow.

260
00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,840
Should I ask what happened to him?

261
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,200
He ended up in an institution, mental institution.

262
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,840
And then when he was let go shortly after that took his own life.

263
00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,440
What a sad story.

264
00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:53,240
Very sad.

265
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,600
He was not stable and I feel so sorry for his family.

266
00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,440
OK, well, we'll get past that.

267
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,200
Let's get back to you.

268
00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,800
So that set your arm way back, it sounds like.

269
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:04,800
Then what happened with it?

270
00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:09,240
And so, yeah, they had to take me up to the big city doctors.

271
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:10,400
And they had to fix it.

272
00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,760
And so they put a cage around the bed.

273
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:20,320
And for 90 days, I had to lay there with a pin in it.

274
00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,840
And back then they didn't do physical therapy.

275
00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,040
They didn't do anything other than change the bedding.

276
00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,320
And when I finally was out of the pins that were in the arm,

277
00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:31,640
I grew back the best I could.

278
00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:33,520
They took it out and they took me out of the bed.

279
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:37,240
And then they realized there had been a lot of damage in my back.

280
00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:38,560
But they hadn't seen it.

281
00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,640
This is back in the 60s.

282
00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,240
Medicine was pretty basic.

283
00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:45,520
Yeah.

284
00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:47,960
You know, in a way, I can relate just a little bit.

285
00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:53,880
I had an injury in the early 70s when I was of a similar age,

286
00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:59,080
a broken leg, and they put it in a cast for three months,

287
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,880
you know, about as high as it could go and all the way to my toes.

288
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,840
So my knee had never bent this whole time.

289
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,200
When they took it off, it's like, okay, see ya.

290
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,680
And you're, you know, my knee wouldn't even bend.

291
00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:13,880
And my knee wasn't what was hurt.

292
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,040
The tibia had been broken.

293
00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,240
So I get it and your injury is much, much worse.

294
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,960
But yeah, it was sort of, okay, your bones are back together.

295
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,920
Now just go fix everything, the rest.

296
00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,800
Oh, put me in the wheelchair.

297
00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,200
My parents came to get me and then it's like, well, I couldn't walk.

298
00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:34,560
It's like, yeah, so that was a whole new getting back into.

299
00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:36,040
And this is in the middle of the school year.

300
00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,240
This was done in January.

301
00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,120
So I still had four months school up.

302
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:42,280
So that was, and I'm left-handed.

303
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,240
So I had to learn how to right-right-handed.

304
00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,720
And this is probably where I became,

305
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:50,280
I've always enjoyed writing,

306
00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,400
but some of my teachers, I asked them

307
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:54,320
if I could just do the test orally

308
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,360
if they would just ask me the questions.

309
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:57,200
Oh, good.

310
00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:02,200
So it was a lot of memory rehearsing, memorizing to answer.

311
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,960
So you had an unusual situation that you were growing up in

312
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,680
in that you had had this experience.

313
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,080
Most people don't when they're going through adolescent years,

314
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:15,360
et cetera.

315
00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:17,320
And you had told me about another experience.

316
00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:19,640
It had something to do with your grandmother.

317
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:21,360
And let's briefly hear that too,

318
00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:23,600
just to fill in some blanks here.

319
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:24,440
Okay.

320
00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:26,600
I was 22 years old.

321
00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:28,440
I was living in California

322
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,000
and my grandmother was 80 at the time.

323
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:33,640
And somewhere in the middle of the night,

324
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,320
I woke up and I could smell lemongrass.

325
00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:37,160
And there she was.

326
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,120
It was like a hologram at the end of my bed.

327
00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:41,880
I got out of bed and I sat at the end of the bed next to her.

328
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,080
And I just, we could almost touch hands

329
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:45,960
on the side of the bed.

330
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,040
And I'm looking at this and I said,

331
00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:49,320
what are you doing here?

