[music playing] As I took the phone
away from my face, the building got hit with
a strike of lightning, and it threw me
back like a ragdoll. I was kicking and screaming
and cursing and spitting. They had to papoose me
because I was so violent and-- and outraged. All of a sudden, these trees
started moving out of the way. They parted for me. And then I came out
into this opening, and there where I
saw Jesus Christ. I'm not the same
person that I was, because I can do things now
that I couldn't do before. [music playing] I was a full-time
orthopedic surgeon working 12, 14 hours a
day, seven days a week. [music playing] I didn't spend enough
time with my family, but that was my life. And I was-- I was
willing to accept that. We had been married
about 10 years, and we had three children. Whenever he walked through
the door, it was just, daddy's home, daddy's home. They used to use
him as a jungle gym. It was-- it was so sweet. [music playing] It was a Sunday,
and we were at a place called Sleepy Hollow Lake. I was outside helping
with the barbecue. I was upstairs painting faces. All the little
kids wanted their-- their faces painted. The-- the weather at the time
had started out as a beautiful sunny day, and-- and I recall that it
did tend to cloud up. But I wasn't really
paying attention. I went to call my mom, and I
was talking on a payphone that was attached to a building,
and she didn't answer, and I was going to
hang the phone up. It was about 7, 8 inches
away from my face, and I remembered
hearing a loud crack. Simultaneously with that, there
was a bright flash of light that came out of the phone
and hit me in the face. [thunder crashing] And it just threw
me like a rag doll. [music playing] And then, all of a sudden, my
mother-in-law starts screaming. I'm at the bottom of
the stairs and she's at the top of the stairs. She's screaming, and she's
running down the stairs, and she's is
running right at me. I turn to see where she's going,
and I saw myself on the ground. And I remember thinking, in my
usual vernacular, oh, [bleep],, I'm dead. [music playing] LISA: We grew up rather wealthy,
we had a house on Tampa Bay, and had an 80-acre farm that
we went to on the weekends. [music playing] I had my first child
when I was about 19, 20, and I had my second one
when I was about 22, 23. I was, you know,
dedicated to my kids. Just getting by, I guess. No goals, you know,
besides raising my kids. At Christmas time,
she would work two jobs to be able to provide
Christmas for the children. My kids were priority. I wanted to, I
guess, raise them-- have a closer relationship with
them than me my mother had. [music playing] I'd gone to a walk-in clinic
with, you know, itchy eyes, sinus problems,
chest congestion. They just assumed that
I had a sinus infection and wrote a prescription
for antibiotics. I just thought, you
know, you take a pill and it makes you better, OK. Take another one, you know? I was probably on my fifth
prescription of antibiotics when I finally got a high fever. [music playing] They were getting her
fever under control, but they just seemed to be
stymied at what was causing her illness. Then they just discharged
me, and I was like, you know, something's
really wrong. What's going on? I could barely move,
couldn't dress myself, couldn't-- couldn't even
walk from, you know, my bed to the bathroom. It kind of just spiraled
downhill at that point. Well, I talked to her
several times over the weekend, and then on Monday, I just
had a feeling that, you know, maybe I needed to call
and check on her again. [phone ringing] My granddaughter said, no,
mommy doesn't want to get up. Mommy's sleeping. She doesn't want to wake up. So I went to my supervisor
and I said, I have to leave. I said, there's something
wrong with my daughter. I had to get to her. Sure enough, she was in bed. I went over and shook her, and
she was very agitated at me. I remember fighting
with her, and-- and like, spitting and punching and
calling her some really bad names. And I called my
husband, and I told him, I says, there's
something terribly wrong. I said, she's-- her
mental state isn't right. I remember a nurse trying
to shake me and wake me up and is like, stay with us, Lisa. Stay with us, baby. Come on, girl, stay with us. [music playing] The doctor came and he
said that it was probably a combination of what
they had given her. He said that without
a liver transplant, she wouldn't live
through the night. [music playing] DEAN: I worked for the juvenile
court system at the time. I was the program manager for
a couple of programs called drug court and treatment court. You come across a lot
of terrible situations, and what do you do with that? So mine was to pray a lot. My kids were gone. We were living the life that
most parents are looking forward to, which is to
