What does “dying” feel like? No one has an accurate answer. But to some people, it may feel like surreal dizziness, drifting into an unearthly realm, an out-of-body experience, seeing bright lights, or even hearing their loved ones talk. To Lauren Canaday, death felt “peaceful.” Death is that unusual experience that only those who experience it know about it. Unfortunately, they don’t usually live to tell the tale. But Lauren survived. She emerged from the dark abyss of momentary death to tell her story. Almost a year later, she is a transformed person, reported Newsweek.
In early 2023, the Virginian woman, Lauren, experienced a sudden cardiac arrest. Her heart stopped functioning and blood stopped flowing in her body. She was declared “clinically dead” for a prolonged stretch of 24 minutes before she breathed again. On the day of the attack, she suffered from a “grand mal seizure,” a condition characterized by violent muscle contractions and loss of consciousness.
“My husband was across the hall and heard me say, ‘Oh s***,’” Lauren recalled. “He rushed in to find me unconscious on the floor. I had stopped breathing and turned blue.” Seeing her lying unconscious, her hubby dialed 911 and performed CPR for four minutes until medical technicians (EMTs) arrived. CPR a.k.a. “cardiopulmonary resuscitation” procedure refers to the act of pushing the chest to restore the oxygen flow in the body. If he had not given her CPR in time, she would have lost her chance of survival, because, according to the University of Michigan Transplant Center, it must be given to the patient within 8 to 10 minutes. Within one minute of cardiac arrest, brain cells begin to die, and by 15 minutes, recovery is impossible.
After 24 minutes and four defibrillator shocks, her heartbeat was restored. Lauren was rushed to the hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where she tested positive for COVID-19 as well as myocarditis. According to Mayo Clinic, myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, called the myocardium. The condition can reduce the heart’s ability to pump blood.
Nine days later, Lauren was discharged from the ICU. Having survived the otherworldly experience of death, she started sharing her story with people. Although she was forced to give up her job, in November 2023, she published a memoir “Independence Ave: How Individualism Killed Me and Community Brought Me Back,” in which she reflects on confronting chronic illness and living a fulfilling life. In December 2023, Lauren also shared her journey through life and death in a Reddit group, r/IAmA.
“I have this gut feeling that it was friendly and peaceful even though I can’t report any shapes or personas or visions of that time,” Lauren recalled, speaking to Newsweek. “I feel like I dissolved, and it was just really nice. What I have is a strong sensation of peace about that time when I was out of consciousness.”
After a few days of her coming home, she also reported experiencing amnesia. “I got frustrated a lot those first few days because I had no short-term memory and didn’t understand what was going on, and I was just super uncomfortable,” she said. But she positively took this and started enjoying the little moments of life, like taking a shower or eating a cheeseburger. “I remember a lot of very serene moments in and after the hospital, like none of the worries I used to have mattered, and I got insanely excited about things like cheeseburgers. Things just felt very simple,” she said. Lauren said that she felt like it was her “second life,” describing which she added, “In my first life, I was very individualistic and strong. In this life, I have a completely different worldview and am comfortable—mostly—with depending on others.”
She said that in his new life, things like status and career success don’t matter to her much beyond survival needs, creature comforts, and helping others, and that, she is here to walk her own life path. She has also started paying close attention to her overall well-being, “I try to walk 10,000 steps a day and hike once a week as far as I’m able,” she said. “I take a lot of time to be quiet, including silent prayer or meditation. I go to bed around 8 p.m. most nights.”
“When people say death is just a part of life, I take that very literally,” Lauren said poetically about her near-death experience. It was nothing short of a miracle.
