Woman 'died' for 27 minutes. Here's what happened when she returned

In an era marked by an increasing number of people revealing their near-death experiences and otherworldly encounters, Tina Hines stands as one such individual.

She found herself in a life-altering situation when she went into cardiac arrest in February 2018. Despite the relentless efforts of her husband, Brian, to revive her, Hines remained motionless. En route to the hospital, medics managed to revive her, but she repeatedly lost consciousness, and in total, she was pronounced dead for a staggering 27 minutes.

Tina Hines: 'It's real'

However, upon being intubated at the hospital, Hines miraculously regained consciousness and urgently requested a pen and paper. In barely legible handwriting, she scrawled the words, "It's real."

When asked to elaborate, she simply nodded upward.

"It was so real, the colors were so spectacular," Haynes told AZfamily.com, "I saw a character that I think was Jesus. I know something happens after death, I'm sure of it."

Maddie Johnson, Hine's niece, painstakingly recreated her aunt's handwritten message and shared it on Instagram, eliciting an emotional response from over 32,000 users. 

A Possible Explanation

While most individuals who undergo near-death experiences have no recollection of the time they were technically deceased, a significant minority, approximately 10 to 20% of the "revived dead," report experiencing visual or sensory episodes during that period. Although these episodes may appear mystical, scientists have made strides in understanding the underlying mechanisms of near-death experiences.

Her niece had the message tattooed:

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A post shared by Madie Johnson (@madiejohnson)

This year, researchers from the University of Michigan conducted a study involving rats. The findings indicated that brain activity increases just before death, surpassing even the most alert and conscious states. Dr. Jimo Borjigin, the study's director, explained that while many believed that the brain becomes inactive or less active than in a waking state after clinical death, his team's research shows the opposite. It becomes significantly more active during the dying process than in a waking state.

“While the mechanisms and physiological significance of these findings remain to be fully explored, these data demonstrate that the dying brain can still be active,” he said in an interview.

The study involved monitoring nine rats as they approached death. Within 30 seconds after their hearts ceased to beat, a sharp surge in high-frequency brain waves was observed.

Could Hine's experience simply be attributed to an elevation in high-frequency brain waves?

We may never definitively ascertain the answer.