I was hovering 10ft above hospital bed

BoB PendleBury, 63, a retired financial services manager, lives in Hove, east Sussex. He says: Five years ago, i had an asthma attack that very nearly killed me. i was at home with my wife, Nicole, when suddenly i felt very tired and my breathing became difficult. Within minutes, i was struggling for each breath and panicking.

Nicole rang for an ambulance and i was rushed to A&e, where they gave me emergency drugs and adrenaline as i had stopped breathing. i was convinced i was about to die.

i blacked out in one of the emergency rooms while doctors surrounded me, pulling tubes in and out of me. The next thing i can remember is hovering 10ft in the air in the corner of the ceiling, looking down at myself on the hospital bed. i could see lots of people rushing in and out of the room.

Then suddenly my wife was leaving. i was not in pain and couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. i remember thinking: ‘That’s nice, Nicole’s abandoning me.’

Then i felt a sting in my neck, as though vinegar was being poured into my artery, and suddenly i came to again. Things slowly came back into focus.

i made a full recovery. i later found out that magnesium had been injected into my neck as a last resort. Nicole told me they’d been moments from performing a tracheotomy when i suddenly started breathing again.