A woman who was clinically dead for nearly half an hour penned an urgent message upon resuscitation.
Per Yahoo, Tina Hines of Phoenix, Arizona, suffered a massive heart attack after going on a hike with her husband back in 2018. The story was first shared on the Instagram account of the mom of four's niece, Madie Johnson, who posted a photo of her latest tattoo and the incredible story behind it.
In the post, Johnson revealed she had tattooed the scrawly message her aunt wrote on a piece of paper just moments after she was resuscitated.
"A little over a year ago my Aunt Tina, one of the most amazing, discerning, and healthy people I know had an unexpected cardiac arrest," the post began.
Johnson continued: "She was put on a defibrillator and after miraculously waking up the first thing she did, unable to speak because she was intubated, was ask for a pen and in my cousin's journal wrote 'it’s real'."
According to the Instagram post, Hines was referring to the existence of heaven, which she believes is what she saw after dying. "I love you [Tina]! The way you boldly love Jesus and others has changed the way I hope to live and love," the text on Instagram concluded.
Johnson's tattoo artist, Suede Silver, also took to Facebook to share their family's story, as well as images of the inking.
And the family's story certainly resonated with many people in the comments section, with one Facebook user writing: "I’ve seen it. Most beautiful feeling in the world. I was in a warm, bright and beautiful place. Trying to get to some people in front of me. I wanted to get to them so bad but I guess it wasn’t my time to stay."
A second added: "I died in 2009 and experienced the beauty of Heaven and the immense love of God. It changed me forever. I was a simple school teacher, wife and mom who secretly doubted if God could love me. Boy did I find out!"
Scientific studies have demonstrated that Hines is not alone in her experience. A 2013 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal found that the brain can experience heightened consciousness at near-death following a cardiac arrest.
The study's lead author, Dr Jimo Borjigin, told the BBC that "a lot of people thought that the brain after clinical death was inactive or hypoactive [...] if anything, it is much more active during the dying process than even the waking state."
According to the study, near-death experiences are essentially an electrical surge in the brain, and can be responsible for the intense experiences vividly described by survivors. However, as evident by Hines and those who have responded to her story, many others believe the experience is a spiritual one.
Hines has used her frightening yet miraculous experience to work as a Christian motivational speaker, even writing a book that details how dying has changed her life.
