I SURVIVED: I'm Dying Today, This Is My Last Day on Earth

Summary

Cold Case Files: "I SURVIVED: I'm Dying Today, This Is My Last Day on Earth"

Episode Release Date: April 12, 2025
Hosted by: Paula Barros
Description: In this gripping episode of Cold Case Files, host Paula Barros delves into two harrowing survival stories that teetered on the brink of death. Through firsthand accounts and expert insights, the episode explores the resilience of the human spirit and the thin line between life and death.

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Deb's Near-Death Experience: A Battle Through Childbirth

Timestamp: [02:07] – [16:10]

Deb, a 42-year-old safety and health professional from San Juan Capistrano, California, shares her terrifying experience of nearly losing her life during the birth of her second child. Despite everything appearing to proceed normally during her C-section, Deb had an inexplicable "sixth sense" that something was amiss.

Key Events:

• Pre-Delivery Anxiety: Deb was confident about her career and family goals, yet an intuition nagged at her that something was wrong as she entered the hospital for her C-section ([03:12]).

• Emergency in the Recovery Room: Moments after giving birth, Deb felt an overwhelming sense of suffocation. As she pleaded for help, her husband Andy and Dr. Vivian Ellis, her obstetrician, struggled to revive her using CPR ([04:07] - [05:58]).

• Dr. Vivian Ellis' Intervention: Dr. Ellis describes the critical moment when Deb suffered from an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare and often fatal complication of childbirth. She recounts performing CPR in a desperate attempt to save Deb's life ([05:17] - [06:08]).

Deb's Near-Death Experience:

• Vision of Peace: Deb describes being in a serene place, sitting on a staircase overlooking rolling hills and lush greenery, surrounded by unfamiliar dogs and cats that guided her toward a radiant light ([06:53] - [09:35]).

• Return to Reality: As CPR efforts continued, Deb felt a transition from tranquility to chaos, realizing her imminent death. She mentally reached out to stay alive for her family, leading to her miraculous revival when Dr. Ellis successfully restored her heartbeat ([10:12] - [12:08]).

Aftermath and Reflections:

• Reconnection with Family: Deb recounts waking up in the ICU, reunited with her husband and baby daughter, Bryce, symbolizing a second chance at life ([12:12] - [14:26]).

• Enduring Impact: Deb reflects on how this experience reshaped her perspective on life and death, emphasizing the importance of cherishing loved ones and finding hope beyond fear ([14:55] - [16:10]).

Notable Quotes:

• Deb: “Time stands still. There is no concept of time in this place. It doesn't exist.” ([08:15])
• Dr. Vivian Ellis: “It might be likened to an anaphylactic reaction where there's a total close down of all systems.” ([06:08])

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Steve's Horrifying Ordeal: Surviving a Violent Attack

Timestamp: [18:07] – [42:34]

Steve's story is one of unexpected violence and a prolonged struggle between life and death. Living in Homer City, Pennsylvania, Steve recounts the night he was brutally attacked by his older brother, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

Key Events:

• The Attack: On a fateful Friday the 13th in July 1994, Steve was ambushed in his home by his brother wielding an 18-inch double-edged knife. Despite his attempts to defend himself, Steve was stabbed in the chest, leading to severe blood loss ([32:04] - [35:03]).

• Medical Response: Emergency physician Dr. Scott Magley details the immediate medical response, highlighting the critical "golden hour" where swift intervention was vital to Steve's survival. Steve underwent intense surgery, including sternotomy and blood transfusions ([20:22] - [26:19]).

Steve's Near-Death Experience:

• Encounter with Darkness and Light: As Steve lay unconscious during surgery, he experienced a profound out-of-body sensation. He describes being enveloped in darkness, feeling unconditional love, and witnessing a radiant light that beckoned him ([36:58] - [38:45]).

• Return to Life: Miraculously, surgical teams managed to repair his severed artery and revive him. However, Steve's return was abrupt and jarring, leaving him conflicted between the serene afterlife he envisioned and the harsh reality of his injured body ([38:45] - [40:44]).

Aftermath and Reflections:

• Recovery and Personal Growth: After two weeks in the hospital and six months of recuperation, Steve emerged with a transformed outlook on life. He became more extroverted, embraced love more deeply, and noted peculiar phenomena around him, such as electrical devices malfunctioning in his presence ([40:23] - [42:33]).

