Dr. Mary Neal, a respected spinal surgeon and mother of four, lived a life of science, logic, and discipline. But in 1999, during a kayaking trip in Chile, her life took a dramatic turn. Her kayak flipped and became pinned under a waterfall. Trapped underwater for nearly 30 minutes, Mary’s heart stopped yet what she experienced next shattered everything she thought she knew about life and death.

Instead of fear, she felt peace. As her body lay submerged, Mary described watching from above as her friends pulled her lifeless body from the river. She felt held by divine love and was greeted by radiant beings in a beautiful forest. They showed her a “life review” filled with understanding and compassion. Just before entering a glowing dome filled with souls, they gently stopped her. “It’s not your time,” they said and then came the warning: her oldest son, Willie, would die before adulthood.

Mary recovered physically but lived with the weight of the vision. Years later, on the same day she completed the manuscript for her memoir, To Heaven and Back, she got a call no parent should receive Willie had died in a tragic accident, just after turning 18. Though the grief was unbearable, she also felt a profound sense of peace. She had seen this moment before. Willie was not gone he was welcomed.

Her story, now widely known, has sparked deep conversations about near-death experiences. Scientists like Dr. Bruce Greyson affirm these events are not hallucinations, but consistent and powerful windows into consciousness. For Mary, what began as a tragic accident became a message of love, eternity, and unshakable faith one she now shares with the world.