332
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,320
And in her Norwegian voice says,

333
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,480
Naaman, she says, you need to come visit me.

334
00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,640
And I said, well, I know one of these days I'll get time off

335
00:17:57,640 --> 00:17:59,680
and I'll come back home.

336
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,440
No, she says, you need to come visit me now.

337
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,280
The morning I called and I,

338
00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,640
Eric, I can't remember it was my mom or my dad.

339
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,560
One of the two answer, I think it was my dad.

340
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:13,600
And I says, grandma, okay.

341
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,320
And here again, this doctor and he's like, no,

342
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:18,880
she's in the hospital.

343
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,560
She's had appendix.

344
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:23,640
We have to take it out.

345
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:24,880
We don't know what to do.

346
00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,200
She's 80 years old.

347
00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,920
And so I immediately got a flu back home,

348
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:33,800
went straight to the hospital.

349
00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,200
This is the first time I see my mom.

350
00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,720
My mom thinks dad had called me to come there.

351
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:44,720
And I explained that, no, grandma came and told me

352
00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,560
and they were both looking at me like I was,

353
00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:49,920
we were drinking on the plane, watch.

354
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,160
And I said, no, I explained that she had visited me

355
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,560
in the middle of the night and said I had to come visit her.

356
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:56,440
And then my dad asked who had time was on.

357
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,520
I said, well, it would have been one o'clock your time here.

358
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,880
And he said, grandma had an appendicitis burst last night.

359
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:07,880
And we at like 1258.

360
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:12,480
And we thought she had flatlined, she was dead.

361
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,040
And we had to take her in for emergency surgery.

362
00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,400
So right as that happened, she came to get me

363
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,640
to come get her, come visit.

364
00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:21,160
It's pretty remarkable.

365
00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,080
Lemon grass has a lot of meaning in your life.

366
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,720
Do you have candles that smell like it

367
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:28,720
or essential oils or anything?

368
00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,360
No, but my studio shares with our electric cat box.

369
00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:34,960
And when I went to grab the spray that I just bought,

370
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:36,160
it is lemon grass.

371
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:37,320
I'm like, wow.

372
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:39,000
Okay, here we are again.

373
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,680
And one other time was when I was 39, my mother had passed.

374
00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:44,960
I'd been with her at the hospital at Gump Home.

375
00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:46,360
They called and said she passed.

376
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,080
I came back, they had taken all the tubes off

377
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,480
and it was nice and quiet in there.

378
00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:56,480
And I felt this all of a sudden, this warmth from her body

379
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:58,360
and the smell of lemon grass.

380
00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:02,400
And it was like this white, very light entity

381
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,320
came from her and dissipated.

382
00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,360
And I felt this warmth.

383
00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:09,560
I was holding her hand.

384
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:10,480
It was cold.

385
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,360
She had passed already, but again with the lemon grass.

386
00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:18,080
So it's a touchstone for sure for my heart, my mind

387
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,360
and my soul somewhere along the line that's meaningful.

388
00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:24,480
And you shared that you have it growing around your home.

389
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,440
Well, it wasn't that I have it growing.

390
00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:31,320
In this, to let our listeners know,

391
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:36,160
in our pre-interview, we had this very unusual

392
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,560
I'll call it a coincidence.

393
00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:39,280
You can call it whatever you want it to,

394
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:43,160
but one of my hobbies is beekeeping.

395
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,040
And there are a couple of things in beekeeping

396
00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,480
that we use lemon grass oil for.

397
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,400
And when I got on the phone with you the other day,

398
00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:55,360
I had had a bunch of lemon grass on my hand, oil on my hands

399
00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:58,560
and still smelled like it smelled wonderful.

400
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:00,760
And you started talking about lemon grass

401
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,600
and here my whole office was smelling like it.

402
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,600
And it was kind of fun.

403
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:07,680
Kind of an interesting connection.

404
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:08,720
Wonderful.

405
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:10,800
And thank you for keeping bees.

