Locals' brushes with death bring new meaning to living
By Liz Chretien
rockinghamnews@seacoastonline.com
RAYMOND - White lights, hovering over your own body, faces of deceased
relatives, disembodied voices?
While it may sound like an "X-Files" episode, near-death experiences
cannot be dismissed so easily, according to Dr. Tom Wharton, a
cardiologist at Exeter Hospital who has encountered patients who shared
stories of amazing recoveries and life-altering experiences while in a
coma state.
"I have trouble believing that the hallucinations of a dying brain can
create an experience as life-changing as some that I've heard," Wharton
said, referring to the skeptic's view that neurophysiological processes
are responsible for the phenomena. "What impresses me is that the people
who have experienced these things seem to have validity, a meaning to
their lives, a better outlook. They are calmer, more positive, more
convinced of their purpose. They are comforted and can comfort others."
Wharton said many studies have been completed on the near-death experience
phenomenon, and his intent is not to create another.
Instead, he gathers the stories for the purpose of knowledge, educating
others, and giving comfort to those who have lost loved ones. "These
things change your approach to life," Wharton said.
One such story is that of John Rodgers, a 60-year-old Raymond resident
with "nine lives," according to Wharton, and two separate near-death
experiences.
Rodgers survived an accident involving his Corvette and a train, a
lightning strike, and three major heart attacks, one of which was so
severe that a hole was ripped in the center of the heart between the right
and left ventricles.
"Two out of three of those situations are fatal events," Wharton said. The
condition, known as a ventricular septal defect, is usually fatal because
the blood is mixing inside the heart and not being distributed throughout
the body.
The heart attack, which occurred 10 years ago, was caused by a blocked
artery. Rodgers did not get to the hospital immediately, which exacerbated
the situation, according to Wharton.
"My heart literally burst," Rodgers said. "The priest was waiting for me
when I got to the hospital to give me last rites. I remember looking at
him and at the doctors, and everything went black."
From there, Rodgers said he heard the doctors crack his chest, heard
medical terms being used, and also remembered visiting the hospital
chapel - while the medical team was operating on him.
"There were people in the chapel crying, a man who lost his daughter that
day, another woman. There was no priest there, just those people," Rodgers
said. "It was very odd."
Rodgers said when he visited the chapel after his recovery it looked
exactly as he'd seen it earlier, though he'd never been inside.
According to the International Association for Near-Death Studies Inc.
(IANDS) Web site, Gallup polls indicate that as of 1982 more than 13
million adults had one or more near-death experiences, or NDEs. These
experiences, according to IANDS, include feelings that "the self" has left
the body and is hovering over it, moving through a dark space,
encountering a light, or receiving some variation of the message that it
isn't "your time."
Rodgers' chapel incident wasn't the first time he'd had such an
experience. Another, more life-altering near-death experience came after a
train accident that should have left him paralyzed, he said.
On Friday the 13th, 1966, Rodgers and a friend were stopped at a railroad
crossing in North Carolina when they had to get out of the car to fix a
problem. Rodgers was too close to the tracks when the train came by and
could not move in time.
"It hit me going 97 mph," Rodgers said. "It took the door of the car off."
The next thing he remembered was the ambulance. "When I got to the
hospital, I had the out-of-body experience," he said. "There were a bunch
of doctors standing around me in white coats, and I could see them working
on me. I heard people talking about compressed fractures, and how they
didn't think I would walk.
"I guess Friday the 13th was a lucky day for me, because I lived," he
said.
Later, after a back operation, Rodgers saw his dead father standing at the
foot of his hospital bed.
"He said, 'Live, Jack. You've got everything to live for,'" Rodgers said.
"People think I'm crazy, but I know it happened. It was real. It was all
real - the chapel, my father, all of it."
According to IANDS, people who have NDEs experience major life changes,
including loss of fear of death, renewed spirituality while becoming less
religious, being able to love and accept people more readily, and becoming
more intuitive.
Anthony Stanchis of Exeter's story has eerie parallels to Rodgers' - he
too was hit by a train and watched his own body be transported away.
"When you die, you think you're still alive," he said. "It's a strange
feeling to be separated from your body."
The year was 1949. Stanchis, who lived in Newmarket at the time, slid in
his car down his driveway during a storm and was stuck on a wall near
train tracks. When the train came, Stanchis was too close. "It hit me,
threw me up in the air," he said. "They thought I was dead and called for
the hearse."
A member of the Reserves, Stanchis was brought by hearse to the Navy
hospital in Portsmouth, where doctors tried one last time to revive him
with adrenaline to the heart.
"It worked," he said. "I saw everything they did. I was standing next to
the table watching."
According to Stanchis, he was legally dead for 20 minutes. "I was looking
at my body riding in the hearse," he said. "I can't understand it to this
day. I had no brain damage, my spine wasn't severed. They said I wouldn't
walk again, but I did."
Stanchis, who served in World War II and in the ministry, said he believes
he was spared for a reason.
"I had a purpose in life," he said. "I had to stay long enough to fulfill
it."
Stanchis said he is grateful for the second chance. "I've done a lot of
work for the church in my life, and it's helped me with my own life," he
said. "That's why I survived."
Rodgers said he's just glad to be alive. With a pacemaker, or a "*****
Cheney device," installed in his body, Rodgers has a positive outlook. "It
's already saved my life three times," he said. "God just doesn't want me
at this point.
"People look at you like you're nuts when you tell them about an
out-of-body experience," he said. "But there's no doubt in my mind how
real it was."
What he learned from the experiences seems simple but is vastly important.
"Don't waste time on 'I should've,'" Rodgers said. "Just do things.
"I have had pretty close to nine lives," he said in reflection. "I don't
want to use them all up."
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/rock/04152005/news/37225.htm
I had only one OOBE in my life and that happened at age 14 while sleeping
in my home. Every time I read about NDE's it reminds me. The two seem very
similar. Some doctors have speculated that some of his 'die' during sleep,
and many times we're unaware upon awakening. They say it's a hallucinatory
experience--no objective reality involved--produced by a flood of
neuro-chemicals.
Man, it was fun sailing down the block, over the trees and houses whether
objectively or subjectively! Kinda' scary, though, passing through solid
window glass.
Doc ;])
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