In Atalanta, Georgia,

one particular case was about to astonish experts

and doctors.

Dr. Michael Sabom, cardiologist,

was also studying near death experiences

when he came across one extraordinary account.

>> Pam's case is unique in the fact

that she had her near death experience at a time

she was fully instrumented and under

medical observation.

And I think if you wanted to construct

a laboratory experiment

where you had someone and took them

as close to death or perhaps even into death

as possible and then bring them back

and ask them what they could recall,

Pam's case probably comes closest to that

than any other so far that we know of.

>> Pam Reynolds was an established

songwriter/singer and a busy working mother.

In 1991, she became seriously ill.

>> I began to experience extreme dizziness,

loss of speech,

some difficulty in moving the body

and it was at that point that my physician

recommended that I have a CT scan.

And a CT scan of course showed the aneurysm

and it was a big one.

It was a giant aneurysm.

I was referred to a neurologist

and the neurologist gave me little or

no chance of survival at all.

>> But for Pam, there was one last hope.

She made what she assumed would be

her last journey,

2000 miles to the Barrow Neurological Institute

in Phoenix, Arizona.

>> I remember the bright sunshine.

The light in Phoenix, Arizona is piercing,

from sun up on.

And I remember getting into the shower.

I had been given a scrub kit

with a hard bristle brush and antibacterial solution

to reduce the chances of infection, I'm sure.

To this day I can remember the stinging

of that brush and that solution on my skin.

I can remember being placed on a gurney.

I remember the squeaking of the wheels.

>> Neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert Spetzler,

decided to take on Pam's case against all odds.

>> What we're looking at is the aneurysm

that she had which is at the very base of the brain.

This is the balloon that can burst

and cause this incredible catastrophe

in the patient's brain.

Why is this so difficult in this particular case?

I think probably easiest to see here by,

when you look at this plastic model of the head,

and we turn it around and we take out the top

of the brain.

What we're really talking about is that aneurysm

is all the way at the very base of the brain

and that is why it is so incredibly difficult

to get there.

So, you have to go somehow through the skull,

because remember the face is here

and the neck is down here,

to get down to this very difficult spot.

When we look at it on an actual brain,

we can actually see where that is.

That's the bottom of brain.

If that fit in here, it would be like this.

So, we're going to turn both of them around.

And now we're looking at what's called,

the brain stem which is this function.

All the function of the brain passes through

the brain stem.

And where this particular aneurysm was

is sitting right smack dab at the very middle

at the base of the brain.

And that's why it's so difficult to access,

that's why it's so difficult to treat,

and that's why it's so catastrophic when it bleeds.

>> The operation Pam was about to undergo

was known as, Operation Stand Still.

Pam's body temperature would be lowered

to between ten and fifteen degrees centigrade,

her heart and breathing stopped,

her brainwaves flattened,

and the blood drained from her head.

She would be clinically dead for a whole hour

of the operation.

>> What we want to do is we want to bring that brain

to a halt.

We don't just want the brain to be asleep,

we want the metabolic activity of the brain to stop.

Every measurable output that the body puts out,

really disappears completely.

So, that you have no measurable

neuronal activity whatsoever.

Prior to the operation starting,

a lot of activity goes on.

The patient is put to sleep.

The eyes are taped shut.

there are little clicking devices put in each ear

in order to monitor the brain.

The patient is then completely covered.

The only thing that's really exposed

is the area of the head where we work.

>> I don't remember an operating room.

I don't remember seeing Dr. Spetzler at all.

I was with a fellow,

one of his fellows was with me at that time.

After that, nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Until the sound.

[bone saw whirring]

And the sound was unpleasant.

It was guttural.

It was reminiscent of being in a dentist office.

And I remember the top of my head tingling

and I just sort of popped out of the top of my head.

And I was then looking down at the body.

I knew it was my body,

but I didn't care.

My vantage point was sort of sitting

on the doctor's shoulder.

I remember the instrument in his hand.

It looked like the handle to my electric toothbrush.

I had assumed they were going to open the skull

with a saw.

I had heard the term, saw,

but what I saw looked a lot more like a drill

than a saw.

It even had little bits that were kept in this case

that looked like a case that my father stored his

socket wrenches in when I was a child.

