A Canadian man who once dismissed all ideas of an afterlife says a near-fatal accident transformed his worldview and left him with an overwhelming sense of love and peace.

A Life-Threatening Accident

Jose Hernandez, then 46, was working as an electrical engineer on January 6, 2000, when his crew’s utility truck crashed. He suffered multiple broken ribs and struggled to breathe as emergency teams rushed him to hospital.
Despite being a firm atheist, he found himself silently asking for help — and wondering, for the first time, whether a higher power might exist.

“I Watched My Body From Across the Room”

Hernandez says he went into cardiac arrest twice, spending several minutes clinically dead. He recalls viewing the medical team from another point in the room, accompanied by a still, shadow-like figure.
When he “let go,” he felt a profound release and was pulled into a space filled with warm, vivid light. The sensation, he said, brought deep calm and a powerful feeling of love.

Encounters on “the Other Side”

In this state, Hernandez believed he reunited with his late father, with whom he’d had a difficult relationship. He described soaring over an Earth-like landscape and learning he could watch over his children.

What Science Says

Researchers studying near-death experiences have found striking similarities among people’s accounts. Common themes include peaceful feelings, bright light, and sensing the presence of loved ones — though not everyone experiences events in the same order.

Hernandez, now nearly 70, says the experience reshaped his understanding of life, death, and connection.