On dying

Not too long after my cancer diagnosis, I started thinking, "What if I die?" It's always a possibility with cancer. Three or four people about my age, fellow church members I had known, had died of cancer over the past 10 years or so. A few others had been treated for cancer and were doing fine. Which group would I be in, and what made the difference?

I found a Scripture verse that made me feel better about it all:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). Those words make me feel as though God isn't finished with me yet, that I still have a godly purpose, more work to do here on this earth.

But still, days before the surgery, I gave my husband funeral instructions ("I want the rock-n-roll Mass band, and here are some of my favorite songs"). You know, just in case something went wrong and I didn't come out of the anesthesia.

Weeks earlier, I had seen a review in the newspaper about a book by physician and Ph.D. Sam Parnia titled What Happens When We Die -- A Groundbreaking Study into the Nature of Life and Death, so I requested it from my local library. And actually took it to the hospital with me. (Just having that book has caused my family members to roll their eyes, since they're all very positive that everything will be OK, but they do know how I like to "cover all the bases.")

Anyway, parts of the book are fascinating -- they relate "near-death experiences" (NDEs) and "out-of-body" experiences from people who took part in Parnia's study. Most had amazingly similar reports: they "floated" on the ceiling as doctors worked on their bodies below and could relate in accurate detail who said what and who did what. And this is after their hearts had stopped beating and they had no measurable brain activity!

In his study, Parnia asks, "what's reality?" and "could mind and consciousness be separate from the brain?" To determine if future cardiac-arrest patients can really "float at the ceiling," he's installing in select hospital operating rooms illustrations that can only be seen from the ceiling (I'm assuming his next book will report those findings).

Most of the NDE patients also reported seeing a brilliant, "loving" light that many thought of as "God," going through a kind of tunnel, and being greeted by dead relatives. One 3-year-old boy said a "nice lady" took him by the hand and the two "floated" to a beautiful sunny place with flowers and animals. One day his mother showed him a picture of her mother -- his grandmother -- who had died years before her son was born. "That's her -- that's the lady!" who had "floated" with him, he said.

Almost all of the NDEs were happy, and those who had them didn't want to return to life on earth. Most had been transformed by their experience: afterwards, they spent more time with family, were less materialistic, had more empathy and understanding for others, did more charity work, became more spiritual, and no longer feared death.

So what do you say we all take their experiences to heart? From this moment on, let's all try to be transformed, as well, by spending more time with family, being less materialistic, having more empathy -- and doing more -- for others, being more spiritual, and not fearing death. Sounds a lot like being a Christian to me ...

Until next time ...
P