406
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:12,160
They're important to us.

407
00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,960
They are very important to us.

408
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,120
And we could go on for a million podcasts about beekeeping,

409
00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,440
but we'll let the experts do that.

410
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,800
So let's skip forward to the second near-death experience

411
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,080
and then maybe we'll fill in some of the blanks in between.

412
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:32,080
Well, it was the second surgery where I had had an accident

413
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:36,920
and shattered three of the vertebrae into 32 pieces.

414
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,960
So that was a big surgery.

415
00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:41,520
And I don't need your exact age,

416
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,200
but were you an adult at this point?

417
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,240
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna say it was 49.

418
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:48,080
I gotta go back.

419
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:50,000
Well, let's do the math.

420
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:55,000
That was, yeah, Lucy is tomorrow is 17 years old.

421
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:58,720
By the way, our listeners didn't hear who Lucy is.

422
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:00,520
We talked about that previously.

423
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:01,880
You better explain.

424
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,440
Okay, Lucy, after my first accident

425
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,800
and I had to have a ladder built in the thoracic,

426
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:08,720
I named her Lucy.

427
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,640
It was my mom's favorite comedian.

428
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:12,200
And I thought if I had to live with that,

429
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,120
I better have a sense of humor.

430
00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:16,120
So fast forward a couple of years later,

431
00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:17,960
they realized there's still some more damage.

432
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,760
So they wanna make a box for the end of the spine,

433
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,640
like a fusion, to hold everything together.

434
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,200
So, you know, who is Lucy's downstairs neighbor, Ethel?

435
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,240
So I named her Ethel.

436
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:34,000
When Ethel was installed the first time,

437
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:35,440
there was issues with it

438
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,160
and they couldn't do anything at the weight of year.

439
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,280
So that next year, when they were going to take the screws

440
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:47,280
out that had broken, they accidentally had torn

441
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:52,840
or ripped or cut the spinal cord sack.

442
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:57,840
If part of the fluid comes out, it could cause paralysis.

443
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:02,360
If all of the fluid comes out, it could cause fatality.

444
00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:03,880
You don't survive.

445
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,440
So I come out of the second surgery

446
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,400
of the part of the third surgery, spine surgery.

447
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,200
And they explained that I'm in a gory,

448
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,400
I have my head in a lock, my arms and legs are strapped down

449
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,560
and they're telling me I can't move for 10 hours.

450
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,760
They need that to heal.

451
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,400
They need it to stabilize itself.

452
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,720
So there's no paralysis.

453
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,440
So they wheel me into my room

454
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:31,720
and my husband's there and the nurse

455
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,160
and I'm not feeling well.

456
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:35,840
I'm very, very nauseous.

457
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:41,120
And she's trying to keep me as quiet as possible,

458
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,600
but I start going into convulsions.

459
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,920
And the pain was as if there was fire being poured

460
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,600
down my spinal cord.

461
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:53,880
And they couldn't give me too much medication

462
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:55,560
because they had to be able to talk to me

463
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:57,720
and I had to be able to feel where the pain was

464
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,040
and I had to be able to use my legs to tell them

465
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,800
if I was feeling paralysis.

466
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:07,200
And I go into convulsions and it felt like all of a sudden

467
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:12,200
I was on a surfboard that was on a earthquake

468
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,720
that was on a tidal wave, taking me away.

469
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:20,720
And again, the pain of this fire going down my spine

470
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,720
and interrupting Lucy terribly causing her issues

471
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,520
and the convulsions, which I can't move my head.

472
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,200
And the nurse is trying to catch what's happening

473
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,560
because I'm being sick and I can't keep anything down.

474
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:40,560
And all of a sudden with the shaking, the pain, the fire,

475
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:41,720
I'm gone.

476
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:43,440
I'm standing at the end of the bed

477
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:47,720
and I'm looking at me in this convulsion.

