A man who says he was "technically dead" for 90 minutes has spoken out about the ordeal.
Speaking on News.com.au's podcast I've Got News For You, Alistair Blake - a 61-year-old man from Victoria, Australia - recalled a serious medical episode he endured, where his heart stopped for an hour and a half while he was sleeping next to his wife Melinda.
Melinda had woken up to Alistair making noises at about 3:00 AM, with her husband explaining on the podcast: "She’s a light sleeper and woke to me gurgling. She grabbed her mobile phone and dialled triple-0 to get a hold of the ambulance and they instructed her to take me off the bed to be able to do CPR.
"She did CPR for 20 minutes … then the paramedics turned up. They did CPR and hit me with the defib. Apparently, it was something in excess of 10 to 12 times."
The emergency services were called but when they arrived, Alistair's chances weren't looking good and Melinda was told he would likely not survive.
For a whole 90 minutes, paramedics worked painstakingly to restart their patient's heart, and just when everyone had lost all hope, they managed to find a pulse.
Almost a week after the incident, Alistair woke up at Frankston Hospital with no signs of a brain injury. Deeming it a miracle, the team who treated him nicknamed him "Lazarus" - the man who was raised from the dead.
Alistair told I’ve Got News For You that he can't recall much from the near-death experience.
He said: “I remember going to bed on the Saturday night – and the next thing I remember was waking up Thursday morning on a trolley going from ICU to coronary care. The human brain has totally blocked out what happened in between.
"A lot of people ask me if I saw anything, and no, I did not see anything,” he added. “No bright lights, nothing like that whatsoever."
While Alistair did not see anything, many people who've had similar experiences recalled seeing a "white light".
Patrick Steele, who is a Palliative Care Consultant from Palliative Care South East, explained on the podcast why this is.
He said: "From a spiritual perspective, some people believe that the bright light is a glimpse into the afterlife or a sign that consciousness is leaving the brain. From a psychologist’s perspective, some say it’s more of a defensive mechanism or some say it’s a flashback to earlier memories.
"From a medical perspective – and the one that I adhere to most – is that it’s more of a change in how our body is functioning, particularly the brain. The brain, as you know, needs a lot of oxygen and blood supply to do its job effectively. Whenever that oxygenation is cut off, the brain doesn’t act normally."