have time for themselves. My husband and I were just,
you know, still head over heels in love with each other,
believe it or not, after going on 27
years of marriage. So that day, I'm
waking up, and I have this pain on
the right side, and I already know
it's kidney stones. And I'm thinking, well, I've
gone through this before. I'll just go ahead and
wait it out and see if I can pray through it,
if I can just, you know, push it through the
day, because I do not like to give up a day of court. [music playing] I was just getting ready
to explode on that side, and I knew I was in
trouble at the moment. There was a call. Your husband is in the
hospital in the emergency room. He has kidney stones
and a kidney infection. [music playing] And when I got there
the next morning, he had 104 temperature,
and they took him in to have the surgery anyway
with the temperature and with the infection. [music playing] You're literally just
punching your skin and punching-- punching those
areas where the stones are. And after the stones are broken
up, then they're easily passed. I remember them wheeling--
wheeling me down the hallway really quick to another room. I kept on thinking, I can't seem
to catch my-- catch my breath. I knew that my breath was
getting shallower and shallower and shallower. I could think to
myself, I'm dying. It came to me. I'm dying. I saw myself on
the ground, and-- and I remember thinking, in my
usual vernacular, oh, [bleep],, I'm dead. [MUSIC PLAYING, THUNDER
CRASHING] OK, I know that I just got hit,
and I see the phone dangling, and I'm absolutely confused. I've come to the
realization that I'm dead, and I'm still thinking. I'm still absolutely aware of
everything that's happening. And I-- and I would-- it was such a shock to
me, because there were-- there were no bells,
there were no whistles. There was no signal. [music playing] I saw her start to
go down on her knees. I did not see her actually start
CPR, because at that point, I turned away. And that's when things
started to change, because I started
walking up the stairs, and I'm kind of looking at
the ground as I'm walking, and I see my legs
start to dissolve. It's like, OK. But I kept going. And by the time I got up
to the top of the stairs, I didn't have form any longer. I was a ball of energy. I just went right
through the wall. And I saw Nina and the kids,
and she's painting faces. I was absolutely
devoid of emotion. My nephew came running
up the stairs and said, Aunt Nina, Aunt Nina, Tony's
been struck by lightning, and I just jumped up. I dropped the paints and I said,
what are you talking about? [music playing] Soon as I-- it seemed like
as soon as I got outside of the building, it felt
like I fell into a river of bluish-white light. Imagine absolute love
and absolute peace. I had crossed into
another place. [music playing] I remember a nurse trying to,
you know, shake me and wake me up, and is like,
stay with us, Lisa. Stay with us, baby. Come on, girl, stay with us. [music playing] They said they
didn't think they could get her a liver in time. I just couldn't believe that-- that she would die. I remember just like, a split
half second in the helicopter. So I was kicking and screaming
and cursing and spitting. They had strapped me
down to the gurney. They had to papoose me
because I was so violent and-- and outraged. [music playing] They ended up tearing up
a sheet to tie her hands and her feet down so she
wouldn't be so combative. Then all of a sudden,
everything got very calm. I saw this bright light. I guess I'm very skeptical
person, so I'm like, oh, OK, there's
the doctor's light. Once I reached through that
light, the bright light, and I went into space,
that's when I realized, wow, I must be dead. [music playing, monitor beeping] I was surrounded
by darkness, and I could see speckles of light,
which I assumed were stars. I continued just
floating and just trying to grasp the idea
that I had passed away. I don't feel any different. It's just like closing your
eyes and being, you know, who you are, but you're dead. I felt a lot of love. The best way I can describe it,
as if you are some very famous singer or star, and
everybody comes to see you. And they're holding up their
lighters or their cell phones. Imagine how you feel,
everybody cheering, there, just to see you, how
much love you would feel. Now, just multiply
that by 1,000 times. [music playing] I sort of prepared
myself for the worst. We had lost a daughter
prior to Lisa being born. She was only 10 days old. So I-- I knew what it
was like to lose a child. [music playing] I can't seem to catch
my-- catch my breath. I could think to
myself, I'm dying. They came to me. I'm dying. [music playing] I walked into the
room, I'm talking, and then suddenly, he's
just dying, literally, in front of me with no
other particular reason but a severe, severe infection. He was just going, [breathing]
