Dave Singleton, 85, from Nottingham, has described his near-death experience, during which he was clinically dead for about eight minutes. The retired artist told the Mirror that he saw a 'wonderful' garden and felt immense peace before being resuscitated.
Singleton suffered from heart block, a condition causing an abnormally slow heart rhythm. In the lead-up to the event, over 20 years ago, he struggled to walk in Derbyshire and later collapsed at home. His neighbour, a retired doctor, called an ambulance after finding his pulse dangerously low.
In hospital, Singleton's heart stopped multiple times. He recalled hearing alarms and seeing lights dim before being revived with defibrillator paddles. During one cardiac arrest, he found himself in a sunny garden with a high hedge, hearing laughter from the other side. 'I knew that all I had to do was stand and walk round the hedge to join them,' he said, but he chose to stay, feeling calm and content.
The peaceful vision ended abruptly with the medical team's efforts. 'Wham, bang. I was back,' Singleton said. 'To be honest, I didn't want to come back as it was most uncomfortable and noisy.' He was fitted with a pacemaker and has since had three replacements.
Singleton described the experience as comforting and has since travelled extensively and pursued art, with some success. His story adds to ongoing research into near-death visions, which some studies suggest are reported by a minority of cardiac arrest survivors.
