I ‘died’ and came back to life

I passed out in the snow for so long my pulse stopped

Two years ago, I finished work and went for a drink with my colleagues at the local bar. It was winter in Tresckow, Pennsylvania, and there was two feet of snow; I later found out it was the coldest night of the year. I had a good night, and remember having a few drinks. I’d planned to get a ride home but it got to the point where I really wanted to go and didn’t want to wait. I’d drunk too much to drive, so I decided to walk. It was two miles to my house, and I was just wearing jeans, a hoody and sneakers.

I managed to walk a mile and then I passed out. That’s the last thing I remember from that night.

I woke up 31 days later in hospital. Everyone around me was saying, “He’s awake! He’s awake!” I had no idea what had happened. I found out that I’d been in a coma, and had lost all my toes and both my little fingers. I was only 26. My dad told me that when he found me the next morning, they all assumed I was dead.

I’d spent the whole night out in the cold. My then-girlfriend had been calling my dad throughout the night, because she had no idea where I’d gone. My dad went out in the morning to look for me, and found me a mile from the house. Apparently I was blue and lifeless-looking in the snow.

He called the paramedics, and after checking me over, they also thought I was dead.

The human body is normally at 37 degrees, and if it falls below 25, the heart can stop beating. My body was at 18.

When they called the hospital, one of the doctors said they couldn’t pronounce me dead until I was at room temperature – I was frozen and he wanted to wait till I’d thawed. That doctor saved my life.

At that point, the paramedics did CPR on me, and took me straight to hospital. They used a special machine to thaw my body, and when they did an EEG scan, it showed my brain activity was normal.

It turned out I’d developed hypothermia, which had saved my life because my body had slowed down and so needed less oxygen. In a way, I’d ‘died’ and come back to life.

Everyone asks me if I saw anything while I was 'dead', but it was more like being in a very long dream. I saw all black – no gods or anything.

It was really hard to recover. I couldn’t walk for two years. When I found out about losing my toes and pinkies, it was really hard. My muscles were frozen. I had to relearn the basics - how to tie my shoes and brush my teeth. My brain was also affected; while my memories slowly came back, at first I couldn’t remember anything from the previous few years.

I had to use a walker for a year. It was so frustrating that I’d often say to Dad, can I just cut my legs off? Amputation had been discussed, but it wasn’t essential. I went for the tough recovery instead, and now I feel really lucky I didn’t go through with the amputation.

The accident changed everything. My parents are divorced and we weren’t that close before, but now we’re so much closer. I think because I ‘died’ it brought us all together. I see things from a different perspective now, too. I was out of control before and was drinking too much. I’m a lot more responsible now and don’t go out as much and I don’t take as many risks.

It really affected my life for a while, but now I’m back to normal. I’m 28, about to graduate from Penn State in Business and Psychology, and I want to be a counsellor in the future. I’m also still good friends with the doctor who decided to try to resuscitate me. It’s because of him that I’m alive.

My friends never let me walk anywhere anymore during the winter months – I get rides everywhere. But more seriously, I see the beauty in life now. I’m really blessed and feel like I’ve been given a second chance at life. Bad things can happen but there can be positives.

As told to Radhika Sanghani

Justin's story is on Winter's Weirdest Events on iPlayer 

Originally published 21 December 2018.