and I asked a critical care doctor, I says, what
happened to my husband? And he said, we need to intubate
your husband right away, or else he could die,
and I went, what? And I can remember thinking,
the worst way for me to die is to suffocate, and here I
am, literally suffocating. I did tell him, I'm
going to help you breathe. I'm gonna put a tube into your
mouth down into your windpipe. Within two minutes, he
was-- he was intubated, and that's when everything
started to happen. His heart rate, from
going around 120, 130, suddenly starts to come down to
80, 70, 40, 30, and then stops. Next thing I know, I was gone. [music playing, monitor beeping] At that moment was
the moment that I knew that I left my body. I remember literally
experiencing this rush, like, leaving that
hospital real quick, leaving our solar system, our
galaxies, and all our stars. Next thing I saw
on both sides of me were these shooting,
like, stars. It was amazing, because
there were so many of them. And at the time, I was
thinking, these are prayers. So we have a team of
eight, nine people responding immediately, and they start
doing the chest compressions. I had to leave the room. I couldn't stay in the room,
not knowing what was going on, not knowing for sure that Dean
would even make it out of this. [music playing, monitor beeping] I can remember coming
through that blackness and coming into-- into that lighted area,
and it was like, you know, some people say peace,
it was past peace. I had legs, I had
arms, I had everything that you can imagine that we
have right now on this planet, but it was in spiritual form. There was like, a green
grass down on-- on-- I say grass. I don't know if it
was really grass, but it looked like grass,
and I was moving over it very quickly. Not only could
you say I felt it, but I literally could
say, like, I taste it. I heard it. They didn't tell me
what was happening to him or what was going on. This thought came to me, is you
better get the funeral ready, because he's not
going to make it. [music playing, monitor beeping] All of a sudden, these trees
started moving out of the way. They parted for me,
and this path came up. I could hear the trees,
I could hear the flowers, I could hear all of the
life that was there saying, he's going to see the king. He's going to see the king. And it was great anticipation. Everything around
me was joyful that I was headed in that direction. And then I came out
into this opening. And there where I
saw Jesus Christ. By the time I got up
to the top of the stairs, I didn't have form any longer. I was a ball of energy. [music playing] If you could imagine falling-- falling into a river of
pure, positive energy, and you're flowing
in that river, and it's completely taking you. The realization that they came
to is that this is a force. This is the force of God. And I didn't see God. I have no idea what
God looks like, but I know what God feels like. I was ecstatic, and I
was thinking-- this is-- I'm-- I don't know where I'm
going, but wherever it is, it's gotta be great, because
this is the greatest thing there is. And it was like somebody
flipped a switch. I remember screaming in my head,
please don't make me do this. I don't want to go back. Just within a snap of a
finger, I was back in my body. [music playing, monitor beeping] I went from absolute
bliss to miserable pain. It seemed like a
couple of minutes that I laid there before
I could open my eyes. [music playing] He was very fuzzy and a
little kind of unbalanced. When I got back in my
body, I became aware of where the lightning hit me. The lightning came
through the phone, hit him here, and
exited through his leg. Both of those places
hurt like crazy, and it was just
little tiny spots. And I thought, how could do
anything so small hurt so much? Nothing seemed to
be working right, and I wished that somebody would
come up and hit me in the head, because all the
circuits felt scrambled and it felt like that
would make it work better. We took him to the doctor
who checked him out and said everything was fine. But functionally,
everything was-- was not OK. The lightning has opened
up neural pathways or electrical pathways that I
didn't have access to before. It really changed him. I continued just floating, and
just trying to grasp the idea that I had passed away. [music playing] I couldn't hear,
I couldn't touch. I'm thinking to myself, I
can never hold hands again. I can never hug again. But at the same time, it was
a very comforting feeling, because there's
just so much love, and it was just so peaceful. It seemed to me like there
were three spirits or angels. They were all females, older. Suddenly, I'm being
shown my whole life. It was like watching your life
on a fast forward video or DVD. It was just something