And I remember distinctly hearing a female

voice saying,

>> We have a problem.

Her arteries are too small.

>> Try the other side.

>> It seemed to come from further

down on the table.

I do remember wondering, what are they doing?

Because this is brain surgery.

And what had happened was they accessed

the femoral arteries in order to drain the blood.

And I did not understand that.

>> In the process of my study,

I went and interviewed Dr. Spetzler and looked at

his operative report and I found that what she saw

from her out of body experience,

seemingly corresponded very accurately

to what had actually occurred.

She looked at the bone saw that was being used

to cut open her skull.

I didn't have any idea what this thing looked like.

She described it as an electric toothbrush

which I thought was ridiculous.

I had to send off for a picture of this saw

to Fort Worth, Texas to confirm whether or not

what she said it looked like actually was accurate.

And I was astounded when I saw the picture.

It indeed does resemble an electric toothbrush.

>> I don't think that the observations she made

were based on what she experienced as she went

into the operating room theater.

They were just not available to her.

For example, the drill and so on,

those things are all covered up.

They're not visible.

They were inside their packages.

You really don't begin to open until the patient

iIs completely asleep so that you maintain

a sterile environment.

>> She also heard a conversation

during the operation between Dr. Spetzler

and the cardiovascular surgeons who were cutting

into her legs to hook her up to

the heart-lung machine

When the cardiac surgeon incised her right groin,

she found that her veins and arteries were too small

and she had to go over to the left side.

And there was some conversation at the time

between the doctors.

Pam accurately recalled hearing that conversation.

>> At that stage in the operation,

nobody can observe, hear,

in that state.

And I find it inconceivable that your normal senses

such as hearing, let alone the fact that she

had clicking modules in each ear,

that there was any way for her to hear those

through normal auditory pathways.

>> So, again, this is very suggestive of the fact

that there was some sort of extrasensory perception

or out of body experience

or whatever occurring at the time that was allowing

Pam to hear accurately and seemingly see

accurately what was going on in the operating room

at the time.

>> I felt a presence.

I sort of turned around to look at it.

And that's when I saw the very tiny pinpoint of light.

And the light started to pull me.

And there was a physical sensation to the pulling

and I know how that must sound.

Nonetheless, it's true.

There was a physical sensation,

rather like going over a hill real fast,

in your tummy.

And I went toward the light.

The closer I got to the light, I began to discern

different figures,

different people.

And I distinctly heard my grandmother call me.

She has a very distinct voice.

And I immediately went to her.

And it felt great.

And I saw an uncle who passed away

when he was only thirty-nine years old.

He taught me a lot.

He taught me to play my first guitar.

And I saw many, many people I knew

and many, many I didn't know

but I knew I was somehow in someway

connected to them.

I asked if God was the light.

And the answer was,

no, God is not the light,

the light is what happens when God breathes.

And I stood there thinking,

I'm standing in the breath of God.

At some point in time,

I was reminded that it was time to go back.

Of course, I had made my decision to go back

before I ever laid down on that table

but you know, the more I was there,

the better I liked it.

And my uncle was the one who brought me

back down to the body.

But then I got to where the body was and I looked

at the thing, and I for sure did not want

to get in it because it looked pretty much

like what it was,

as in void of life.

And I knew it would hurt

so, I didn't want to get in.

He kept reasoning with me.

He said it's like diving into a swimming pool,

just jump in.

No.

[laughing]

What about the children?

You know what?

I think the children will be fine.

[Laughing]

Honey, you gotta go.

No.

He pushed me.

He gave me a little help there.

It's taken a long time, but I think I'm ready

to forgive him for that.

[Laughing]

But - I landed - I saw the body jump.

I saw it do this number.

And then he pushed me and I felt it

do this number.

>> This is a classic near death experience

occurring under extremely monitored

medical conditions where every known vial sign

and basically every clinical sign of life

and death was being monitored at the time.

And that's what makes her case so remarkable

and so valuable to us.

>> I don't have an explanation for it.

I don't know how it's possible for it to happen

considering the physiological state she's in.

At the same time, I have seen so many things

that I can't explain that I don't want to be

so arrogant as to be able to say,

that there's no way it can happen.

>> Pam's case points to the fact that somehow

she was able to retain coherent perception

and memory whilst clinically dead.