478
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,720
The nurse is trying to keep towels around for what's happening

479
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,200
and my husband is bracing my arm on the one side

480
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,280
and the nurse is bracing my arm on the other side

481
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:00,280
trying to hold me still.

482
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:03,000
When I talk about this to friends,

483
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,120
I try, you know, I'm probably emotional.

484
00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:06,840
So excuse me, just a minute, Eric,

485
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,960
it's reliving some of it.

486
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,080
It's watching my husband's reaction.

487
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:14,920
And he,

488
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:19,920
yelling for me to stay there and to don't go.

489
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,240
I need you here, please don't leave.

490
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:28,240
Convulsions, pain, and all of a sudden it's gone.

491
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:33,040
And the first thing is I feel or it's the smell,

492
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:37,040
lemongrass, I'm standing at the end of the bed watching this

493
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,800
and this hatch opens up behind me.

494
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:41,680
It was round, it was not square.

495
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,000
I don't know, whatever it was.

496
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,400
And I turned around and like, wow, it's just again,

497
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,200
this beautiful, warm, yellow light.

498
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,120
And I'm looking at it and the pain's gone.

499
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:58,120
I mean, in a nanosecond, I'm like, oh, finally.

500
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:03,560
And this voice is very loud and very distinct, very calm.

501
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,600
And I ask, I'm like, what's gone?

502
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,600
And I'm asking him, can I, can I,

503
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,600
can I stay here?

504
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:18,280
And they're like, yes, yes, you're welcome to stay here.

505
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:22,400
So you're in the hospital room, looking at your body.

506
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:27,400
There's some kind of hatch portal round behind you.

507
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,280
Okay. And you hear the voice again.

508
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:31,120
Yes.

509
00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:33,320
Is it the same one you heard as a child?

510
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:35,600
It sounds like it, it does.

511
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,840
Okay. And what does it say this time?

512
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,000
Okay. I'm facing the door and I ask this voice,

513
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:42,120
can I come back?

514
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:44,840
And it replies, no.

515
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,360
And I'm standing there and I'm halfway looking

516
00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:52,360
at the portal's glow as the door is closing

517
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,240
as if I need to make a decision.

518
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,240
I'm like, I can't go back?

519
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:01,320
No. I want to be in both places and it's telling me I can't.

520
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,000
I have to decide.

521
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,760
It just simply says no.

522
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,480
So I choose to stay.

523
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,160
The light, the portal closes behind me.

524
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,880
There's a moment where all of a sudden I'm starting to feel

525
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:18,120
sick to my stomach again and I am immediately back

526
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:22,440
into that bed and the convulsions stop.

527
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,000
I smell a little bit of lemongrass.

528
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:30,000
All of a sudden I'm extremely cold, but I'm there again.

529
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,040
They get me situated and after my 10 hour time and whatever

530
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,400
and they can medicate me and they take me out of the head

531
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,640
and they unstrap me and they get me cleaned up

532
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,000
and everything and my husband has to get out of there.

533
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,360
He just has to go take a walk and this nurse stayed

534
00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:47,560
with me for the night and somewhere along the line,

535
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:52,400
she explained that she thought she was holding a corpse.

536
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,000
She couldn't feel the pulse.

537
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,280
My body went extremely cold.

538
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,760
Anything on my face, she said, you look,

539
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:02,280
your lips were purple.

540
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,040
You looked as if you were dead.

541
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:06,400
And she said, I want you to know,

542
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,960
I heard you negotiating with somebody.

543
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:10,320
I said, what do you mean?

544
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:11,440
Wow.

545
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:16,440
She says, I could hear you ask, can I stay?

546
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,080
And somebody in a man's voice said, no.

547
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,280
This is the next thing your body started going

548
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,920
through a gentle release of the convulsion.

549
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,000
I'm like, ooh.

550
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,480
She's like, she said that was kind of weird.

551
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,160
Yeah, it doesn't happen every day.

