Canadian nurse Julia Evans experienced a severe anaphylactic reaction to lilies at work in 2018, which led to cardiac arrest after she was given a tenfold overdose of epinephrine. During the crisis, she reported a near-death experience in which she felt the pain of deceased loved ones and later saw a peaceful light.
Initial Symptoms and Cause
Evans, speaking on the Jeff Mara podcast, described arriving for her shift at a hospital and noticing a scratchy sensation in her throat. She quickly scanned her environment and saw a bouquet of lilies at the nursing station. Although she knew she was allergic to lilies, she had not considered the allergy serious and usually avoided them. On this morning, she inexplicably walked toward the flowers, triggering a severe allergic response. By the time she realized what was happening, she was already starting to turn blue.
Colleagues Respond
Her colleagues sprang into action. One ran to fetch medication, another called Evans's husband, and a third stayed with her, trying 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. However, the concentration of epinephrine in the syringe was ten times higher than intended. Evans and the doctor locked eyes, both realizing the mistake. The overdose sent her heart into overdrive.
Cardiac Arrest and Near-Death Experience
As the epinephrine surged through her body, Evans felt like "The Hulk" and began breathing. She threw her safety glasses, keys, and lanyard across the room, shouting for her clothes to be ripped off and for leads and pads to be placed on her. Despite the pain, her mind drifted to lost loved ones. She felt how her best friend had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the sensation of the back of her head blowing away. She also felt the drowning and heart attack of her stepmother, and the brain aneurysm of her biological mother. "That was their pain that I was feeling," she said.
Her body then shut down. She went into pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VTAC), with no pulse. "My heart exploded ... there was so much medication that it just stopped," she explained. Her skin turned from blue to pale to the grey color of death.
Void and Reunion
In that moment, Evans said she "went somewhere completely different" – an absolute black void where "everything – your belief systems, your senses, your body – are pixelated away." Her anxiety was soothed when she distinctly heard her mother, who died in 1983, say, "It's okay, honey. Mommy's here, don't cry."
She then experienced hovering over her body, about two feet above, feeling her colleagues working on her. She screamed in her mind, "I would come back if I could." When she heard someone say, "We lost her again," everything changed. She found herself surrounded by extraordinary light and vivid color. "There was so much love within that moment that I was gifted the greatest gift and that's self-love," she said. "This light was just so peaceful, and it felt like home. I could sense every single person that had passed away before me standing there."
Return and Aftermath
Evans was abruptly dragged back to reality, feeling "wham!" as she was thrown back into her body. She was disoriented, not sure if she was looking at a long-haired hospital junior or Jesus. She realized she had survived when she looked down and saw she was completely naked. "Who cut my favourite blue bra?" she asked.
The ordeal was deeply traumatic, and it took several months for her to come to terms with it. She said, "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 and I actually experienced this."
Since then, Evans has developed a heightened psychic sensitivity, enabling her to see into the very souls of others. She has reassessed her life following the harrowing encounter.
