Table of Contents
Introduction and Accident
My name is Scott Drummond. I was able to have an experience that has changed my life. It started when I was 28 years old. I was working for the government and I was traveling a lot around the United States. I wasn’t very religious. I was having troubles with my marriage because I was always gone and my wife was put with so many responsibilities. I felt like life was more about me and my successes in the business world.
Well, one weekend I came back. It was Christmas time and I spent time on Christmas with my family. And then I decided to go skiing and we went up to Park City, Utah. And what a great experience it was. We had a beautiful day and about 11 o’clock a lady was coming down the ski slope and she ran into a group of us in the lift line. Now what we did is we helped her up and we helped her on her way and she got in the lift line. And I skied the rest of the day not knowing what had happened to me or felt any pain or anything because it was really so cold outside.
Well, at the end of the day we went down to the car but when I took my glove off my left thumb was hanging straight down. It was not hurting at the time because I was still standing outside in the cold. But once I got in the car the pain started getting worse and worse. And so we made a call from Park City down to downtown and got a hold of my wife. And she made the appointment to get me into the hospital as quick as possible.
We made the drive down and pulled into the hospital emergency room and the doctor was there. They rushed me into the operating room just as quick as they could because my thumb was dislocated and the only thing that was holding my thumb together was the skin hanging down.
The Surgery and Death
What they do is they put a tourniquet here on your arm and it’s done of air. It’s an air tourniquet. It has two valves on it and those valves are used to release the pressure. But the nurse says I’ve never done this procedure before. And the doctor says I can talk you through this procedure because what you’re doing is you’re opening and closing valves for pressure use.
I sat there on the table and I was listening to them and everything was going just fine. And they did the local on me so that I would not feel when he cut me open and started to put my thumb back together again. As time went I started feeling pressure right here in my arm and it was pressure that didn’t feel very good. And so I asked for them to do something about it and the nurse opened the valve and it released the pressure and I started feeling real good again. But as time went the pressure started coming back on again. And when the nurse went to release the valve she forgot to tighten the other valve first. And so I felt the something go up my arm across my chest and into my heart.
Now the next thing I knew I was sitting above my body. It was the most incredible experience that anyone could experience watching yourself on the table laid out and watching the doctor operate on me and continue to do the operation. But the fearful thing was is when—not for me but I could see it in the doctor—was when the nurse went running out of the room and said that she had killed me.
Out-of-Body Experience
I was standing above my body and there was someone else sitting by me. It was a person that I could never look at but I knew they were there. And when they would talk they would talk through their mind and I would talk back to them through my mind.
Now during the operation I could sit there and watch the doctor and the people that were there trying to revive me. I could hear him talking and I could see the commotion going on in the room. But the doctor was so diligent in finishing his surgery that I was quite impressed. And the person that was sitting next to me was happy with what was going on. It was the most peaceful feeling that I have ever experienced even now. I go back to that feeling of peace that I felt.
I did not know the person that was next to me but I’ll recognize that voice if I hear it again. And I knew that that person was there to help me. Some people believe in guardian angels. I for one now believe in guardian angels because he was sitting right next to me and I know it was a man. But we sat and we watched it. We watched him cut me open, lay out my thumb, and I watched him put a pin in right through the bone that’s right here to hold it in place. I remember the pin sticking out just a little bit further than what it was supposed to and I remember him going in and cutting it and making it so that it wouldn’t protrude through the skin.
But then there became a time where the person next to me said it was time to go. I knew that there was no doubt in my mind that it was time to go. And where I was going I didn’t know. But what happened next was almost like a twinkling of an eye and I was standing in an open field.
The Heavenly Realm
It was the most beautiful surrounding that I could have ever been in. And I’ll tell you why: because where I was standing was in grass and grass was up to about my waist. And that grass was not blowing like the wind; it was flowing. And I remember so vividly touching the tops of that grass and feeling something so special. It was like that grass was full of love. I don’t know how to describe that other than I could feel that love coming from the grass.
