At 35 years of age I was a divisional manager for a concrete company and had been transferred to Las Vegas to revamp another division. On night after work I walked into my apartment and had an aortic dissection.

The heart repair went well but instead of awaking 24 hours after the surgery, I went into a two-month coma. One month into the coma, the doctors told my wife and boss that I was not going to make it through the night. My kidneys had quit and I was on dialysis and a ventilator. According to my doctors, it was due to divine intervention that I made it through the night after the amputation of my right leg above the knee. (I had a compartmental syndrome that was poisoning my body and went undiscovered until midway through the coma.)

Just before I came to, I was walking through a long dark corridor that seemed like quite a while. I had very little concept of time. After a while I heard a raspy voice, who I believe was Satan, calling my name. He said, "Don't go into the light come into the darkness. The grass isn't any greener on the other side." I said, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. He is the way, truth and life," the only scripture I had memorized from the Bible. He said this to me several times, but I had no fear of him. I responded the same way each time until he went away.

Then, I kept walking toward a faint glow for what seemed like a long time. As I drew closer, the faint glow started to get bigger and brighter. I didn't see anyone, just the dark and the light. As I got closer and closer to the light, I could feel that I was about to enter into it and I was very excited. I felt that I was about to enter into Heaven. Just then, a lady's voice spoke to me, one of obvious authority. She said, "Don't go into the light. It is not your time yet." I remember bowing my head in disappointment.

I awoke out of my coma and found myself staring at my wife's face. I could not speak or move. I wanted to tell her more than anything about what I had just seen. Somehow she managed to read my lips after a little while.