• Emotional Reconciliation: Despite the trauma inflicted by his brother, Steve expressed compassion, understanding that his brother's actions were a manifestation of his mental illness. This empathy furthered Steve's personal evolution towards love and acceptance ([40:49] - [42:33]).

Notable Quotes:

• Steve: “I never really realized at that point that I was dead. I just felt like I was home.” ([37:31])
• Steve: “I think that if this experience wouldn't have happened to me, I probably would still be in Homer City. It probably would have just gotten me married, had kids, and did what I thought I was supposed to do.” ([29:12])

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Expert Insights: Dr. Vivian Ellis and Dr. Scott Magley

Throughout the episode, medical professionals provide critical insights into Deb's and Steve's near-death experiences:

• Dr. Vivian Ellis explains the medical intricacies of an amniotic fluid embolism, emphasizing its rarity and high mortality rate, and reflects on the potential spiritual dimensions beyond scientific understanding ([06:08] - [14:26]).

• Dr. Scott Magley discusses the severity of Steve's injuries, the challenges faced during surgery, and the significance of the golden hour in trauma care. He also shares observations on Steve's critical condition and the miraculous nature of his revival ([20:26] - [26:50]).

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. Vivian Ellis: “There is no concept of time in this place. It doesn't exist.” ([08:15])
• Dr. Scott Magley: “This world that we live in, this game that we play called life is almost a phantom in comparison to the reality of Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv.” ([41:49]) (Note: This appears to be an advertisement overlap and may be disregarded in the context of episode content.)

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Conclusions and Themes

The episode beautifully intertwines Deb's and Steve's survival stories, highlighting:

• The Fragility of Life: Both narratives underscore how abruptly life can change and the delicate balance between existence and demise.

• Resilience and Hope: Despite facing death, both Deb and Steve emerged with strengthened spirits and a renewed appreciation for life and loved ones.

• Spiritual Dimensions: The near-death experiences depicted suggest that there may be forces beyond our understanding, blending medical phenomena with spiritual interpretations.

• Personal Transformation: Traumatic events can lead to profound personal growth, altering one's outlook and priorities.

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Final Thoughts

In "I SURVIVED: I'm Dying Today, This Is My Last Day on Earth," Cold Case Files masterfully narrates two powerful survival stories that not only captivate but also inspire listeners to reflect on their own lives and the unseen forces that guide them. Paula Barros' empathetic hosting and the detailed accounts from Deb and Steve, enriched by expert medical insights, make this episode a compelling exploration of life, death, and everything in between.

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Notable Quotes Summary:

• Deb: “Time stands still. There is no concept of time in this place. It doesn't exist.” ([08:15])

• Dr. Vivian Ellis: “There certainly was a sense of joy and happiness in the room. It was all just talking about the baby, the baby's future, Deb's family.” ([03:44])

• Steve: “I never really realized at that point that I was dead. I just felt like I was home.” ([37:31])

• Dr. Scott Magley: “This world that we live in, this game that we play called life is almost a phantom in comparison to the reality of Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv.” ([41:49]) (Potential ad content overlap)

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By presenting these intense personal stories alongside professional insights, the episode serves as a poignant reminder of life's unpredictability and the enduring human capacity to overcome unimaginable challenges.

Transcript

[Deb]

It's 2025 and a new year means brand new opportunities.

[Mikayla]

And for a lot of you out.

[Deb]

There, I know you've been thinking about one thing over the holidays and that is starting your own business. But you have so many questions like.

[Steve]

How do I get started?

[Deb]

How do I come up with a brand? How do I even sell stuff to people?

[Mikayla]

And what am I even going to sell now?

[Deb]

Take a deep breath.

[Mikayla]

Shopify has got you.

[Deb]

Shopify makes it simple to create your brand open for business and get your first sale attend.

[Mikayla]

And you can get your store up.

[Deb]

And running easily with thousands of customizable templates.

[Mikayla]

You don't have to be a coding.

[Deb]

Nerd or a design geek to get this done. All you need to do is drag and drop. Shopify also helps with the details like.

[Steve]

Shipping taxes and payments from one single.

[Deb]

Dashboard so you can focus on the important stuff like growing your business established in 2025.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

[Deb]

Sign up for your $1 per month.

[Steve]

Trial period at shopify.com truecrime or all.

[Deb]

Lowercase go to shopify.com truecrime to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com truecrime get this adults with financial.

[Marissa Pinson]

Literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't.

[Deb]

From swimming lessons to piano classes. Us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives, but are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight you can teach your kids.