552
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,640
Did your husband hear any of that?

553
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,680
When I asked him about it, he says he was in the moment.

554
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,960
He was concerned about me, but he did talk about me

555
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,400
feeling that I was cold and I was no longer there.

556
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:50,160
He thought I had died.

557
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:52,800
Yeah, and you went through trauma and he did too,

558
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:54,200
having to witness it.

559
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,000
Yes, that's it.

560
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:57,680
Wow, okay.

561
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:00,120
I love that.

562
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,800
Anything more that you want to tell us about that experience?

563
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,800
I think it was the having the nurse when she shared

564
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,120
that she felt like she was holding a corpse,

565
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:11,640
cold at the touch.

566
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:13,840
And during the incident, looking at my husband,

567
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,680
why they held me down, she felt his strength

568
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,360
and determination and she wasn't going to let me go.

569
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,480
Yeah, I assume that helped it become all more real.

570
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,120
Yeah, this is it.

571
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,800
And I'm just going through,

572
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,840
they've told me they don't think I'm going to be paralyzed.

573
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,840
Some dealing mental gymnastics is going through

574
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:37,880
the second surgery with the same,

575
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,800
to fix what was wrong the year before.

576
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,720
And all of these three spine surgeries,

577
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:47,240
my question is always going to be,

578
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:48,680
am I going to be paralyzed?

579
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,760
Because I really want to be up and about.

580
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,080
I live a healthy life.

581
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,520
And when I was talking, when I was standing there

582
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:01,200
and the portal was there and I felt the strength,

583
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:02,920
I'm never going to be paralyzed.

584
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:04,240
I'm going to be okay.

585
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,760
And coming back and going through that pain again,

586
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,320
that just kept thinking on that other side,

587
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:11,920
I'm going to be okay.

588
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,440
The voice said I was going to be okay.

589
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,200
I just couldn't be in two places

590
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,080
and I chose to be where I'm going to be.

591
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,320
And that is here on this side for now.

592
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:22,800
Well, you look super healthy.

593
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,240
So did you have a good recovery here able to walk

594
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,120
and hike and...

595
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:28,960
That's it.

596
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,880
In fact, after the first spine surgery,

597
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:35,160
I'm a former fundraiser and nonprofit consultant.

598
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:40,160
I became a aqua fitness coach instructor.

599
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:42,520
And I have just come back

600
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:47,520
getting my certification in ACHI for physical therapy

601
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:52,640
and also my aquatic rehab physical therapy certification.

602
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,560
I think water is the belt in the youth.

603
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:57,480
Yeah, I'd agree with that.

604
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:02,480
Yeah, I teach hydropilates at a healing center here in Tupac.

605
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,960
Okay, I want to hear more about your life growing up.

606
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,040
Okay, because there are not a lot of 11 year olds

607
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:14,040
that have an NDE experience something like this.

608
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,680
How do you think it made you or did it make you different

609
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,480
than other soon to be teenagers

610
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,160
and as you were going through all those adolescent years

611
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,680
and early 20s and things like that.

612
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,480
Were you different than everybody else in a way?

613
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:33,680
I felt that and I always have that there's a purpose

614
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:38,480
and that whatever comes in front of you, just deal with it.

615
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,200
Don't run away from it, don't coward from it.

616
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,480
And I think I'd mentioned when I was 18 months old

617
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,600
and incident where I'd fallen off the dock

618
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:48,680
and they couldn't find me.

619
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:53,680
And when they did, I was facedown basically pronounced dead

620
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,520
and they brought me back.

621
00:31:55,520 --> 00:32:00,520
And I've survived 10 years being a warrior of cancer

622
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,360
and also at age 27, I was in an airplane.

623
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,680
And I thought about this after you and I had talked to Eric

624
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,760
because there are any other time I've heard that voice.

625
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:10,640
And when the plane was going down,

626
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:12,960
it was the night of the San Francisco earthquake

627
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,080
during the World Series.

