My heart stopped for 10 minutes… what I saw in the afterlife and sign it wasn’t part of God’s plan

Cecilia Wichmann counts herself lucky to be alive. 

The 45-year-old from Wills Point, Texas, has almost died twice following two cardiac arrests and the first time, her heart stopped beating for 10 minutes. 

By all accounts she should be dead. 

Nine in 10 survive if treatment starts within the first minutes after sudden cardiac arrest, but the rate drops by about 10 percent each minute longer.

While on death’s door, Wichmann said she had profound experiences that have gone on to change her life forever and she no longer fears death. 

While she cannot recall any strong visions of the afterlife she believes this was because she ‘wasn’t ready’ and still has things she needs to ‘accomplish on Earth’.

Cecilia said: ‘I believe in God and I think that’s one of the reasons I’m still alive. I felt a stronger bond to God because I figured there must be a reason to survive this because otherwise he would’ve taken me home.

‘I’m also trying to find the reason why I didn’t go home those days. I pray a lot more than I did before all this.

‘I could’ve gone to the afterlife but instead I stayed on earth, I think it’s a sign I have a purpose that I need to fulfil. I’m not sure I’ve found the exact purpose yet.’

Cecilia experienced her first near-death experience while she was on the phone to a friend and she suddenly collapsed. 

The Texan credits her friend for saving her life by calling paramedics who performed emergency CPR and raced her to hospital.

Defying the odds, the healthcare professional survived a second cardiac arrest the following year, when her heart stopped while she was waiting for a pacemaker to be fitted.

Cecilia says she had numerous fainting episodes before her cardiac arrests but doctors merely put them down to ‘stress’ and never investigated.

They’re still unsure what triggers them.

Cecilia was diagnosed with Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) in 2019, a condition in which the person’s heart rate increase quickly after getting up from sitting or lying down, which can lead to symptoms like dizziness or lightheadedness.

But PoTS isn’t directly linked to cardiac arrest.

Doctors can’t rule out that she has underlying heart problems that affect the way the organ beats and pumps blood. 

Cecilia says her brushes with death in September 2017 and March 2018 inspired her to become an emergency medical technician (EMT) and ‘give back’.

She also says the experiences went on to make her faith ‘stronger’. 

Touching on what happened when she nearly died further, she revealed: ‘I imagine I could have had contact with God and the afterlife but what happened, I have no clue. I probably saw something. What I saw and what I experienced – I wasn’t ready for it. I’m just grateful that I actually came back.

‘Then you hear other peoples stories of them dying and what they saw and I think “oh that’s not fair”. I think when the day comes that I’m not coming back I will. I was just not ready for it at that time.

‘I think I still have things to accomplish in this world and mentally am not ready to see the other side just yet but if God wants me back I want to know I’ve lived as fulfilling a life as I possibly can.

‘Being in the EMS has given me the opportunity to give back to people. To teach CPR and let people know how important it is to know and not to be the person freaking out and not knowing what to do. I think that’s part of my purpose on earth.’

She’s now sharing her story to raise awareness of PoTS – which affects an estimated 1 to 3 million people in the US – and the importance of knowing CPR.

Cecilia said: ‘My friend saved my life, I’m glad I was on the phone with her. I would absolutely not be alive if I hadn’t.

‘We were just catching up and laughing, it wasn’t a heated conversation or drama or anything.

‘I remember coming into my house and I was walking around and petting my dog and letting him out, just normal stuff you do when you’re on the phone to a friend.

‘I wasn’t dizzy, I wasn’t warm or cold and I didn’t have any pain anywhere. There was nothing that could have pointed to what was about to happen.

‘[My friend] said “you were talking fine and then mid-sentence you disappeared. You didn’t hang up but I heard some weird noises”.

‘She called the sheriff department and said to them “I have her on the line and can hear she is breathing in some way but she’s not responding to me”.

‘Thankfully my door was open and I had two big windows so he saw me lying inside.’

After CPR was performed on Cecilia for 10 minutes she was rushed to hospital where she stayed for 10 days.

Despite running a gauntlet of tests, baffled doctors couldn’t determine what caused it.

Cecilia said: ‘My chest was hurting after the CPR. I thought “what in the holy moly world has happened? Why is my chest hurting this bad?”

‘I think it was a couple of days of denial. It’s not supposed to happen at the age of 37 to someone living a “normal” life.

‘Then it was all these questions: “Why am I alive? Why didn’t I die? What’s my purpose? Why am I here?” Because I know the statistics aren’t good.

‘There were more questions than answers and many of those questions have not been answered yet.’

The survivor began experiencing random fainting episodes in May 2017 but was told it was merely ‘stress’ every time she went to the doctors.

Cecilia said: ‘They were just random and it was weird. I could be standing talking to somebody and just collapse.

‘I went to the ER every time and they always said it was stress or depression. It was never investigated what actually happened.

‘There wasn’t anything I could connect to stress.’

The healthcare professional had a second cardiac arrest in March 2018 in hospital as she waited to get her pacemaker fitted where her heart stopped for a minute.

Cecilia said: ‘The statistics to survive cardiac arrests aren’t good but I survived two.

‘What is it that God wants me to do on this planet earth that keeps me here? It’s got to be something.

‘It was a strength for me to know that now I had a pacemaker, I was grateful for getting that little piece of equipment.’

Cecilia said her experiences inspired her to become an EMT in April 2019 and she is now urging people to learn CPR.

Cecilia said: ‘[My cardiac arrests] inspired me. It was nothing that I had in mind before the first cardiac arrest. It’s my way of giving back, I’m honored to be able to do this job.

‘I don’t take tomorrow for granted, I try to live every day to the fullest and not just wait.

‘Get to know your CPR. If it wasn’t or the officer that knew what to do, I would probably not be here. I thank him everyday for being here as well.

‘You will probably never use it but you can be anywhere at any time and if somebody goes down you need to know what to do.’