In 2019, Charlotte Holmes was having a normal check-up with her cardiologist when she received some surprising news.
During the appointment, her blood pressure jumped to 234/134, which is significantly higher than the normal 120/80 and signals a hypertensive crisis.
After being told she was “not going home,” Charlotte, of Wichita, Kansas, was sent to the hospital “to get that blood pressure down.”
The old woman was placed in a room and hooked up to an IV in the hopes that it would relax the blood vessels and lower the amount of effort required by her heart.
Danny, her spouse of nearly 50 years, was by her side, watching as medics treated his wife.
“Immediately they called this code, and everybody started rushing in and they just started working on her,” says Danny. “My feelings were…”I’m wondering if I’ll be able to bring her home.”
Then Danny recounts that his wife began talking about “the flowers.”
“Well, I looked around and realized there were no flowers in that room. things’s when I realized she wasn’t here when things happened.”
Then Charlotte’s heart stopped and according to both her and her husband, she was clinically de:ad for the next 11 minutes.
“I was above my body. I could see Danny standing in the corner,” Charlotte explains of her “out of body experience.” “[Danny] had backed up. I could see them, all the nurses around. And then I opened my eyes. I looked around at the beauty. I could see the trees, I could see the grass. And everything was swaying with the music. I can’t convey to you what heaven looked like, [because] it’s so above what we could even imagine, a million times.”
The woman shares that she was guided into “heaven by angels,” and adds, “There is no fear.” It feels like pure delight. When the angels take over, there is no fear. Going home is wonderful delight.”
She then claims she was reunited with deceased family members: “I saw my mother. I saw my father. I saw my sister. “I noticed family members standing behind.”
Charlotte then describes how she was blinded by what she saw next.
“There was a bright light behind my parents and dad. I couldn’t look at it. So vibrant. But I felt sure it was [God]. I noticed a toddler. And I remember thinking, ‘Who is this?’.” She was told that it was her child, whom she miscarried many decades ago when she was around six months pregnant.
“I remember them holding up the baby and saying, ‘Charlotte, it’s a boy.'” Then he was gone. So when I saw this toddler, I thought, ‘God, how is that possible?’ He says, “They continue to grow in heaven.” But there is no time. It’s eternal. So, after 48 years, my child, our child, is now a toddler.
Unfortunately, her journey did not stop there.
Charlotte awoke after 11 minutes and described the feeling of returning to her body, saying, “I felt myself being drawn into my body.” I felt agony where I had not felt it before. “I felt the sorrow.”
Her husband, who was relieved when he spotted her blinking her eyes, says, “I knew then I was going to get to bring [her] home.”
Charlotte recovered and continued to share her tale until her death on November 28, 2023, at age 72.
She leaves behind her 52-year-old husband, daughter Chrystal Holmes Meek, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