628
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,920
So there were guest pilots on our plane

629
00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:20,800
and we're going from Minneapolis to Arizona

630
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,120
for the National Make-A-Wish Convention,

631
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,320
which I was their state president at the time.

632
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:32,320
And the plane was being driven by a pilot

633
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:34,520
that was new into the industry

634
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,000
and a pilot that had retired and came back.

635
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:43,000
The retired pilot was taking a nap and at 35,000 feet,

636
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:48,000
the new pilot, the younger pilot had accidentally turned off

637
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:53,880
the generator, he saw a generator went out,

638
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,640
but he turned off the generator that was working.

639
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,320
And at 35,000 feet, you can't restart a generator.

640
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,120
It has to be less than 30,000.

641
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:06,280
So the plane went from flying to nose dive immediately

642
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,640
and went into a spin.

643
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,920
Gratefully, there were visiting pilots

644
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:16,440
that took over the cockpit, basically piracy,

645
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:17,520
went over and went over

646
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:21,720
and they were able to get it to at least level out.

647
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,400
And in between the mountains of Pueblo, Colorado

648
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,800
and Montevisto, they found a little landing strip this big.

649
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:30,360
We needed this big.

650
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,480
So we hit the ground about 400 miles an hour,

651
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:35,800
but it was as this is happening,

652
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,480
immediately my background, I was a lifeguard in high school

653
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:43,720
and my background told me, go into safety.

654
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:44,600
What can you do?

655
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,840
Because the staff is told not to do anything.

656
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:50,200
That's something you know for sure.

657
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,920
If you're ever in a plane incident, follow staff.

658
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,400
So the lights go black, we have no air conditioning.

659
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,960
There's, it's completely black and the plane is circling,

660
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:02,520
but there was a full moon out.

661
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:03,720
So I could see what they were doing.

662
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:04,640
It was coming through.

663
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:08,240
So I jumped out of the seat I was at

664
00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:09,200
and started to help.

665
00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:13,240
There was a family there that was an elderly family.

666
00:34:13,240 --> 00:34:14,920
And then there's a family that had a baby

667
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:16,680
and they couldn't get the baby to quit crying.

668
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,000
And anyway, when we were going down,

669
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:21,800
right before I got out of my chair,

670
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,200
there was a moment that I was extremely scared

671
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:25,160
like anybody else.

672
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,680
I think, okay, we're going down, we're going down fast.

673
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:29,480
We're going down like this.

674
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,560
The air in the plane is like,

675
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:36,560
it feels like it's 180 degrees and I heard this voice

676
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,600
and it said, you're going to be okay.

677
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:40,840
Your life guard, you're going to be okay.

678
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,080
I got up and started helping where I could.

679
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,440
And that transpired throughout the rest of the incident

680
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,760
because we were stuck up there for a day or two

681
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:54,680
and snow and no suitcases and trying to figure out what to do.

682
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:56,040
But you were alive.

683
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:56,880
It was.

684
00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:00,600
And I feel that when our time's up, it's up.

685
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:01,720
I truly believe that.

686
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:05,160
I'm not saying I drive down the road 110 miles an hour

687
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:09,680
trying to tempt fate, but I truly believe that.

688
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:10,960
We have a purpose.

689
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,040
We need to be in touch with what it is,

690
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,840
find out what it is and don't be afraid of it.

691
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,680
Open it up, see what happens.

692
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,160
In fact, you're writing a book about all this, aren't you?

693
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:23,000
I am.

694
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,480
You want to talk about that at all?

695
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,520
I know it's not done yet, is it?

696
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:27,640
It is.

697
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:28,800
Oh, okay.

698
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:30,240
Tell us about that real quick.

699
00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:33,240
Without making it a big sales pitch for everybody.

700
00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:34,400
Exactly.

701
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,120
It is the story of, and it's called,

702
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,320
the title is stolen from death,

703
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:43,080
how obstacles help clear a path for a better life.

