A vision of nuns at my feet

Gerald GrainGer, 69, lives with his wife laurel, a retired sales assistant, in Merthyr Tydfil. They have three grown-up children. He says: i WAS at home last June when i started feeling chesty and sweaty. My wife Laurel insisted i called 999.

in the ambulance, the lovely paramedic, vanessa, was talking to me when suddenly i felt myself floating down a square tunnel lit by a bright shining light.

i could see four faceless figures, dressed in nun-like habits with pointy hats, float beside me and there was a feeling of calm, as if i was suspended in a lovely dream. i was looking ahead at what i thought was a large garden when suddenly everything went into reverse and i was speeding backwards through the tunnel and i was awake, my face pressed up against the side of the ambulance with vanessa saying: ‘Come on Gerald, fight for me, come on.’

We arrived at the hospital minutes later where i stayed for six days, after apparently suffering a heart attack and ‘dying’ for five minutes in the ambulance. vanessa had shocked me with a defibrillator and carried out CPr until i’d eventually regained consciousness.

When i returned home, i continued to see visions of those nuns at the foot of my bed every night for about six weeks, and, strangely, their presence felt very comforting.

i used to be afraid of dying alone, but i’m not any more.