[Marissa Pinson]

Financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing.

[Deb]

And this investment costs less than that.

[Marissa Pinson]

After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free [e-mail] wondery greenlight.com wondery hi I survived listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson and before we get into this week's episode, I just want to remind you that episodes of I Survived as well as the A and E classic podcast, Cold Case Files, City Confidential and American justice are all available ad free on the new A E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

[Deb]

And I thought to myself, here I am. I'm 42 years old. I just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and I'm dying today. This is my last day on earth.

[Marissa Pinson]

These people died.

[Steve]

I never really realized at that point that I was dead. I just felt like I was home.

[Mikayla]

I didn't feel that I lived the life that I was supposed to live and came back. And all of a sudden I felt like I was being sucked through outer space in this tube or something. It was just like a vacuum.

[Marissa Pinson]

These are their stories. It's December 2002 in San Juan Capistrano, California.

[Deb]

I was a safety and health professional. I had worked at, you know, several different companies, very career oriented. I had chased the money, chased the job. I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to have two children. It was just the best place in the world to be.

[Marissa Pinson]

Deb is about to have her second child by C section.

[Deb]

So when we went into the hospital, they prepped me. I was laying there, the doctor was bringing the baby out. Everything was going as planned. But for me, it was this intuition that something wasn't right. I just had this sixth sense that something was not right. And I wouldn't vocalize that I felt like something was wrong because everything was right.

[Marissa Pinson]

One of Deb's obstetricians is Dr. Vivian Ellis.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

There certainly was a sense of joy and happiness in the room. It was all just talking about the baby, the baby's future, Deb's family. And I left without any knowledge or any concern that there was a problem.

[Marissa Pinson]

After giving birth, Deb is wheeled into a recovery room.

[Deb]

When they opened the door, the first thing I saw was Andy and the baby in the bassinet. So very quickly the nurses rolled me over to the bedside where I would be staying, and they did a heave ho and, you know, moved me over. And as they sat me down, I couldn't breathe. And Andy at that time came immediately to my side. And I remember looking up at him and he said, are you in trouble? And my eyes were as big as saucers. And I. I said yes. And I looked up at the nurse and I said, I can't breathe. And she looked down at me and she goes, you must breathe. I said, oh, no, I can't breathe. I remember grabbing the railings of the bed and I tried to jump. Then I said, I'm dying. I'm dying. Help me, help me. And that's all I remember. I just passed out.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

Mid morning 10, 10:30 that I was in the room with a patient.

[Marissa Pinson]

A nurse hits the code blue emergency button. This alert specialist trained to resuscitate dying patients.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

A nurse entered the room and said, Dr. Ellis, we need you right now. And she grabbed me, pulled me out of the room and pushed me in the direction of room 311. It happened so fast. I can barely Remember it, But I do remember jumping on the bed. She had facial cyanosis, which meant it was purple. I could not feel a pulse. I started CPR on the bed straddling her and just going through the mechanics of that. The nurse had an ambu bag, which is a bag that has a reservoir of oxygen that refills that. She was doing the mouth to mouth piece with the bag and forcing the ventilation while I was doing the chest compressions.

[Marissa Pinson]

Brain Death occurs after five minutes. Only 5 to 10% of people who receive CPR survive. Dr. Ellis suspects Deb is experiencing a.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

Rare complication of childbirth, an amniotic fluid embolism. When amniotic fluid actually gets into the bloodstream and it enters and passes through the lungs and then causes a cardiac arrest. It might be likened to an anaphylactic reaction where there's a total close down of all systems. It is a extremely serious condition with a 60% mortality, which in this day and age is rare. She was not moving. I felt for a pulse in her carotid artery, in her neck. There was no pulse. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders, and all I had were my hands.

[Deb]

I was somewhere else. I had gone to this beautiful place. I was on a staircase. I was extremely afraid of heights, but I was sitting on the very edge of the staircase, very high up into the sky, and I could look down and it was very long drop down, but I wasn't scared at all. I looked up to the very top of the staircase and there was this radiating ball of light. I thought it was the sun. It was extremely bright to look at, but it didn't hurt my eyes. I could just look straight into this ball of light. I could see rolling hills. There was all this lush greenery. As I looked down from the staircase, I could see plants. And even though it was so far down that your eye could not distinguish the type of plant, in my mind I knew what the plant was. And I can remember seeing a sage bush and thinking in my mind, oh, there's a sage bush. I was just suspended on the staircase, going out into this radiating ball of light, and it didn't feel weird to me. It is the best feeling I have ever had.

