‘I saw something unexpected when my heart stopped for 24 minutes – now I’m not afraid’

Lauren Canaday suffered a massive heart attack at home and was clinically dead for 24 minutes before her heart was restarted

Lauren Canaday endured a terrifying 24 minutes without a pulse after suffering a severe heart attack at home. Despite immediate CPR from her husband and later paramedics, it took nearly half an hour to revive her.

This was followed by a gruelling nine-day stint in intensive care, two of which she spent in a coma.

While this was undoubtedly a harrowing time for her family, Lauren recalls her unconscious state with surprising positivity, even claiming that the experience eradicated her fear of death.

When she woke up, Lauren had no recollection of the week leading up to her heart attack and struggled to remember much of her hospital stay.

She also found basic tasks like speaking and writing challenging, but doctors were quick to reassure her that she hadn’t suffered any permanent damage and remained “cognitively intact”.

However, Lauren insists that her near-death experience did bring about a profound change.

Rather than seeing a tunnel or bright light while clinically dead, she experienced something entirely different.

“I remember only a feeling of extreme peace,” she revealed. “That peace stayed with me for weeks after I woke up.”, reports the Mirror.

This sense of tranquillity was so potent that she still reflects on it when life gets tough. Sometimes, she even revisits the exact spot where she collapsed.

“I definitely don’t fear death anymore,” she confessed. “Despite not seeing anything distinct, I don’t feel worried about it at all.”

Lauren believes her ordeal has divided her existence into two separate chapters – the period before her heart gave out, and everything that followed.

“I feel like my first life ended in February,” she explained. “And I woke up to my second life.”

Whilst she made sufficient progress to walk, trek and briefly get back to her job, she insists she’s never genuinely felt like her old self again.

She currently has a defibrillator fitted in her chest, which she confesses acts as a perpetual reminder of just how near she came to losing her life.

“When people tell me I look well, it feels eerie,” she revealed. “Because I don’t feel like the same person.”