According to a recent dead man, after you pass away, there is “no light to go towards,” but you do visit a “spirit realm” to watch your body disintegrate.
But do not worry; according to Kevin Hill, his own ‘death’ and rebirth’ experience was rather calm.
While receiving treatment for alciphylaxis, a serious, unusual condition in which calcium accumulates in small blood vessels of the adipose and skin tissues, the 55-year-old man’s heart stopped in the hospital.
Kevin, a writer from Derby, said: ‘I wasn’t looking down at my body, but I was separate from my body.
‘It was like I was in the spirit realm – I was conscious of what was going on but I had so much peace.
‘I knew I was bleeding. I knew it was serious. The staff kept coming in and out to stop the bleeding.’
Kevin says his dead skin, which was caused by blistering, started eating away at his live skin, leaving him in constant and excruciating pain.
Against all the odds, he made a full recovery and was called ‘the miracle man’ by doctors.
Kevin described watching the medics trying to save him from the sidelines.
He said: ‘I knew I had died. I was separate from my body.
‘Then I just went to sleep and I woke up, alive and the bleeding had stopped.
‘I knew it wasn’t my time to die. The situation has made me refocus my priorities.
‘When I came out of the hospital my family atmosphere changed dramatically.
‘I have become more resilient. I know I can bounce back.’
In the summer of 2021, Kevin’s legs started to swell up because they were retaining excess water.
He went to the doctors multiple times but he ‘was dismissed’. He finally got an appointment at the coronary care unit in Derby and got sent to Derby Royal Hospital within hours.
Kevin said: ‘This began my year-long stint in hospital. They gave me medicine to get rid of the water retention. After it all went, they told me I had lost 65kg of water weight.’
The water retention was caused by Kevin’s heart valve having two parts instead of three.
Kevin had a heart valve operation in January 2022.
He said: ‘After my operation I caught calciphylaxis. This is a rare condition that only one in five people are diagnosed with.
After making a full recovery, Kevin is now back at home with his wife Camille Hill, 52.
He said: ‘I am in the final stages of recovery. In my right leg, I still have some pain but it is not near the level it used to be – I would cry for hours.
‘My pain level used to be 100 out of 10 and now it had dropped to a four. Everyone said I should be dead.’