704
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:44,400
It's Nietzsche.

705
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,080
And talk about these different experiences.

706
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,840
And after each chapter, it ends with what I learned from it,

707
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:52,320
how life changed.

708
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,120
It even deals with bad divorce,

709
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,920
deals with breaking up with family members.

710
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:01,360
It talks about the bumps we have in life

711
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,040
and what you take with it.

712
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,360
You can either be happy or mad.

713
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,800
The choice is up to the individual.

714
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,640
Nobody is on this earth to make us happy.

715
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:13,680
It's how you approach it.

716
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,840
And I hope that it's inspirational to people.

717
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:18,600
And things happen.

718
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:20,960
You get dealt something, deal with it.

719
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,240
So you mentioned a minute ago about finding one's purpose.

720
00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:27,440
Have you found your purpose?

721
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,160
Yeah, it is on twofold,

722
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:33,760
having this aquatic background now.

723
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:38,600
I've been a certified international aqua instructor, coach.

724
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,360
And the people's lives that I see, I teach hydropilates.

725
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:44,760
And during the people down here are retired.

726
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:47,520
Some have had some injuries as yourself.

727
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,120
I'm dealing with a woman right now

728
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,840
who had knee surgery and for two years didn't do anything.

729
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:54,120
She doesn't know why her knee doesn't bend.

730
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:57,560
So we're working on getting that knee to bend.

731
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:01,280
We say in the industry, motion is lotion to the body,

732
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:02,720
oilier is daily.

733
00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:04,840
So being in the water, doing something,

734
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,720
keeping yourself healthy.

735
00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:11,160
I like when I introduce myself and somebody asks how old I am.

736
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:12,840
And I don't want to make them guess.

737
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:14,960
I just tell them and then I get this, really?

738
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:16,760
You don't look that old.

739
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:17,880
It's like, well, good.

740
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:19,080
I believe it's our spirit.

741
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,200
I believe it's what we carry with us.

742
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:27,880
And I also very much have looked for inspiration

743
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:34,840
in various healers and inspirational people.

744
00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:38,400
And I followed Tich Nac Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist,

745
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:44,560
and was in 2017, went to Stonehill College in Boston

746
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,080
and was ordained as a peace maker, a Buddhist peace maker.

747
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:53,920
So I like to shine that light is that we care about your environment.

748
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:55,560
You carry about people.

749
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:59,160
You carry about yourself and our world.

750
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,320
It's a nice line to be in, I believe.

751
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,600
And these experiences have all brought me there.

752
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,440
Beautifully said.

753
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:09,000
And that was a pretty good summary.

754
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,840
But I'm going to ask you one more thing.

755
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:14,520
And that is, OK, you've got a lot of people out there listening

756
00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:15,400
to you right now.

757
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:18,520
You've got a forum, you've got the floor.

758
00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,840
One last thing that can help everybody.

759
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,280
What have you learned from all this?

760
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:27,640
And I said it to myself when I was 21 years old.

761
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,320
I don't know if you want to hear the situation.

762
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,040
I can make it short, but I don't have to.

763
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:32,760
Go ahead.

764
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:33,680
OK.

765
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,680
General Motors is just transforming Southern California.

766
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:40,120
I was in my new apartment looking over the ocean.

767
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,600
And I was going to go to Catalina Island for the day

768
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:44,960
to celebrate my 21st birthday.

769
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,720
I'm listening to NPR and La Cappuccino.

770
00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:51,400
And I hear Natalie Wood has drowned in Catalina Island.

771
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,080
I'm like, well, there goes my day.

772
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,400
So I went and got a bottle of wine.

773
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,240
And I sat overlooking the ocean.

774
00:38:57,240 --> 00:38:59,760
I was on the cliff of the ocean.

775
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:03,640
And I thought, what can I live with that I know now

776
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:05,360
that I can live with for the rest of my life?

