Woman who had a near-death experience after passing out choking reveals what ‘heaven is really like’
Plus, what happens to your body as you die according to end of life experts
A WOMAN claims to have gone to heaven and met God as she slipped in a coma following a horrifying near-death experience.
Mariandree Cárdenas was working from home one day when she felt her throat start to close up and began choking.
Her hands began twitching and she felt like her face was “falling asleep”.
Mariandree realised she could no longer speak.
She managed to text her mother and brother for help, who rushed over and found her unconscious.
The 24-year-old – who was diagnosed with severe asthma as a child – was taken to hospital, where doctors were forced to intubate her and later place her in a coma.
I did not remember my past life, nor my family nor the Earth, for me none of that had ever existed
Mariandree Cárdenas
As her body lay unconscious in her hospital bed, Mariandree claimed her mind was far from quiet.
“I couldn’t hear almost anything anymore and my body no longer responded,” Mariandree, a graphic designer, told .
“The last thing I heard was a nurse or doctor say the phrase ‘she left us’.
“And in the blink of an eye I stopped being on Earth and appeared somewhere else.”
‘A PLACE FULL OF LIGHT’
Mariandree claims she found herself in “heaven”, a space populated by “beings of light”.
The 24-year-old described in detail what she saw, saying: “I appeared in a place full of light but without sun, without moon, without stars, sitting at a long table full of food that I had never seen, full of people who no longer had a human body but were beings of light.
“No one spoke to each other through their voice, but rather through their mind.
“That was how I was communicating too but it was normal because to me, I had always belonged there.
“I did not remember my past life, nor my family nor the Earth, for me none of that had ever existed.
“I experienced the greatest love for all those beings of light, I felt that they were all part of me and I was part of them.”
Exactly how it feels as you die
YOU wouldn't be alone in pondering what it feels like when you die.
Death is something we will all experience some day, but for many of us it feels like the great unknown.
Now, a doctor has shared exactly what happens to your body as you edge slowly towards death.
1. Your heart slows
Firstly, your heart will begin to beat more slowly – in turn, your blood will be pumped around your body more slowly and your blood pressure will fall, palliative medicine specialist Dr Kathryn Mannix wrote in .
2. Your breathing changes
Your breathing will follow automatic patterns generated by the respiratory centre in the brain stem, Dr Kathryn wrote.
It could get heavier and noisier – some people lose the sense of their mouth and throat. But this happens without apparent distress, the doctor said.
You may also start to breath more slowly and shallowly. Your breath could move from deep to shallow and from fast to slow in repeating cycles.
There might be pauses and, eventually, it will come to a halt. Your heart will stop after a few minutes, as it is no longer being supplied with oxygen.
3. Dipping in and out of consciousness
You’ll spend progressively less time awake, Dr Kathryn said.
It might look like sleep from the outside, but you’ll gradually drift into consciousness for longer periods of time as you near the end, maybe without noticing it.
Dr Kathryn wrote: “On waking, people report having slept peacefully, with no sense of having been unconscious.”
Research published earlier this year indicates that you could even enter a meditative state.
Scientists accidentally captured our most complex organ as it shut down, showing an astonishing snapshot into death.
A patient with epilepsy was hooked up to an electroencephalogram (EEG) before having a heart attack.
This meant the 15 minutes around his death was recorded on the EEG.
In the 30 seconds either side of the patient’s final heartbeat, an increase in very specific brain waves were spotted.
These waves, known as gamma oscillations, are linked to things like memory retrieval, meditation and dreaming.
This could mean – although many more studies would need to take place – we might see a sort of film reel of our best memories as we die.
The parts of the brain that were activated in this study also suggests we could enter a peaceful dreamlike state that feels similar to meditation.
4. You might respond to sound
Researchers think you might still be able to hear sounds in your final moments, despite seeming unresponsive.
Looking at in 2019, they predicted that some form of awareness could be possible at the end.
While you might be able to hear, you may not necessarily be able to make sense of what is going on.
But Dr Kathryn said: “We have no proven way to investigate what people experience during dying.
“Recent research shows that, even close to death, the unconscious brain responds to noises in the room.
“We don’t know how much sense music or voices make to a dying person, however.”
Mariandree also claims to have met God in her near-death encounter.
“In front of me sat God,” she said.
“I know it was God because he was the greatest light, he was the one who illuminated the entire place, I couldn’t see his face but I knew he was laughing.
“He was very happy and smiling. I was impressed by how much he laughed with everyone.”
The 24-year-old claimed she conversed with the deity too.
“He paid attention only to me and laughed with me but at the same time he paid the same attention to all the other beings that were in the place.
“We shared a time of celebration for my arrival although I did not know that I had just arrived since I did not remember my past life.”
The influencer, from Guatemala, said: “I saw the colours around me differently and I never felt more fulfilled, with so much peace and joy.”
But Mariandree’s magical experience soon drew to a close.
“God got up and took me, he took me apart from the other beings and told me that I had to return, I didn’t understand and I asked him where and why if I didn’t want to leave.
I don’t think it was delirium, I think it was something I had to live because God wanted it that way
Mariandree Cárdenas
“He explained to me that I was going to return but at that moment I had to return because it was not my time and I had to return ‘for love’.”
Moments later, Mariandree emerged from her coma.
What though her travels to “heaven” had last mere hours for her, it had in fact been days since her choking incident.
She said: “For me it was three hours in heaven but on Earth it was three days.
“A day later I was able to go home with the proper rest and care that that entailed.”
MEANT TO HAPPEN
Doctors believe that Mariandree’s near death experience was linked to her asthma.
She said: “From a very young age I was very asthmatic.
“I underwent very expensive and painful treatments to try to improve my health but it never worked.
“I spent my entire adolescence going in and out of many hospitals because every time I went out, another crisis occurred.
“And my asthma also worsened with any emotional problems I had.
“We searched with all the specialists but they always said that my case was part of the percentage of people with lethal asthma, where attacks can be fatal.”
Mariandree has now recovered from the incident.
But to this day, she still believes she travelled to the afterlife and met God.
She added: “I don’t think it was delirium, I think it was something I had to live because God wanted it that way.
“He chose me to show me what happens after death, to solve that great mystery.
“I feel like he wanted to share some time with me and then he gave me back.”
