A woman who witnessed something extraordinary during a near-death experience claims she’s “no longer” frightened of dying. PR director Lorna Harris suffered a devastating health crisis in the summer of 2023, when she woke in the small hours, overwhelmed by “crushing pain” in her chest and struggling to breathe.

After falling down the side of the bed, the 52-year-old from Whitstable, Kent, fortunately managed to dial 999 and haul herself to the front door, enabling paramedics to enter and perform an electrocardiogram or ECG. Told that she was experiencing a heart “incident”, Lorna was placed into the ambulance, her hands and feet feeling numb, and she recalled the paramedic’s pressing words to the driver that they “need to go”.

Lorna told The Mail: “Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by a wall of beautiful, glittering white sparkles around me, bathed in light. I saw myself from above, as if I were a drone hovering over the action, being hurried from the ambulance and wheeled fast down a corridor.

She continued: “Next, I saw a female doctor in scrubs on top of me giving me CPR. Then a surgeon came in. He was wearing a brightly coloured jazzy bandana and Vans trainers. I saw myself half-dressed on the table and felt embarrassed.

“The surgeon mentioned my bright pink pyjama bottoms which had been stripped from my body and told the nurse to bag them up for me. I can still see every inch of the room, the colour of the walls, what the doctors looked like.”

She recalled how everything “went dark”, followed by the “most peaceful sleep” she had ever had. Lorna maintains she was conscious of being dead, but, in reassuring words for us all, insists she “felt nothing but peace”.

Afterwards, Lorna came round in cardiac care, having been unconscious for a couple of hours, though she claims it seemed like only minutes, and a nurse informed her they’d removed a clot from her heart.

Lorna had experienced a significant heart attack and two cardiac arrests, and reportedly died for several minutes. She relayed her peculiar experience to another cardiologist on the ward.

He characterised NDEs as “one of the last mysteries”, and, even more remarkably, disclosed that, in his role as a medical professional, they “often hear” patients claiming they had “seen things”.

Additionally, the cardiologist commented that they had claimed to have spotted items on high shelves in the room, those that would have been impossible for them to see.

Adding to the mysterious nature of Lorna’s experience, she also remembered that months afterwards, a friend of hers was scheduled to see the surgeon who’d carried out the procedure on her.

Lorna asked that her friend enquire whether he indeed wore a “jazzy” bandana. Her friend rang her later to confirm that he wore “colourful” ones and also wore “those shoes”.

In final comments about her experience, Lorna noted that she didn’t feel afraid during her NDE, revealing that she instead felt “peaceful”, like she was watching somebody different.

Most comfortingly, she added that she is now hopeful about the afterlife and is “no longer” afraid of death.