777
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:06,640
And it's still true.

778
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,000
What doesn't work, quit doing it.

779
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:14,360
Whether it's a relationship, a job, a place,

780
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,320
a creative something, if it's not working.

781
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:18,640
And that includes family.

782
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,080
I've had to break up with family and friends.

783
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,280
If it's not working, quit doing it.

784
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,680
That seems so obvious and such common sense.

785
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:29,640
But it's not always that easy.

786
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,520
We sometimes feel stuck in these ruts.

787
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,240
And in relationships, I was the youngest of seven.

788
00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:38,080
It was a blended family.

789
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:40,800
And I remember coming home somewhere around 10 o'clock,

790
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,880
or 10 years old or so, or somewhere in that area.

791
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:45,720
And my mom, we were doing our homework,

792
00:39:45,720 --> 00:39:48,440
had to do it in the kitchen so she knew we were doing it.

793
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:52,320
And asked what my essay was going to be.

794
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:54,640
She said, well, what do you want to be when you grow up?

795
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,880
And I named a couple of family members.

796
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:00,360
It's just, what are you talking about?

797
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:03,760
And I shared what I saw, what they were doing wrong

798
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:05,080
with their lives.

799
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:06,360
And I said, I don't want to do that.

800
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:07,360
I don't want to go that path.

801
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:08,240
I don't want to be that.

802
00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:09,800
I don't want to be that.

803
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,000
And I think it was having that responsibility.

804
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:13,600
And then as my parents got older,

805
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:14,800
I became the caretaker.

806
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:19,680
And this just came to me listening to a podcast yesterday.

807
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:23,040
When we grow up, we sometimes get into these relationships

808
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,080
and we think we have to be that person.

809
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,760
So I became the caretaker for the family.

810
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,560
And as I'm getting older, and I've had all these situations,

811
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:32,120
I should be taking care of myself.

812
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,080
Everybody was asking me to take care of them.

813
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,760
And when I got to the point of understanding to live that,

814
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:40,080
this isn't working for me.

815
00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:41,600
I can't do this anymore.

816
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:43,560
My life has become easier.

817
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:46,440
I've made space for better people in my life.

818
00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:48,400
I have better quality of life.

819
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:50,080
I don't have trauma.

820
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:51,800
I don't have drama.

821
00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,520
It is, I mean, things happen.

822
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,960
But again, if it's not working, regardless of what it is,

823
00:40:57,960 --> 00:40:59,440
quit doing it.

824
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:01,640
Do you have any fear of death at this point?

825
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:03,080
I don't.

826
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:03,840
I don't.

827
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:05,920
I have a surgery coming up in two weeks

828
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,200
and the doctor's going, oh my god, what else can happen?

829
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:11,960
It'll be surgery number 29.

830
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:13,760
It's like, yeah, the oddest things.

831
00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:14,440
And here I go.

832
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:15,920
It's like, OK.

833
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:17,640
That is really a lot of surgeries.

834
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,160
I wish you well.

835
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:20,600
I hope it goes great.

836
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:22,080
I'm sure it will.

837
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:23,240
You're a healthy person.

838
00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:25,760
You're going to continue to be so I can tell.

839
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:26,600
Thank you.

840
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,560
I want to be about 100 so I can keep giving advice.

841
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:33,680
All right.

842
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:35,960
Skylin, thanks a lot for being with us.

843
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:39,520
Thank you for your time and the voice

844
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:41,240
to being able to share this.

845
00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,560
And I appreciate what your interest is

846
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:46,440
and your depth experiences.

847
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:52,040
Thanks again for listening.

848
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:55,400
And remember to share this podcast to be notified

849
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:57,200
when the next episode goes live.

850
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:01,400
Follow us on your podcasting app or click over to roundtripdeath.com

851
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,000
and sign up for our email newsletter.

852
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,400
Until then, I wish you everything good

853
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:11,360
that you're looking for in this life and the next.