Nurse Suffers Cardiac Arrest After Lily Allergy
Canadian nurse Julia Evans experienced a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction to lilies at the hospital where she worked in 2018, leading to cardiac arrest and a near-death experience. During an interview with podcaster Jeff Mara, she described how simply breathing in pollen from a floral arrangement triggered the ordeal.
Evans felt her throat become scratchy upon arriving at work. She scanned her environment and saw a bouquet of lilies at the nursing station. Though aware of her lily allergy, she had never considered it dangerous, typically just avoiding the flowers. However, on that morning, she approached them, triggering a severe allergic response. Within moments, she began turning blue.
Colleagues and Doctor Respond
Her colleagues quickly sprang into action: one fetched medication, another called her husband, and a third stayed with her to keep her calm. Evans recalled, "It was just her and I sitting in the staff room together, and she was staring at me, paralysed watching me die in front of her ... all I kept thinking was 'I'm drowning in air.'" A doctor then burst into the room and administered an emergency injection of epinephrine, the primary component of EpiPens.
However, a critical mistake occurred: the concentration of epinephrine in the syringe was ten times stronger than intended. Evans explained, "We both locked eyes with each other and in that instant we both realised it was the wrong drug." The overdose sent her heart into overdrive.
Cardiac Arrest and Near-Death Experience
As the crisis escalated, Evans felt a surge of energy but recognized she was in cardiac arrest. She shouted, "Rip off my clothes. Get leads on me, get pads on me right now!" While enduring excruciating pain, her mind drifted to deceased loved ones. She felt the pain of her best friend who died by suicide, her stepmother who drowned, and her biological mother who died of a brain aneurysm in 1983.
Her body shut down completely. Evans revealed, "That's when they lost me. I went into pulseless VTAC. I had no pulse. My heart exploded ... there was so much medication that it just stopped." Her skin turned from blue to pale to grey, and she became flaccid on the bed.
Visions and Return
In that moment, Evans said she "went somewhere completely different" — a total black emptiness where everything was pixelated away. She heard her mother say, "It's okay, Honey. Mommy's here, don't cry." Then she hovered over her body, screaming in her mind, "I would come back if I could." She heard, "We lost her again," before entering a realm of extraordinary brightness and vibrant hues, describing it as "so much love" and "self-love." She sensed every person who had passed away before her.
Suddenly, she felt thrown back into her body, hitting hard. Disoriented, she noticed she was completely naked and asked, "Who cut my favourite blue bra?" It took her several months to come to terms with the experience.
Aftermath and New Sensitivity
Evans says she completely reassessed her life after the incident and now possesses a new psychic sensitivity that allows her to peer into other people's souls. She added, "It was a year after my near-death experience ... the anniversary made me realise that I actually went and saw the light and I felt my mum."
