On the morning of April 1, 2008, Chase Skylar DeMayo didn’t show up for work at Langley Air Force Base, where he was posted as a survival evasion resistance and escape instructor.

His supervisor used a key to access his dorm room and found him unconscious, so the then 19-year-old was rushed to hospital for x-rays and blood tests.

Doctors couldn’t find anything wrong, but it was there, he died for several minutes, after watching his heart monitor flatline, and got a glimpse of what happens when you die.

Lying on his hospital bed, Chase’s vision suddenly blurred and everything went hazy.

‘The last thing I heard was alarms going off,’ Chase, 38, explains. ‘A calming voice told me that it would be OK, and I felt no fear at all – only peace.’

An air embolism had entered his IV drip at the hospital, causing his cardiac arrest.

‘The pain that came up my arm felt like something five, ten times too large in that vein, it was so painful you could almost feel every centimetre of it travelling up,’ he told Coming Home, a YouTube channel that covers near-death experiences.

Once his heart stopped, he recalls floating in mid-air as he was greeted by a familiar face and voice; Jesus. It makes sense, since growing up in Orlando, Florida, he was adopted by his grandparents and experienced a religious upbringing.

‘I watched my body from above as I spun upward like a tornado, surrounded by lights, angels, laughter and music like bells,’ the married dad-of-one says.

‘I ended up in a vibrant garden with colours brighter than anything here on Earth. There, I saw Jesus.’

He explains he didn’t look how Jesus was typically depicted, instead wearing a warm smile with curly brown hair and green eyes.

‘He was playing with a child who was my younger, happier self,’ Chase adds. ‘We connected without words. He told me to go back and spread love, laughter, light and joy.

‘And reminded me of my true purpose on Earth beyond everyday struggles. No matter my past, I had light to chase and share.’

He had had a few difficult months prior to this, having suffered an injury in both knees, which left him in the process of being medically retired from the military, and which meant he lost his sense of purpose.

But, as he died, Jesus was there, in heaven telling him his time hadn’t yet come.

‘I was always a happy kid but I think I’d forgotten that by the time I was 19, I was taking life so seriously and I was so worried about my career and the military, I’d forgotten about being that happy little kid, so it was a beautiful reminder of how I should be,’ he added on Coming Home.

Chase still can’t comprehend that he remembers everything from his near death experience. ‘I was fully aware, and the initial pain I felt turned into calm,’ he says.

‘There was an element of surprise, though no fear about dying. It was peaceful and beautiful, like cool ice leaving my chest.

‘I didn’t want to leave the garden at first, but I understood my purpose wasn’t done.’

When he woke up, he was in a different hospital in Hampton, Virginia, and he was unhooked from medical machines. Miraculously, his heart functioned as if nothing had happened.

‘I was discharged quickly, with tests showing no damage,’ Chase says.

But, in July, 2008, he was medically retired from the army and had to find a new career. He’s just completed his doctorate in holistic counselling, with the aim of guiding people toward their life’s purpose.

‘It’s changed everything for me,’ he explains. ‘I chase forgotten joys.

‘And I live with a reminder each day to live with purpose, chasing light even in dark times. I feel grateful and transformed.’

He didn’t tell his story for years, with fears of being ‘labelled’ a certain way, but he now believes his near-death experience was a ‘gift that reshaped [his] path’.

‘I’m no longer fearful of death and embrace how fragile life is instead,’ Chase explains.

‘I still communicate with Jesus, angels and find peace in the unknown.’

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