Tina Hines went out for a walk with her husband Brian that afternoon on April 12, 2018, in Phoenix, Arizona. They never made it to the door; Tina’s heart stopped right there, and for 27 minutes there was no pulse, no breathing, and no sign of life.
Brian didn’t just stand there. He performed CPR while the paramedics arrived, and they revived her several times before loading her into the ambulance. At the hospital, they intubated her and induced a coma so her body could withstand what had happened.
When she woke up, she couldn’t make any sound because of the tube keeping her alive. She gestured for paper and a pen and, with her hand trembling, wrote two words that took her family a while to decipher: ‘It’s real.’ Later, once she had her voice back, she said that she had felt complete peace and seen a figure with its arms open, surrounded by colors she never knew how to name. Today she repeats it in every interview, convinced that heaven was waiting for her on the other side.