Now one thing that was told to me when I was standing there by the person that was behind me was I was never to look back. But what I could do is I could look to the left and I could look to the right and I could look in front of me. And to the left, the far left were trees. These were the most unusual looking trees that I have ever seen. They were trunks that were just huge in size. I could see leaves at the top, beautiful leaves. And something that I experienced was color. Color that I have never seen here on the earth. You know we see things in 3D here. You ten times that and the colors were just magnificent. The green that was on top of the trees were just something I’ve never experienced before. The bark on those trees was the most beautiful brown color that I’ve ever seen.
Now to the right of that forest was wildflowers that I have never seen before in my life because mainly because the colors were just so beautiful. They were colors that I’ve never experienced before. And they were wildflowers and the flowers came up again up to about my waist. I have never experienced love come from flowers, from plants, from trees. But I felt like it was alive but it was alive with love. And it gave me so much peace. But when people ask how can you describe the colors, they’re indescribable.
I was standing there kind of still wondering first of all where I was at and wondering what I was doing there. And I knew that because I wasn’t allowed to look back, I knew I must have been dead. There was no fear, no fear whatsoever. No fear, no fear whatsoever. It was almost like your mother putting her arm around you and just sending her love to you.
Bringing it into this world in front of me was a cloud. And it was really a really different because the cloud wasn’t very far away. Now I’ve heard people say that it must have been some kind of a veil. The color of it was when you look at a pearl white color; it is very pure and it was bright, extremely bright.
Life Review and Return
What happened next was oh gosh something that is very hard to talk about. I watched a video of my life. It wasn’t a video that came out in a projection screen. It was a video in my head but the thing about this video was I lived it as the video was being done of my life.
I watched myself from the day I was born from birth all the way until I was 28 years old. I watched my parents raising me. I watched my brothers and sisters. I watched activities that we went to. I watched all the time and effort that my parents put into me teaching me sports. I watched good things that I had done but I also watched bad things that I did. One thing that I noticed that really hurt was the fact of how I treated my wife. At the time that I died I wasn’t very good to her. It was all about me. It was not about my family. It wasn’t about my wife. It was all about me and how I could get ahead and how much money I could make. And I realized that what I was doing was wrong. It wasn’t one of the better things that I watched but it was something that was real.
This was an experience that has really changed my life because as a businessman you always want to get ahead and many times you step on people along the way. And it is not the way it’s supposed to be done. We’re supposed to help each other in our jobs. We’re supposed to help our friends. We’re supposed to help people we come in contact. And this was made so vivid in my mind that I could have done better and I know I could have done better but I didn’t.
When the video was over and I was reviewing what I had done there was nobody to talk to, nobody to give an excuse to, nobody to discuss what had happened or what situation you were in. It was what it was and it was very real and I had accepted the fact that it happened. But one thing that I want you to know is it was done with love. Here on earth we’re not perfect. We’re all learning things every single day. And the best thing that we can do is learn from our mistakes. My dream at this point in my life is to have a better report when I go back to my father in heaven. And I know that’s who I was with. It was just such a warm, warm feeling.
And when this was all over I sat there for a few minutes and I noticed that the person next to me on my left was not there anymore and I was by myself. I knew that my life was over. I knew that I couldn’t look back. And the next thing I knew was a voice in my head said to walk forward. And so I walked forward knowing that whatever was going to happen was real and that I was going into my next step of my life even though it was not here on earth.
Well, I got up close to the cloud and an arm—this much of an arm—came through the cloud. Now I did not see a face. I didn’t see a body. But what I did see was an arm. And one thing that was unique before I tell you this next part is I did not see color. All I saw was something pure. It wasn’t white. It wasn’t brown. It wasn’t black. It was that arm was so pure looking that color was not an issue.
And the next thing that happened was I looked at his hands. I mean his hands were bigger than mine. Now I know that on the other side of that cloud there wasn’t just one man there. There was going to be other people with him. I could just sense it that there was more than I ever expected on the other side of that cloud. And I was reaching for the hand that was coming through that cloud. And before I knew it that arm pulled back and said: It is not yet your time. You have more things yet to do. And I’ll never forget that because it was word for word: It is not yet your time. You have more things yet to do. And I never saw the hand again. I never heard another voice again.
