Mission statement. American Cross Global, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is destroying darkness with a candle, by showing kindness to traumatized (a result of an overwhelming amount of stress, that exceeds one’s ability to cope [manage, survive or subsist]) persons who lose “heart” (courage and confidence) from natural and man-made disasters. Recovering a sense of optimism (to expect the best possible outcome from any given situation) is important. This can mean to trust that things will get better no matter how bad they seem, to look for the best aspects of any situation, and a belief that good will triumph over evil. Trauma becomes hard (lacking the capacity to handle or being overwhelmed) when a danger that a person didn’t prepare for occurs. This means someone in a wrong place at a wrong time – survivors of terror bombings (vehicles ramming into buildings), school shootings (209 in 2025), wildfires, hurricanes, PTSD veterans (22 military suicides/day), or the global coronavirus pandemic (200,000 Covid orphans). If a recovery (a return to a normal state of health, mind or strength) of determination and resolve doesn’t happen, it could degenerate (become worse) into self-destructiveness (a person who does things in such a manner that is not in that person’s best interests) or survivor’s guilt (negative feelings caused by the fact that you are still alive after a situation in which other people died). Or, a person dealing with mental anguish (suffering which includes fright, feelings of distress, anxiety and/or depression) who plans to go out in “a blaze of glory” (to do something very dramatic during or at the end of your life which makes you infamous).
There have been tens of thousands of near-death experiences, which give persons a window into what happens when you are dead.
#1 – After a four-year battle with lymphatic cancer, Anita Moorjani slipped into a coma in 2006. Doctors were sure it was the end, not realizing that in her near-death state, she was still conscious. Initially, she felt like she was floating above her body with “360-degree peripheral vision” of the hospital room and beyond, she told Today.
She felt the presence of her late father, who had a message for her. “He said that I’ve gone as far as I can, and if I go any further, I won’t be able to turn back,” she said. “But I felt I didn’t want to turn back because it was so beautiful. It was just incredible because, for the first time, all the pain had gone. All the discomfort had gone. All the fear was gone. I just felt so incredible. And I felt as though I was enveloped in this feeling of just love. Unconditional love.”
About 30 hours after falling into a coma, Moorjani flickered back into consciousness. Two days later, her organs started to regain function, and the tumors started shrinking. Now she’s cancer-free and is a public speaker and author of five books, including What If This Is Heaven?
#2 – At age 4, Annabel Beam was diagnosed with two chronic, life-threatening digestive disorders. By age 8, she was ready to give up—until something unexplainable happened. She was sitting on a tree branch 30 feet in the air when it cracked. She fell into a hollow at the base of the tree and was trapped for six hours.
She says she died and went to heaven: “It was really bright, and I sat on Jesus’s lap, and he told me, ‘Whenever the firefighters get you out, there will be nothing wrong with you,’” Beam told Today.
“And I asked him if I could stay, and he said, ‘No, I have plans you need to fulfill on Earth that you cannot fulfill in heaven.’” When she woke up, her illness had healed. Her mom wrote the book Miracles from Heaven, which was later turned into a film.
#3 – Tessa Romero, a 50-year-old mother, had a remarkable back-from-the-dead experience. While dropping her kids off at school, she had sudden heart failure and spent 24 minutes without a heartbeat. During this time, she underwent an intense near-death experience that reshaped her understanding of life and death.
In her book, 24 Minutes on the Other Side: Living Without Fear of Death, Romero describes the sensation of leaving her body and observing the scene from above.
She recalls: “I saw my own body lying there, yet felt more alive than ever, awake and conscious, but invisible and unheard by those around me. I experienced an overwhelming sense of peace, a cessation of all physical and emotional pain.”
The incident impacted her perspective and diminished her fear of death, instilling hope for a peaceful afterlife.
#4 – Real survival stories are always inspiring, but David Ditchfield’s story is something else altogether. In 2006, he was dragged under a speeding train, but he miraculously survived. During the surgery that followed, he had a near-death experience.
He was in a serene, dark space surrounded by pulsating orbs and encountered beings of light exuding unconditional love. Following his recovery, Ditchfield discovered extraordinary artistic and musical talents he had never possessed before.
He began to create paintings depicting his experience and composed classical music without formal training. His debut symphony, “The Divine Light,” inspired by his experience, received a standing ovation.
Ditchfield shared his journey in the book Shine On: The Remarkable Story of How I Fell Under a Speeding Train, Journeyed to the Afterlife and the Astonishing Proof I Brought Back with Me.
#5 – When actress Jane Seymour was shooting the 1988 film Onassis, she went into anaphylactic shock when her bronchitis antibiotics were injected into a vein instead of a muscle. “I had the vision of seeing a white light and looking down and seeing myself in this bedroom with a nurse frantically trying to save my life and jabbing injections in me, and I’m calmly watching this whole thing,” she told the Omaha World-Herald in 2016.
She later told HuffPost how the experience had changed her: “I remember looking down at this body that was mine, realizing I wasn’t in it, and I totally grasped the concept that your body is really a vehicle,” she said. “You need to service it like a car.”
#6 – In April 2023, actor Jamie Foxx suffered a brain bleed and had a stroke while filming Back in Action in Atlanta. He fell into a coma for almost three weeks and woke up to find himself in a wheelchair, unable to walk.
“It was kind of oddly peaceful. I was in that tunnel. It was hot in that tunnel,” he told the Sun. Foxx described his recovery as a second chance, stating, “When I was talking to [God], he said, ‘Hey man, I’m gonna give you the second chance—what you gonna do with it?’”
He shared his experience and expressed gratitude for the second chance at life in his 2024 Netflix special, What Has Happened Was. Promoting the show on Instagram, he posted: “Me: Thank you God, for my second chance. God: Watchu GON do wit it? Me: Spread joy/laughter errday. God: Bet.”
SOME NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE HAVE THINGS IN COMMON
Floating Above Your Body
Suddenly finding yourself hovering near the ceiling, looking down at your own body can be strangely peaceful. Many people report watching doctors work frantically on their lifeless forms while feeling completely detached from the drama below.
A truck driver who clinically died after an accident described floating above the crash scene. “I wasn’t scared at all. I watched paramedics working on me while feeling totally calm – like watching someone else entirely.”
This out-of-body perspective often includes noticing small details later verified – like objects on high shelves or conversations happening in other rooms that the person couldn’t possibly have heard.
The Welcoming Light
Many who’ve crossed over describe seeing an intensely bright yet somehow comforting light. Unlike harsh sunlight, this radiance doesn’t hurt the eyes – it feels like pure love made visible.
“It was brighter than anything I’ve ever seen, but I could look right at it without pain,” recalled one woman after surviving cardiac arrest. “The light seemed to know me, to welcome me home.”