I saw in my mind. Then I was shown my funeral. [music playing] He just kept telling her
that-- that she couldn't go, that her children needed her. I wasn't upset
watching my funeral. My kids weren't upset,
so I wasn't upset. They were three and six,
so they didn't really understand what was going on. And then I saw my mother, and
my mother was basically a wreck. I mean, she had no control,
which was very hard, difficult to see, because she
was such a strong, tough woman growing up. I had a hard time believing
it, because I didn't really think she loved me as much
as I saw at my funeral. [music playing] When they told me she
wouldn't make it, I-- I didn't believe them. Then the three
spirit guides or angels that were basically guiding
me through this experience showed me my future and
the future of my children. They showed me a hallway, and
there was a door on the left, and inside was a beautiful
canopy bed with pink ruffles, toys, stuffed animals. It was fit for a princess. I thought, that's fine. My kids are well taken care of. I don't have anything
to worry about. They said, oh, no, your
children are over here. On the other side of the
hallway was another door. There was nothing
else in the room but my two children in nothing
but underwear, stained, filthy underwear. [music playing] And then I came out
into this opening, and there where I
saw Jesus Christ. [music playing] I called our son,
our daughter, friends, said, pray for Dean right
now, because they're doing CPR on him right now. My first encounter with Jesus,
he was more of a bright color, like the sun. He was so beautiful. You know how crystal
looks when the sun comes through the crystal? Different rays of lights
were coming through him, and those light, when they came
through him, they were alive. And I remember those lights
coming and wrapping themselves around me, and I felt
like he was hugging me. Even though he
wasn't touching me, it felt like he was
just holding on to me. [music playing, monitor beeping] We see waves of the heart
coming back, so we stop. We check the pulse,
check the blood pressure. His heart came back,
so we stopped the CPR. He turns and he
looks at me, you know, and the first thing
he says to me is, no. It's not your time. Go back. And I can remember hearing
those words and thinking, OK, it's not my time. [music playing, monitor beeping] I said, OK, this
is-- this is good. We have good blood pressure. And approximately three
or four minutes later, he does it all over again. [music playing] I thought, well, everything
is going to be OK, but you know, that just didn't happen. The lightning has
opened up neural pathways or electrical pathways that I
didn't have access to before. [music playing] He became more
and more distant and kind of introspective. It just seemed like
something had happened to change his needs. It was a couple of weeks
after the lightning event I started to have
this incredible desire to hear classical piano music,
and that was about as foreign to me as-- as the man on the moon. I became absolutely obsessed
with learning how to play. He always had a strong
commitment to things. This was more of a need. I had a dream. I was playing in a concert
hall, and then suddenly, it dawned on me that, hey, the
music that I'm playing is not somebody else's. It's mine. Every day that I sat
down at the piano, it would play in my head. It was very insistent,
almost like a little child. [music playing] So he's got the dying
and coming back part of it, and then he's got this
new gift part of it. Really wasn't a
talent there before. You know, he had
had, as a child, a few piano lessons,
but, you know, certainly no great ability. When the music
comes to me, it comes in torrents that feel
like they're downloaded into my head. In some respects, I'm not
the same person that I was, because I can do things now
that I couldn't do before. That has evolved,
and it's almost like I lead a double life. I don't know how I knew, but
I knew my body was not ready. [music playing, monitor beeping] I left the room and
just was totally praying during that time. There are many times during
the code that I did not think he was gonna survive. But there was some-- some
type of response from him, and that-- that's what kept
me going and saying, OK, let's-- we have to do it. [music playing, monitor beeping] I knew I was in
a better place. I was in heaven. I went around this forest
and I went back to Jesus, because I want to thank
him for what he did. Jesus looked at me
again that time, and he says to me again, no. It's not your time. Go back. We find a pulse, but
we didn't find a rhythm. I said, OK, let's
start over again. Let's-- let's keep working. It wasn't really
that I resisted it. I-- I would've come back,
but my body wasn't ready. I don't know what they
were doing down there, how come it wasn't ready,