[Marissa Pinson]

Dr. Ellis is trying to start Deb's heart with CPR, but her organs are shutting down.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

The lungs have stopped breathing, the heart has stopped beating, and there is no brain activity.

[Deb]

Now, one of the other things that was happening is there were dogs and cats on that staircase. The cats would come up around my legs and they Would rub against my legs. I didn't recognize any of the dogs and cats for any of the animals I had had or anyone that I knew had had. But there were animals there, and the dogs would be bounding up those stairs. As the dogs were going into the light, they would kind of look back at me, and then they would just jump into the light. It's almost if they wanted me to get up and walk with them, right into that light. Of course, I was sitting there and I was just enjoying the moment so much. I wasn't going anyplace. I had no concept of what had just happened. I wasn't thinking about having the baby. I wasn't thinking about my life. I was just taking the moment in. Time stands still. There is no concept of time in this place. It doesn't exist.

[Marissa Pinson]

After five minutes without a heartbeat, Deb will be brain dead.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

I was waiting for the code blue team to come, which, of course, from my perspective, seemed like an eternity. So I used all of my positive energy for Deb. My hands, my voice. I had always imagined that hearing is the last thing to go. So I was talking to her, telling her, deb, you need to come back. Except I had an educated mind that was going and fast forward trying to figure out what caused it. What are we going to do? Where are we going to go from here? Why is this happening?

[Deb]

Time stands still now. All at once, I heard a voice that was saying, deb, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Will you squeeze my finger? Here I'd been in this place of incredible beauty and complete peace. Your perfect moment in time. I was completely content. And now I was in this place of immense chaos. All these people talking at once. And I realized as I heard people say, she doesn't have a brachial, she doesn't have a radial. It started to dawn on me. They were talking about me, and I'm in trouble. And I thought to myself, here I am. I'm 42 years old. I just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, and I'm dying today. This is my last day on earth. I wasn't afraid. I'd already been in a beautiful place, But I didn't want to go. I had too much, you know, to live for. I had two children. I had a husband. I had my family. And for me, it was just this was it in my head. I just said, dear God, I don't know if you can hear me, but I ask you to let me live for my children. They are too young to lose their mother. I Don't want my husband to have to do the task alone. And then I let go of that thought, and I just became very peaceful and very calm because I felt like it was out of my hands.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

The code blue team arrived. They told me to continue to do the cpr. They started giving medications that would try to stimulate the heart to work again.

[Marissa Pinson]

Dr. Ellis is still straddling Deb, performing CPR.

[Deb]

The one thing I know, I was up somewhere at the top of that hospital room. Only this time I could see, because what I saw is that Dr. Ellis crawled over my body on the bed. And I didn't know what she was doing. I couldn't feel anything. I just knew Dr. Ellis was there. All at once, she saw my eye flicker, just the briefest flicker. So she kept working on me, and she kept working on me. And all at once, I started to get a pulse and a heartbeat on the monitor. I had been gone for four and a half minutes, and I began to come back. I could see a lot of people, like, starting to get me ready. They were covering me with a sheet. I heard someone say, let's get her to the icu. And that's all I remember is as they ran beside me to the icu. So somewhere in the neighborhood of a day later, I woke up, and I was in a room which was the icu, and I was filled with tubes. My husband was there when I woke up, and he came immediately to my bedside. And I couldn't talk, so I kind of motioned to write. And they brought a piece of paper over to me. I wrote, what happened? And my husband wrote back. They think you had an amniotic fluid embolism. I thought, it can come back, and I'm not going to go to sleep. It can come back. Whatever it is can come back. And so I was so afraid to go to sleep because I was afraid I would go again and not get to be with the kids. So I fought sleep and fought sleep. Of course, I went to sleep because they had me so heavily medicated. So I'd come in and out. Somewhere around that second or third time that I woke up again. They brought Bryce in, and there was my beautiful baby girl. And that was that moment in time that I would get to hold her finally. So finally we were together as a family.

[Marissa Pinson]

Deb and Dr. Ellis have stayed in touch ever since.

[Dr. Vivian Ellis]

Deb did tell me about her experience, and I listened with great detail and interest. I think many would say that scientifically, it's the brain's mechanism for self preservation. However, I personally do believe that that there is some aspect of spirituality that goes beyond the science.

