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White, Patti R., "The Anatomy of a Transformation: An Analysis of the Psychological Structure of Four Near-Death Experiences," Journal of Near-Death Studies 15(3), Spring 1997, pp. 163-185. Case 4: Jill.
Journal of Near-Death Studies, Vol. 15(3), pp. 163-185, Spring 1997
1997
31
F
Jill, a 36-year-old married woman, had her NDE at age 31 while training for a marathon. Her excessively brutal training regime combined with borderline anorexia and emotional stress led to severe fever and stomach cramps requiring hospitalization. Doctors discovered a large mass within her abdominal cavity requiring emergency surgery. Having become a born-again Christian one year prior, Jill had secretly felt like a fraud, wondering if she was just pretending to be Christian since she felt no different after her conversion.
After surgery in the recovery room, Jill made peace with God by asking forgiveness and mentally saying goodbye to loved ones, believing she was dying after refusing a blood transfusion for fear of AIDS. She suddenly awakened to find her previously darkened room brilliantly lit. A male voice identifying himself as "The One Who loves you the most" began speaking to her, though not audibly but through direct understanding. An invisible hand lifted her out of bed with tubes still attached, and she found herself kneeling on the floor beside the bed. Jill experienced a comprehensive life review beginning from infancy, seeing herself as a crying baby with diaper rash while her mother roughly applied lotion, wishing the baby had never been born. This review revealed how her lack of self-worth originated at that moment. Unlike her expectation of a "horrendously miserable" judgment, the review presented everything from a non-judgmental perspective of love and forgiveness. The voice revealed amazing things about her life and the universe, though she could not recall all the revelations. She began speaking in tongues, yelling, screaming, dancing, and waving her arms in the air. The voice declared: "You will live. But you have died. There is nothing left of who you were... the life you have now is the life given to you by Me; it is My life. From now on, you will only find success and fulfillment if you live according to My word." Jill's life was utterly transformed - she never doubted Jesus had spoken to her and showed her a new life, finally experiencing the spiritual transformation that had eluded her at baptism.
5
Hospital
7
5
17
Suggestive Evidence
5
Large abdominal mass requiring surgery, refused blood transfusion, believed she was dying
Life review included infant memory she had never recalled - seeing herself as baby with mother's emotions
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