but all I can remember is I was so happy that
my body was not ready. And I'm thinking, I
am staying this time. I see Jesus, I go down on
my hands and my knees again, and the third time again, he
says, no, it's not your time. Go back. And that's when I
left and came back. [music playing, monitor beeping] He's pretty one
of the longest codes that we had had
in that hospital. He was-- he was very special. It was great to see
Dean with his eyes open for the first
time and alert. [music playing] I was quite concerned that
because his heart had stopped, his prognosis was going
to be really poor. He could die at any-- any time. [music playing] The three spirit guides or
angels showed me my future and the future of my children. [music playing] They showed me the room with-- that was fit for a princess. I was like, this isn't bad. Looks like my kids are
well taken care of. They said, oh, no, your
children are over here. There was nothing
else in the room but my two children in nothing
but underwear, stained, filthy underwear. No toys, no dresser. And that's when I was like, oh,
no, I've got to raise my kids. In fact, I screamed it. Was like, oh, no, I'm
going to raise my kids. I didn't even see my body. I just went right back into--
just slammed into it, I guess. [music playing, monitor beeping] It was my decision. It was my will to live. That's what brought me back. I had a choice, I guess. It was my kids that
brought me back. It was a gradual
thing, her becoming aware of what was going on. I remember my kids coming
into the room and seeing them, and I was like, all I needed. [music playing] They all seemed to be amazed,
because they didn't expect her to live. My liver rejuvenated itself,
and when a liver rejuvenates, it goes-- can fix itself back
up to 100%, and that's exactly what mine did. She's always been close with
her kids, but I think it-- it's probably made
her a better mother, knowing how close she came to-- to leaving them. The spirit guides had asked
me what I had done with my life, and I was like, nothing, really. Not at that point in my life. To this day, now, since that
experience, I give back. [music playing] I'm just glad to be alive. I enjoy every day. I go outside and I look at
the sky, and I enjoy that. She has a lot
of inner strength, and she's very happy today. As long as I have
my family, I'm-- I'm happy. You know, I stop
and smell the roses. Believe it or not, I do. [music playing] I remember waking up off
and on for the next few days thinking, what is this? What happened to me? I don't remember,
but I know I died. He spent 13 days in
the hospital, nine days in the intensive care unit. And probably about
the third day, the doctors began to see
some slight improvement. But it took me months
to really adjust. I think my wife knew I changed. I knew she knew there was a
dramatic change, because I wasn't the same
man I was before. He had a hard
time being back here in the beginning on this Earth. I wanted to go back, I don't
look at life as-- as though it's forever on this planet. I can't any longer. That's been difficult
sometimes, because, you know, my wife still enjoys
things on this planet. My children still enjoy
things on this planet, and I'm thinking eternal. It makes me feel
like that dying is easy and there's nothing
to be afraid of. You don't have to
be afraid to die. [music playing] When that moment comes,
you come to really understand that you leave your body and
your body dies, but your spirit never does. The real you, it never does die. The ability to
compose original music in large quantities and-- is mind-boggling. All of his spare
time from that point on was dedicated to the piano. People thought it was
wonderful that somehow he had been given this gift. And in my world, it
wasn't really a gift. I felt very frustrated,
trying to pull him back into our normal family that had
always been our normal life. So my relationship with-- with my wife broke down,
because relationships require some nurturing. At that time, I
wasn't capable of it because I was so
obsessed with the music. I sacrificed everything
else in my life. I have some regrets about that. [music playing] We have made a pledge to
always take care of each other and our family unit. I'm sorry. Our family has stayed intact
and has gotten stronger, partly because of all of this. And it's made us all have
a deeper understanding of the value of family and
the value of this life, because really,
what's ever beyond, it doesn't matter right now, and
I think that's what Tony's come to too. So even though I'm crying,
we're in a happy place. [music playing] That day, I-- I believe that I did
have a death experience. I'm very humbled by
the fact that I've been given this ability. And I'm not entirely sure what
I'm supposed to do with it, but I know that it's something
important that I need to do in this lifetime.