[Deb]

The big awakening for me is in those moments when I was moments away from never seeing my family again. I wasn't thinking about my job. I wasn't thinking about my money in the bank. I wasn't thinking about my casserole, how clean my house was. I was thinking about the people I loved. And therein lies the biggest aha of this entire experience. I mean, we're in these very chaotic existences on this planet. And yet when it all is said and done and you are moving beyond this life, you're thinking of the people you love. And I feel like the message that I need to give from this experience is a message of hope because there is more beyond this life. There is not a week that goes by that I don't think of this story. There's not a week that goes by that I'm not grateful and humbled by what happened during that event. That's not a dream. That's a miracle. Foreign.

[Marissa Pinson]

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[Mikayla]

I grew up in a small town called Homer City, Pennsylvania. It had one red light, two cops, and everyone knew everyone else, or at least of everyone else. Growing up, I was a total good girl. I was the good student. I didn't lie, I didn't swear, I didn't steal. I didn't do drugs. I didn't have sex. I was. I was a good kid. I was 17 years old and I was coming back home from family vacation. My brother was listening to CDs and my mom was driving. My dad was sleeping in the passenger seat.

[Marissa Pinson]

Mikayla, her brother, and two friends are in the backseat.

[Mikayla]

We were going up a steep hill following a truck that was carrying, like, farm equipment or farm animals, something like that.

[Marissa Pinson]

A driver following them tries to pass their car.

[Mikayla]

As she pulled out, she saw that there were cars coming in the opposite direction. And I'm sure it scared her. And she swerved to miss them and ran right into the back of our car.

[Marissa Pinson]

Linda is Makayla's mother.

[Deb]

And then I looked up and the car was going under the truck. The thought that went through my mind is that my husband and I were going to be decapitated. All of a sudden, it was as if a hand came down and stopped the car just as the truck was at the base of the windshield. The next thing I remember is my son was flying forward. I caught him just before his head hit the dashboard.

[Mikayla]

My left arm went through the back windshield. My bicep was cut in half. My sunglasses cut my eyelid or my eye ripped my eyelid out.

[Marissa Pinson]

Mikayla and her friends are trapped in the wreckage.

[Deb]

We had to crawl through a broken window. In the backseat, I saw Mikayla. Her head was hanging down, her hair was covering her face. You know, so we just. You just knew it was not good.

[Marissa Pinson]

Emergency physician Dr. Scott Magley was notified about the accident.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

There was a call through the 911 center and then directly to my pager that there was a severe accident on Route 422, which is approximately two miles from my residence.

[Marissa Pinson]

Michaela's brother and parents have crawled from the car. Her two friends are removed from the wreckage.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

We found Michaela, who was in the backseat of a vehicle and had suffered severe trauma. It was obvious at that point that she was having very slow respirations, less than 8 per minute, and she was obviously still shocky with a very faint pulse.

[Marissa Pinson]

The jaws of life are needed to cut Michaela out.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

Michaela's injuries that you could see visibly, which were very gruesome in the fact that she had a laceration that extended right across her right eye, even into her right eyelid with visible of the eyeball itself. And then again the laceration extended across the front part of her forehead with the skin moved up across the front part of her forehead. Had a gap of at least 2 inches of exposed skull in the front part of her head. She was in shock because she was not having any active bleeding from these major lacerations and major injury that you could just see. This is why they call this the golden hour of trauma. It becomes an orchestrated response. To be able to be at a trauma center from the time you have an accident in a rural area, to be at an operating bedside of a trauma surgeon and under 50. In fact, I wondered if she was near death at this time.

[Marissa Pinson]

It has been approximately 30 minutes since the accident.

[Mikayla]

I felt this wind on my face and I opened my eyes and I was on a gurney and there was a helicopter with its blades going. And I thought I was dreaming and so I just went back to sleep.

[Marissa Pinson]

While being transported to the hospital.

[Mikayla]

MIKAYLA FLATLINES I was still me, but everything was different. They say your light flashes before your eyes. It was in an instant. I saw so many different aspects of my life. It was me when I was a child playing Ring around the Rosie or dancing and watching myself in the mirror and singing songs with my dad. It didn't feel like a dream feels because I was part of it. And it was just as. It felt the same as me walking down the street or making breakfast in the morning. It was so detailed. There was me walking with a man who I guess would be my partner, and I was. We were holding hands and walking up a mountain. I also saw me as an adult. I saw me with my grandchildren. I'm not a grandmother. I don't even have kids yet. But I felt what it feels like to be a grandmother and to have those children that love you and look up to you so much. I can't say their names or draw a picture that is exactly what they look like. But the love in my heart at that time was just remarkable.