The next thing I knew I was in my body laying on the table as they were wheeling me out of the operating room. And I was having a war within my body. I didn’t want to come back because what I saw was colors that I have never seen before. I saw love that I had never felt before and that I had never shared with other people before. And I felt peace.
Well, as they were wheeling me out of the operating room the doctor said that I was all over the table and it was because of the war that was in my body. They wheeled me down the hall. My wife was sitting out in the hallway and the doctor walked up to her and said: He’s okay. Everything’s okay. Everything went just fine. We brought him back. And of course at that time my wife Connie just about freaked out because she knew nothing of what was going on.
Well, there was a paper on my chest and it was a death certificate that had said that I had passed away for 20 minutes. But the time that I was gone there was no time. That did not mean one thing. I can’t tell you what how much time I spent watching the video of myself but I do know that what had happened was real.
Aftermath and Gifts
Now for three days afterwards I had the privilege of feeling total peace in my life. And it’s something that I emulate, try to emulate every single day is that feeling of peace that I felt. But I couldn’t talk to anybody about it because I was afraid that because it was so sacred to me I didn’t want anyone to degrade it because it was so real in my life.
Was it a dream? No, because I lived it. I see this video in my mind every day. I watch what happened to me every single day. I attempted to tell my story several times and people would look the other way or didn’t understand or didn’t want to even pay attention to what I was talking about. So I kind of kept it inside for 40 years.
A year ago I came out with a story because of the issues that was happening with COVID-19. And what it did is it gave me a chance to hopefully share with people what to expect. I realized during the experience that I must have come from somewhere and what I was doing here on this earth was to learn to grow and to have experiences with people that I was around. I’m nothing special but what it did in my experience was humble me.
Now my wife heard a little bit about this story. I just bits and pieces because Connie and I have been married for 47 years. We have four children now. We have 12 grandchildren and you know we’ve been together a lot and we travel a lot together. And so she knows me better than anyone there is. And I asked her for opinion and she said: I think it’s time for you to step forward and tell your story. And I looked at her and I said: Are you sure? I don’t want people to degrade it. I want them to know that what I’m saying is real. And she says: They will know that it’s real.
And I being a religious person I said a prayer and I said: God, if this is something that you want me to share with people in my neighborhood or my family. I thought okay it might be worth it. And then the next thing that came to my mind was: It’s all about the one. And I went I had a hard time comprehending what does that mean: all about the one. And I went: I went to her and I said: If I could affect one person with my story in my life this would be all worth it. And this has been such an honor to be able to talk to people about their experiences. The stories that I’ve heard from people around the world have just been unbelievable. People that have come forward and told me their stories. Some similar to mine, some not as similar as mine but the feeling they had was the same. The feeling they felt was love and they felt peace.
And I’ve had people ask me what I learned from this experience, if I’ve been given gifts when I came back. I couldn’t learn everything that had happened to me at that time. It was a continual learning process because well we’re human. But I have the ability to block pain ever since I was 28. If anything painful happened I had the ability to clear the mechanism in my head and block pain. And I know that it’s a gift. It’s kind of a scary one at times because if you need to go to the doctor you need to go to the hospital you have to be able to describe to the doctor what kind of pain you’re having. But it’s something that even when I go to the dentist I have the ability not to take any meds and block the pain and take my body to a different place while the dentist is working on me.
I realize that even today that it’s a gift that I feel very fortunate to have. I can see color different now. I have the ability to taste colors. And I know you may not understand that. I can look at a blue or a red or a yellow and see that color differently because I think that colors also show love. I can’t describe it. It’s just something that I feel and that I know.
One other simple gift that is given to me is I can take a seed and put it in my hand and I can look at that seed and watch it sprout. I can watch it grow into a stem. I can watch the flowers develop on that stem after the leaves come on. I can watch the fruit that it is developing from that plant. And I have the ability to look at that fruit or vegetable and taste it while all being right there in my hand as a seed. These things I know were gifts.
And I want you to know if you soften your eyes, just soften your eyes and be in tune that you’ll be able to see more things than you realize that are around you. And have the ability to be able to listen to my guardian angel if you want to call that or the spirit and try to help people in having a better day even if it’s just with a simple word. Because there are a lot of people that wonder why they’re here. I felt that way for a lot of years: why is life so hard on me or why did that happen to my friend. I don’t have the answers to that.
