US author Lauren Canaday shared a unique and surreal experience during a Q&A session on Reddit, revealing her encounter with coming back to life after being clinically dead for over 24 minutes. Ms. Canaday described going into sudden cardiac arrest at home, with her husband’s swift initiation of CPR playing a pivotal role in her survival. After 24 minutes of resuscitation efforts by EMTs, she was successfully revived.
Expressing profound gratitude to her husband, whom she dubbed her “hero,” Ms. Canaday recounted her journey, mentioning the loss of memory of the past week upon waking up from a two-day coma. Despite experiencing a post-resuscitation epileptic seizure lasting over 30 minutes, an electroencephalogram showed normal brain activity.
The author disclosed that paramedics attributed her cardiac arrest to complications from COVID-19, as she had tested positive for the virus upon admission to the ICU. Her case aligns with the Lazarus effect, a rare phenomenon where a patient declared dead displays signs of life, often associated with autoresuscitation.
Ms. Canaday’s recovery is remarkable, and her case is considered fascinating, given the full recovery she made. Notably, she described feeling an “extreme peace” for a few weeks after waking up, clarifying that she did not experience the commonly described phenomenon of one’s life flashing before their eyes during the near-death episode.