[Marissa Pinson]

Dr. Magley and the trauma team are still trying to resuscitate Michaela.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

When I was in the helicopter with Michaela, she remained critically injured. And we were still ventilating her without her feeling pain because she would not respond. She would not have any type of purposeful movement at all.

[Mikayla]

It was something that seemed so familiar. Even though I had never been in that place before. I was very comfortable there. Everything was very peaceful. I felt like I was being hugged or held by someone and just very secure feeling. And it made me happy. I remember just wanting to be a part of this and wanting to see it. But at the same time, I didn't feel that I lived the life that I was supposed to live in this body yet. So I just started praying and fighting and begging. Please, God, let me live. I don't want to die.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

There were three helicopters that were dispatched to this. We had numerous fire and rescue apparatus. In addition, we had five ambulances that were on scene of this accident. Michaela was the third helicopter in, but she was by far the sickest and most critically injured patient. Multiple times throughout the pre hospital care that I was with Mikayla, she was demonstrating periods where she was not breathing. She was so critically ill that I was able to pass a tube right into her windpipe without any medications. Which tells you again that she has a significant head injury.

[Marissa Pinson]

Dr. Magli is continually searching for a pulse.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

She had such severe injuries to her upper extremities that we could not get a vein to start an intravenous or an IV at that point, I had to put an intravenous line into her big veins inside of her chest to be able to start administering her intravenous fluids.

[Mikayla]

At that point, what I saw was it went from the white, fuzzy, warm light that I was in to red, blue, green, like all these colors and emotions and everything flashing and me just struggling and fighting and fighting. And all of a sudden I felt like I was being sucked through outer space in this tube or something. It was just like a vacuum.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

I felt much relieved that I thought she was coming to a more awake status. Unfortunately, it didn't stay long. She was only combative for us for about 15 seconds.

[Marissa Pinson]

Michaela arrives at the hospital 45 minutes after the accident. She slips into a coma. CAT scans confirm a blood clot in her brain.

[Dr. Scott Magley]

In addition, she was noted to have what's called a diffuse axonal injury, which means that her brain sheared or twisted during the axon.

[Marissa Pinson]

Mikayla must have neurosurgery immediately to save her life. Still in a coma, she is taken to the icu.

[Mikayla]

And then the next thing I know, I was up in the corner of the hospital room looking at my body lay there. When you're having an out of body experience, it's like watching your life unfold in front of you like a movie. I remember seeing my mom and dad in the cafeteria. It was like a bench style seating. And my grandma and my gram were sitting across from my parents. And my dad is a smoker. And he said he was gonna go have a cigarette because he just wanted to get some breathing room and get out of there. And it was funny because my grandmother, my mom's mom, who would never, has never and would never have a cigarette in her life, was like, oh, I need one too. I'm gonna have one too. And then my other grandma's like, yeah, me too. And neither my grandma or my grandmother would ever smoke a cigarette.

[Marissa Pinson]

Fourteen days after the accident, Mikayla comes out of the coma.

[Deb]

Mikayla said to me, mom, you and dad and grandma and Graham were in the cafeteria. You were talking about me and dad got up to go have a cigarette, and grandma says, I'm coming to have a cigarette with you. There was no way that she could have known that that even happened unless she was there.

[Marissa Pinson]

After leaving the hospital, Michaela took three months to recover.

[Mikayla]

To have been through something like that, it really makes me think differently about time here on earth and how we're rushing around to do all this stuff and everybody's in a hurry to do everything. When I think about death, I think more about it's a celebration. It's almost like graduating to another level, I guess is how I think of changed everything about my life. And that's not saying that I was totally different after I was still the same person. But it made me think about everything differently.

[Deb]

Because of Mikayla's experience, I think that I look at death differently so that when my time comes, I don't think that I will have, you know, I'll be more accepting of it and not have the fear that most people do.

[Mikayla]

I think that if this experience wouldn't have happened to me, I probably would still be in Homer City. I probably would have just gotten married, had kids, and did what I thought I was supposed to do. It's made me take more chances and more risks and not be afraid. So much of judgment or failure.

[Marissa Pinson]

Even Mikayla's strongest memory was seeing herself as a grandmother.

