A 55-year-old man has shared his shocking experience with the afterlife after being brought back to life from the brink of death.
Kevin Hill’s heart suddenly stopped beating while he was in the Derby Royal Hospital being treated for calciphylaxis, an uncommon disease where calcium accumulates in small blood vessels of the fat and skin tissues.
Mr. Hill, called the ‘miracle man’ by doctors for his recovery, said he entered a ‘spirit realm’ where he watched his body deteriorate from the side lines.
He said: ‘I wasn’t looking down at my body, but I was separate from my body.
‘It was like I was in the spirit realm — I was conscious of what was going on but I had so much peace.’
Mr. Hill had a heart operation in January 2022 because of a problem with his heart valve.
This caused him to retain water in his legs and after medication and a year in hospital, he lost 65kg of water weight. Mr. Hill developed then calciphylaxis.
It can cause blood clots and painful skin ulcers, which can then lead to bleeding.
The condition occurs almost exclusively in patients with chronic kidney disease.
He said ‘I had the disease for months. My skin was eating away at me. ‘I had three days where my legs were bleeding out — it just wouldn’t stop.’
He claimed he lost five pints of blood before his heart stopped and he was dead for a few minutes before doctors resuscitated him.
Mr. Hill, from Derbyshire, said: ‘I knew I was bleeding. I knew it was serious. The staff kept coming in and out to stop the bleeding.’
Kevin said he was watching the NHS staff from the sidelines trying to save him.
He said: ‘I knew I had died. I was separate from my body.
‘Then I just went to sleep and I woke up, alive and the bleeding had stopped. I knew it wasn’t my time to die.
‘The situation has made me refocus my priorities. When I came out of the hospital my family atmosphere changed dramatically.
‘I have become more resilient. I know I can bounce back.’
Mr. Hill has made a near full recovery and is now back at home with his wife Camille, 52.
He said: ‘I am in the final stages of recovery. In my right leg, I still have some pain but it is not near the level it used to be – I would cry for hours.
‘My pain level used to be 100 out of 10 and now it has dropped to a four.
‘Everyone said I should be dead.’