US Woman Wakes Up After Being Declared Clinically Dead, Shares Experience

A woman in the US has shared her near-death experience after losing consciousness for 24 minutes. Author Lauren Canaday was declared "clinically dead" after her heart stopped beating. She was resuscitated after nearly half an hour and said she lost the memory of the past week after waking up. Ms Canaday revealed all this during an 'Ask Me Anything' session currently blowing up on Reddit. The woman said she was rushed to hospital and remained in coma for two days before waking up.

Ms Canaday also thanked her husband for starting CPR early and said he will always be her "hero".

"I went into sudden cardiac arrest at home this past February - my husband called 911 and started CPR. It took 24 minutes for EMTs to resuscitate me. After 9 days in the ICU, I was declared 'cognitively intact' and have no visible brain damage on MRIs," Ms Canaday said in the Reddit post.

Users were keen to know about her experience and posted several questions about what happened immediately after she collapsed and the tests she underwent.

Ms Canaday said that the results from her electroencephalogram - a test that measures electrical activity in the brain - came back normal despite the fact that she'd experienced an epileptic seizure for more than 30 minutes right after resuscitation.

"My husband did CPR for 4 minutes and the operator told him what to do, he'd never done it and hadn't been certified in a long time. Luckily we are close to a fire station and EMTs arrived in 4 minutes to take over and use the paddles!" she added.

Responding to one user, the author said she was told by paramedics that her cardiac arrest happened due to complications from Covid, which she tested positive for when being admitted to the ICU.

In clinical terms, what Ms Canaday experienced Lazarus effect or autoresuscitation. This rare phenomenon occurs when a patient "declared dead from cardiac arrest suddenly shows signs of life," making it seem like they've returned from the dead despite never actually dying.

New York Post said Ms Canaday's case is fascinating because majority of people don't live long after their resurrection. Of the 65 documented cases between 1982 and 2018, only 18 people made a full recovery.

The most fascinating part of her experience was the feeling of “extreme peace", which she said stayed with her for a "few weeks upon waking". She also clarified she didn't see her life flashing before her eyes - a symptom described by many.