[Mikayla]

I can't wait to get to that point, and I can't wait to be with those, those people that are going to be such an important part of my life. But I know that when they're here, I'll know that that was the moment that I was seeing at that time.

[Marissa Pinson]

Whether you're a true crime junkie or just getting into it, I've got the perfect show for you. True Crime Stories, a Crime House Studios original. Every Monday you'll go on an in depth journey through two of the most notorious true crime cases from that week in history, all linked by a common theme. From infamous serial killers and mysterious disappearances to unsolved murders, we are bringing you the defining events that shaped true crime both past and present. Each episode dives into the stories behind the headlines, featuring high profile cases from past and present, including the murder of Gabby Petito, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, the Heaven's Gate cult tragedy, and so much more. Follow Crime House True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Again, that's Crime House True Crime Stories.

[Deb]

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[Dr. Scott Magley]

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[Deb]

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[Dr. Scott Magley]

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[Deb]

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[Dr. Scott Magley]

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[Deb]

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[Dr. Scott Magley]

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[Deb]

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[Dr. Scott Magley]

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[Marissa Pinson]

It's October 1995 in Orange County, California where Steve lives with his brother.

[Steve]

I come from a large family. As a kid I was quiet, very introverted emotionally and socially as well. In my early 20s I was working in the retail environment. I was putting in long hours and one day on Friday the 13th I was sleeping late. I was catching up on my sleep because it was my day off. It was around 10 o'clock that my brother came knocking on the door. He was asking me for a cigarette. I told him that to come back later and that I'd be up in a couple hours. He's always been very unpredictable, but when he's on his medication, at least it's a lot safer to be around him.

[Marissa Pinson]

Steve's older brother is a paranoid schizophrenic. He has stopped taking his medication.

[Steve]

He'd gotten it in his head that he didn't need it anymore, that he was cured because he'd been taking it long enough and nobody could convince him otherwise. He went away. By all appearances.

[Marissa Pinson]

Steve's brother takes a knife from the kitchen.

[Steve]

It was only a few minutes later that I woke up and he was already standing over me in my room holding a knife. It was an 18 inch double edged, blood guttered knife, very big, and it was already coming down. I wrestled with him, struggled with him. I cut my hands up with defensive wounds trying to keep it from going into my chest, but I couldn't stop. Wound up going up diagonally into my shoulder. By the time it had found its mark, it had gone an entire 18 inches into my chest. I was completely in terror, in shock. And I remember screaming out to him, I can't believe you're stabbing me. You're actually stabbing me. And it actually took me a while to realize that this is actually happening. I wasn't dreaming. I pulled the knife out and was trying to back away from him. My brother didn't say a thing. He had a very glazed look in his eye. I was protesting and yelling out, screaming out for help. My mother came into the room and told my brother to stop. His arms fell at his sides and it was like somebody hit an off switch and he just stood there staring still. I took that as my opportunity to get the heck out of there. So I, clutching my chest, ran down the hall. I let go of my chest and the blood came out like a hose and it was just a jet that was just pulsing with arterial blood. At that point was when I realized I'm not going to survive this. I am going to die. Clutching my chest, I ran down the hall and out into the kitchen where my sister was on the phone. She started relaying instructions to me from the 911 operator and I was told to lay down on the floor and raise my legs and put pressure on my chest.

[Marissa Pinson]

Steve's brother is restrained by his father.

[Steve]

While I was laying on the floor with my legs raised, I noticed my mother was coming running back into the kitchen. I asked my mother to come over and help me. She grabbed a dish towel from the kitchen counter and assisted me in holding the blood in my body. I know I'd lost quite a bit of it in my bedroom, not to mention all the way down the hall and it was already pooling around me on the kitchen floor. It was probably about five minutes of laying on the cold tile floor when the paramedics arrived. As the ambulance was driving to the hospital, cutting through Traffic with sirens blaring. The driver was asking questions. What's his blood pressure? How's he doing? Is he still with us?

[Marissa Pinson]

At the hospital, Steve is prepped for surgery.

[Steve]

As I lay in the trauma surgery, as they're working on me, I'm the eye of the storm. Everything is running around me, and I'm still in the center. It was hectic. I could see four or five people standing over me. Several doctors were around me, a lot of technicians, and they were putting tubes in me in every direction that they had and made a few new openings. I was struggling to stay conscious. I knew that if I stopped breathing that I'd die. Dead people don't breathe. If I could keep breathing, I could stay alive. And that was my only concern. I just kept fighting, and it got harder, and eventually I lost consciousness. And that's when I died. I became aware that I was aware I was in a dark place. I didn't know where I was. I knew who I was, but who I was was different. Parts of me felt like they were missing.

