A man who died for seven minutes recalled what he saw before thankfully being brought back to life.
Performer and artist Shiv Grewal, 60, had just finished on the production on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, where he was playing Don Pedro.
Shorty after on 9 February, 2013, Shiv went into cardiac arrest after grabbing a bite to eat with his wife Alison near their home in southeast London.
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Shiv was technically dead for seven minutes before paramedics were able to revive him using CPR.
Speaking of that traumatic seven-minute experience, Shiv told PA Real Life: "I knew, somehow, that I was dead. I was aware my brain was dying and crying out for help. But, at the same time, I felt things completely separate from my body. It was like I was in a void but could feel emotions and sensations.
"Despite knowing I was dead, I also knew that there was a chance of coming home.
"I also understood that I’d be reincarnated, but I didn’t want that just yet. I wanted to return to life, to the material world and to my wife. I demanded that I was coming back and I got my wish.”
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Shiv went into cardiac arrest without any warning and said he felt 'pretty good' at the time.
But on the way home from his local French restaurant in Peckham, he started feeling tired and was struggling to articulate properly.
Once home, Shiv decided to have a lie down, while Alison rang NHS Direct for advice, as he suddenly started to feel very cold.
“That was basically the last thing I remember,” said Shiv.
While Alison was on the phone, Shiv's eyes rolled back into his head, causing his wife to scream down the phone to send an ambulance.
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Thankfully, paramedics arrived within minutes and were able to restart Shiv's heart - though Shiv claims to have gone through a 'cosmic journey', where he had the power to choose between life and death.
He said: "I felt there was a whole set of possibilities, various lives and reincarnations that were being offered to me. But I didn’t want them. I made it very clear that I wanted to return to my body, to my time, to my wife and to go on living.
"I needed to be proactive. I said I was coming back. I said it as a demand not a request."
Shiv was rushed to hospital for surgery at Kings College Hospital for an operation to put a stent into his fully clogged main artery.
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He subsequently went into an induced coma for a month - because of cerebral hypoxia - something that has left him with epilepsy.
Callum Jones