'It's real': The eerie note a mother of two scrawled in near-death experience
In a brief moment of consciousness following a sudden heart attack, Tina Hines managed to scribble a short, cryptic message for her loved ones.
While intubated in a hospital bed, Ms Hines wrote in a notepad “it’s real”, and when asked what she meant, nodded in an upwards direction with tears in her eyes.
The fit and healthy mother was about to set off on a hike in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband, Brian, last February, when she suddenly collapsed to the ground, The Sun reported.
Brian performed CPR on his wife until an ambulance arrived, with paramedics having to use a defibrillator to shock her back to life a total of five times.
She was technically dead for a collective period of 27 minutes and during that time, claims she got a first-hand glimpse of heaven.
"It was so real, the colours were so vibrant," Ms Hines told AZ Family.
She told the publication she saw the black gates of heaven and Jesus standing in front of them with a bright golden glow behind him.
Weeks later, Ms Hines was released from hospital and has since returned to her healthy lifestyle.
In the wake of the enlightening event, her niece Madie Johnson chose to have her aunty’s scribble tattooed on her wrist.
She shared photos in a post to her Instagram last week, telling her followers the experience had given her a “stronger confidence” in her Christian faith.
“It has given me a tangibleness to an eternal hope that is not too far away. I love you Tina Hines. The way you boldly love Jesus and others has changed the way I hope to live and love,” she wrote.
Up to one in five people who suffered cardiac arrests recalled similar “near-death” episodes, according to studies.
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