[Marissa Pinson]

Surgeons crack Steve's sternum open to gain access to his heart.

[Steve]

The darkness was surrounding me, but I got a sense from it. It was holding me. It was cradling me like a mother would. I realized that the darkness knew all my faults, but it still loved me unconditionally, Emotionally, at that point, I felt bliss. I felt just joy. I felt as though with being connected to everything. I loved everything so much, and it loved me back.

[Marissa Pinson]

Surgeons discover a severed artery in Steve's heart and attempt to repair it.

[Steve]

I never really realized at that point that I was dead. I just felt like I was home. I felt, this is where I belong. While I was in the darkness, I was looking for something else. I knew that there should be something else there. This can't be all there is. And I kept stretching out, but I found nothing. And I kept asking, is this all there is? There should be something more here. I knew it. The darkness that I found myself in was so expansive. It was went out to eternity. It was boundless. And it was kind of like suddenly I realized the light was there. When the light came into view, I was floored by, was surrounded with the backdrop of the darkness still. But the light was almost shouting out, here I am. It was glorious. All the feelings of love were still there. I still felt embraced. I still felt held. But I was also feeling the potency of the light.

[Marissa Pinson]

Surgeons repair the severed artery in Steve's heart. He receives a transfusion of four pints.

[Steve]

Of blood I'm not sure how much time had passed. It could have been a nanosecond. It could have been a million years. Time really didn't make much sense there, but it was all too brief. And that's the last thing I remember. The next thing I was aware of was coming back into my body. It felt like I was being pushed through a screen door without the screen door being opened first, like I was being shoved through a sieve. On the other side of the sieve, I was being compressed into, like a small mayonnaise jar. It was very cold and hard, very restrictive compared to the infinite infinity of the space that I had just been in.

[Marissa Pinson]

After several hours of surgery, Steve is transferred to the icu.

[Steve]

I was alone in the room with monitors beeping around me. And my first thought as I came to was, I'm not supposed to be here. Where am I? I didn't understand because I'd already figured I'd died. I felt hurt that I got kicked out. I felt like the gates of heaven had been slammed right on my nose. I was also aware that my anger stemmed from having to leave the place I had just come from, where everything was so loving and accepting, to a broken body that was in pain. I wasn't given a choice. I was pretty much got the bum rush being shoved back into this body and back into this world where I would have much rather stayed on the other side.

[Marissa Pinson]

Steve spent two weeks in the hospital and six months recuperating.

[Steve]

I was back in my body, and my body was far worse for the wear. They had to saw my chest open, and they actually brought me back by massaging my heart, squeezing it with their bare hand. I later found out that I had lost more blood than the human body can hold.

[Marissa Pinson]

Steve's brother was initially jailed and then transferred to a mental institution.

[Steve]

We were able to talk to him and give him a hug before he left. And I was really sad for him. I mean, I'd been through what I'd been through, but it's almost like he wasn't the one who had done it. And yet he was still going to pay for that. When I was in the void and I experienced the unconditional love, it left an imprint on me. I love everybody. After my experience, that's almost hardwired into me now. I'm far more of an extrovert now. I'm more likely to talk to people. Another thing that changed is my effect on electrical things. I've had computers fry on me. I've had hard drives crash. I blow out light bulbs all the time. I've had two radiators blow up in my car in the last year and a half. Just anything that's under pressure will quite often blow up when I'm around. Especially if I touch it. To this day, I'm not entirely sure what my experience meant. When I got dumped off the spiritual bus in the middle of the backwoods, I didn't have Jesus there. I didn't have Buddha there to give me any real nuggets of wisdom to bring back. I'm still trying to fit it in with this dream that I'm walking around in. In this world, the reality of the experience is undeniable. This world that we live in, this game that we play called life is almost a phantom in comparison to the reality of Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv.

[Deb]

Say what now?

[Steve]

Showtime? That means drama is free with heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power. And Greenleaf in this family we live by the spirit and laughter is free. With gut busting comedies like Pee and Peele, the Neighborhood Everybody Hates, Chris and Boomerang. Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices. Oh my God, I love it. Feel the free Pluto TV Stream now pay never.