Near Death Experience: Love Conquers Death

The near death experience I was able to witness was my father's passing in 1994. My father had been battling cancer and was losing his battle in June of that year. His last few months of life, my mom had called in Hospice care so my father could pass away at home with family. He was not a big fan of hospitals and we respected his wishes. Before his first passing, he was in a coma for just over three days. Hospice would come and help every other day, unless we requested them to be there. On the third day of his coma, the Hospice nurse said his temperature had risen greatly and she felt he was very near to passing away. Hospice wasn't due to come over the next day, but the nurse said if he passed away that night or we needed any help at all, we should feel free to call them.

I had been working long hours and also helping my mom look after my dad. I was exhausted and told my mom I was heading to bed, and if she needed me or if my dad passed away that night, to please come wake me and let me know. Later that night, sometime after three in the morning, my dad had passed away. My mom was at his side and heard his last breath. She stayed at his side for some time grieving, and then left to go wake me to let me know he had passed. Before she could leave the room, my father sat up in the bed and asked her to come back to talk to her.

She was in shock to hear his voice — he had been in a coma for several days, and for over a week prior he could not speak at all. She turned around to see him sitting straight up in the bed, full of color and looking healthy. She went over and sat next to him. He began to speak and said, "I could not leave you and Mike without making sure that you will be OK," and then told her that he had asked them to allow him to come back and tell us this. During this time my mom said she felt a presence in the room with her.

My dad started talking to family members and friends he knew who had passed away years ago, then relaying their messages to my mom. One of the most interesting conversations he had was with his first wife. She had passed away back in the early 1960s of cancer and was from Japan, where they had met when he was stationed there serving in the Army. My dad started speaking fluent Japanese and then translated back to my mom what his first wife was telling him. She told my dad to tell my mom: "I just want to thank you for taking care of him on this side" — and that "he will be OK and I will be taking care of him on the other side." My dad talked to my mom, back and forth with past loved ones, for several hours.

"I just want to thank you for taking care of him on this side — he will be OK and I will be taking care of him on the other side."

— Message relayed from his father's first wife, spoken in Japanese and translated

My mom came into my bedroom later that morning and woke me up to tell me that my dad wanted to talk to me. Being half asleep, I was surprised to hear this and said, "What? He wants to talk to me?" I had gone to bed while he was in a coma and very close to death. I got up and started walking to the living room where Hospice had placed a medical bed. My mom stopped me and told me I needed to go to my parents' bedroom — and that I would be very surprised by what I was about to witness.

I started walking to their bedroom and heard my dad calling for me. I was in shock hearing his voice so clear. I entered the bedroom to find him looking healthy, laying in his bed, freshly cleaned from a shower he had taken that morning, dressed in a clean shirt and shorts. I was in shock and wasn't sure what to say or think. He asked me to sit next to him on the bed and said he wanted to talk to me.

My dad started to tell me that he was worried about me and wanted me to know that he would be OK — and that I needed to go on with my life and not dwell on his death. I was speechless at first and then said, "Dad, you've had it rough. It hasn't been easy for you." My dad served 22 years in the Army and had bad health since his return from Vietnam. His reply was a huge surprise.

"Mike, I haven't had it that rough. You know who has had it rough? Jesus has."

— Mike's father, who had never attended church in his life

He said: "Mike, I haven't had it that rough. You know who has had it rough? Jesus has." I was in shock to hear this from my dad. He was not religious at all. He never attended church the whole time I knew him, and the only time I heard Jesus come from his mouth it was used as a curse. My dad then asked if there was anything I wanted to know. I was just in shock of the whole moment and was left pretty much speechless. Today I have so many questions and wish I hadn't been so stunned when it happened.

At the beach

We talked for about thirty minutes, and then he said, "I guess if you're done talking to me and I have nothing else to tell you both, then I'm ready to go back." My mom and I were not sure what to do. My mom said, "Maybe you have to go to sleep and they can take you back." So my dad decided to go back to sleep. We gave hugs and farewells, just in case he didn't reawaken. After he went to sleep, my mom and I went to the living room and she told me everything that had happened that night. We talked for several hours.

Then we heard my dad call out asking if anyone was there. We ran into the bedroom to check on him and he was surprised to find us there. He asked, "Why are you two here with me? Have I crossed over?" — with a hint of disappointment in his voice. We told him he was still here with us and that maybe they were giving him an extra day. He asked, "What should we do?" Then he suggested he was very hungry and wanted me to make a meal for him. My mom mentioned soup or a smoothie since he hadn't had a solid meal in almost a month. He suggested I go rent some movies and find something special he could eat — make him a nice meal and we could spend the rest of the day talking and relaxing together.

I went out and rented some comedies and found fresh crayfish at the market — one of his favorite dishes — along with red potatoes, corn on the cob, and a six-pack of beer. I headed back home not knowing if he would still be there waiting for my return.

I got home and he was very pleased to hear what I had brought. This was a person who had been eating through a straw for several weeks before he fell into the coma. I cooked up the meal and we even shared a beer together. We watched movies in his bedroom and shared family stories for the rest of the day until past midnight. He started to get very tired and wanted to go to bed. Before we all went to sleep, he gave us a hug and told us he loved us — and not to worry about him if he didn't reawaken in the morning. He also said he would give us signs after his passing to let us know he was OK.

The next morning we got up and found him back in a coma. Hospice came over that morning and was shocked to find him out of his hospice bed and in his own bed. They wouldn't believe us when we told them that he had gotten out of the hospice bed on his own and walked to his own bed. Hospice, upset with my mom and me, asked us to stay out of their way and allow them to return him to the hospice bed. My dad was back in a coma for three more days and then passed away in the afternoon on June 23rd, 1994 — a day after his birthday.

A week after his death, every day for five days, a red cardinal showed up at the exact time he had passed away and pecked at the window. On the fifth day, we finally realized it had been happening every day that week at the same time. Once we said this out loud, the cardinal never returned to the window.

Later that year, Mike and his mom had two avocados, two pineapples, and two large honeydew oranges grow on plants that Mike's dad had planted on their property. All three of those plants had never produced fruit while his dad was alive — and his dad had been disappointed that he never got to see any fruit from them. Mike and his mom believed these had to be the signs he had promised: three plants, each producing exactly two fruits, that one year only.

When Mike does guest speaking at events and group functions, he shares this experience in greater detail — along with other remarkable experiences his father had during that month of June.