Tessa Romero is a 50-year-old journalist and mother. During a regular school run, she faced something she never imagined. Her heart suddenly stopped, and she was clinically dead for 24 minutes.
But that’s where her story begins. These few minutes became the most important moments of her life. She claimed that she encountered something so profound that it changed her understanding of life and death.
For those 24 minutes, Tessa recounts an overwhelming sense of peace and serenity. She says as she floated above her lifeless body, she witnessed paramedics frantically trying to revive her.
“There was no fear, only calm,” she recalls. “I could see everything, but it felt like I had left the burden of my body behind.”
This could be like numerous experiences others made who came back after being declared dead. However, what makes this unique is her acute awareness of her surroundings. She claims that despite her body and its functions ceasing to exist and work, she was fully conscious.
She felt detached from herself and became a silent observer of the world around her. I saw my own face, pale and motionless, and yet I wasn’t afraid. I felt like a silent observer, floating above the chaos,” she explains.
She wanted to talk to people around her who were trying their best to wake her up. But she couldn’t. Yet she felt their emotions and their intentions. It was something she could never describe in words.
What you deny subdues you. What you accept transforms you.
~Carl Gustav Jung 💙
{Tessa Romero, 24 Minutes On The Other Side: Living Without Fear of Death Beyond Life, Book 1}
2/2 pic.twitter.com/7NnFPCdzsy
— @सुnita (@shridangupta) October 17, 2024
Tessa felt that 24 minutes might feel like that to humans, but time as a concept ceased to exist. Tessa describes an environment where every moment stretches into eternity. “Everything felt denser, more meaningful,” she says. “There was no ticking clock—just a vast, infinite clock now.”
She described her surroundings as bathed in white and full of warmth. She felt as if she did not have to talk to anyone or try to describe herself and finally she was at peace.
This altered perception has now become a guiding force in her day-to-day life. It has prompted her to seek purpose in every moment.
What led to Tessa’s heart-stopping that day and her proud journey has been a mystery for doctors for some time. Doctors were unable to pinpoint the cause of her fatigue, dizziness, and chest pains.
She now believes her physical symptoms may have been somehow the result of her deep, unresolved emotional stress. “I think my body was trying to tell me something my mind wouldn’t accept,” she admits.
This connection between emotional turmoil and physical decline has now led her to explore holistic approaches to health. She emphasizes healing on both physical and emotional levels.
Now, Tessa says she is not afraid of death. She claims that what she saw and felt was not an end but a transition. Her experience has given her a peaceful acceptance of her mortality. She now lives with great appreciation for her life and all its wonders.
Since her near-death experience, Tessa has been committed to living more mindfully. She emphasizes the power of love, kindness, and human connection as life’s true legacies. Her story is a powerful reminder that the essence of life may lie not in its duration but in its depth.