Lessons Learned
But what I did learn was life is to be enjoyed. First thing I would express to people is don’t look back. Don’t look back at what you’ve done in your life. Take a good look at your life as it is today right now and start looking towards the future. We all have the ability to change if we want to. If you want to make a difference just be kind to somebody. Be kind to a friend. Be kind to a fellow worker. And find out the reaction that they get by you being kind to them. Most people are very defensive but there’s something about love that calms people down.
And since the day that I had my accident I actually learned how to pray. Praying is so simple. I wish I could explain how simple it is. All you’re doing is asking for help. But first of all be thankful for what is happening to you. Then don’t be afraid to knock on that door and ask for help. So many times I’ve learned that if I ask for help it’s amazing the help that I get. It’s almost like it comes tenfold. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it.
And you myself we are children of God. Now I don’t talk a lot about religion because religion is your belief. But what I can tell you is don’t be afraid to pray and ask for help. And something that I have done since my accident is setting my priorities for the day. But you can’t just think about it. You have to write it down. And I know this is nothing new. Something I had to do in the business world all the time was set goals. But in life you have the ability to write your own goals. What do you want to do in your life. And that’s not I’m not going towards being a wealthy person, somebody who has a lot of money. But very simple things. I wake up in the morning and I say: I’m gonna try to make a difference in somebody’s life. I work on those three things every single day: being kind to others, try to be a good example, and show that there’s something more after we leave this life.
Now is there people out there that are not happy with the world? Yes there is. I’m not gonna tell you stories that there isn’t. I’ve had a lot of people that have told me that I’m up in the night. But what I do do is talk to the ones that are positive because I think they have a more of a positive influence under the people that are around. And unfortunately many times it’s the ones that are talking the loudest that are causing some of the problems. Be one of the positive ones.
And if we do have a bone to pick with somebody today we have the ability to go to that person and say: I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the way that I treated you. And believe it or not that’s not a hard thing to do. It’s a scary thing to do but it is not hard because it’s pure to be able to sit down with somebody and say: I’m sorry for what I did to you. Whether it’s a family member and that usually is because family members don’t always get along. But if you can do it all of a sudden you build a bond with that person that will last a lifetime. But not only a lifetime but now into the eternities.
And one thing I want to do is say thank you to our first line workers, to the nurses and to the doctors and to our police officers and first-line people, firefighters, EMT people. They in my heart are my heroes. Things aren’t exactly pure right now in the world. You know there’s a lot of distraction, a lot of people that are hurt. But what we can do is we can learn how to be kind to people, kind to people that we’re around. Take the time to smile. Something as simple as a smile will make a difference in someone’s life.
If you see or feel something in your heart that somebody needs I’d encourage you to do it. Do whatever is asked to help someone else. There is a lot of good people in this world. There’s a lot of good that happens around this world, mostly in times of disaster. And I’m so thankful to know that there are good people that are out there in the world that are willing to help others.
It’s been a year now that I came out with my story. It has truly affected my life. It was like something was lifted off my shoulders that I had kept inside since I was 28 years old. I’m 68 now. I’ve waited a long time to talk about this story but the response from people has just been overwhelming. I’m so thankful that my father in heaven saved me for this time in my life to be able to share this story because it is something that is very real to me. It’s something that I live every day. I see this video in my mind every day. I watch what happened to me every single day. And to be able to share just one thing with someone is worth it. It is worth it.
- On the afterlife: “It was the most beautiful surrounding that I could have ever been in… I have never experienced love come from flowers, from plants, from trees. But I felt like it was alive but it was alive with love. And it gave me so much peace.”
- On life review: “I watched a video of my life… I lived it as the video was being done of my life… I watched good things that I had done but I also watched bad things that I did… It was what it was and it was very real… But one thing that I want you to know is it was done with love.”
- On gifts: “I have the ability to block pain… I can see color different now. I have the ability to taste colors… One other simple gift that is given to me is I can take a seed and put it in my hand and I can look at that seed and watch it sprout… These things I know were gifts.”
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