It was September 1998 at around midnight. I had just turned 45 about a month prior. I was home writing DOS basic computer programs on a 486 running Win95 and smoking heavily as usual, approximately two packs a day. I had recently quit driving a taxi and in the process of getting my "Taxi Directory" printed and sold. It was just dawning on me that I would make next to nothing on the venture after all my work, since the purchase price was barely covering the materials and expenses. Before that, my Japanese translation business had also bombed, and I had no other readily available options. I was very depressed about this for some time.

On September 17, 2001, I had a full hysterectomy due to fibroids and endometriosis. It was suspected that the endometriosis had invaded my bowels. However, the surgeon did not have my gastroenterologist attend surgery to take care of it, contrary to our agreement, nor did he remove my entire right ovary during the hysterectomy. Due to these situations, the endometriosis continued to grow in my colon and by the end of the year had created a complete blockage. Of course, I didn't know this at that time. All I knew of was a whole lot of pain. My gastroenterologist was on vacation until January 2nd. On December 30th, I heard God tell me to stop eating, so I did. And, although I was in a lot of pain, I went to church for the New Year's Eve service. By 2 a.m., I was starting to throw up black stuff and had my husband take me home.

I was 16 years old and was in an accident with a school bus. After the car I was riding in landed, I felt myself outside of the car looking in. I noticed people running toward the accident. I have clear memory of a man trying to save the boy beside me. I began rising above the scene, still watching, but I was beginning to notice that something wasn't right.

I was home from school sick and lying on the couch sleeping. I awoke to the ceiling falling. I remember saying that we were having an earthquake. My mother and aunt were in the kitchen sitting and talking. I remember that I lost my vision and at some point was in my own bed and they were with me. In the beginning, it was just black. Soon, shapes of all colors and sizes were flying past me and I was just looking at them. Then, I began to see a very, very bright light ahead of me. I must have been talking out loud because I heard my mother say go toward the light. I continued on the way that I was going and at some point I could see clouds or a thick mist above. The light was everywhere. The closer I came to where I was going I saw a ladder, which went up into the mist/clouds. I began to climb the ladder and saw a hand reaching down to me. I could not see a face. I heard my mother say grab the hand. I don’t know if I said it out loud or not but I knew it was the hand of Jesus. This is the first and the last memory of earth.