On the 22nd March 2018 I had a blackout, did a nice crash landing with lacerations on my face, some cracked ribs and lost some front teeth. Taken to hospital and were diagnosed with an overgrown heart due to over training over many years.
I had a very un-regular heartbeat and was put on medication to rectify that. For the next few years it seemed to have solved the problem.
However, on the 4th October of this year (2022), as I stepped out the shower I had another blackout, this time I was unconscious for three hours, woke up in a pool of blood and was rushed to hospital. I had concussion and severe lacerations to my face and my blood pressure was 60 over 40. The culprit. My heart.
I was put into ICU where the staff battled for four days to keep me alive and to stabilize my blood pressure. It took me another eight days to come alive again. It was however the best thing that ever happened to me. For twelve day’s I could only lie on back, barely moving. Evaluating, re-evaluating and planning my life for the future.
The doctor decided that I needed a pacemaker, the operation was don on the 14th October and I went home the next afternoon. Miracle you decide.
I should’ve been dead so many times in my life, 30 months of my 36 months in the army was spend on the border during the border war. I was daily confronted with the possibility that, just maybe, this could be my last day on earth. After I left the army there were many other situations where only God’s grace saved me from being dead.
And then this, the opportunity to start fresh. On the night before my operation God’s Spirit shared with me exactly why I went through all these traumatic experiences and what I’m supposed to do with my life henceforth.
For the sake of brevity, here’s an extract of what was said to me, If you only knew what I AM about to do, about the thousands of people lives that’s going to change because of what you’ve been through, you will understand it was all a part of God’s plan
I’ll share some more with you in future posts. But for now, what has changed in my life? Everything, everything looks different, a sunrise, a sunset, even a cup of coffee tastes different.
The most important thing though is that for the very first time in my life death has lost its strangle hold on me, and I have the peace that surpasses all understanding, awesome.
Love to hear your feedback on this, and.. if you ever had a near death experience please share with me what happened to you and the effect it had on your life.
Love and respect
Coach Ockert
Good morning Coach,
I have personally had a few experiences myself but the one that stands out the most is the day I experienced two very different realities.
I was driving on my motorcycle in traffic and as usual way to fast and taking chances in traffic. I passed a few cars at speed and the next moment a BMW driver decided to suddenly turn right into a side street, there was nowhere to go, I was too fast, I was bracing myself for the impact, I was hard on the brakes but there was no way that I was going to miss the BMW. The next moment my bike stood on its front wheel and swung to the left and stopped dead, dropped back on the back wheel and there I was standing dead still right next to the car whom for some or other reason has stopped. He then drove up into the side street and stopped after about 50m. I stopped behind him not knowing what his plan was. I could not pull over to the left as there was a very high sidewalk and also pavement and a pavement to the right as well. Another guy stopped next to me and shouted at me for driving so fast, he then turned into the driveway of a complex of houses and disappeared. The BMW pulled of and rushed away. I drove home not knowing what to make of this. When I got home, I told my wife and went around the bike and noticed my number plate is missing. I jumped back on the bike and went to the scene, found my number plate but destroyed (many cars went over it). Then I noticed something very very strange. In that side road, there were no high sidewalk to the left of where I was standing, no pavement on the right and no complex either. I stood there amazed with the experienced I have just had and I new God intervened. I was in another realm for a short while, I could have been dead that day. I am so blessed.
Whoa, awesome, thank you for sharing Hugo