BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

He remained dead for 20 minutes. The Man With the Big Beard and Long Hair “The next thing I remembered was lying on a bed with someone pounding on my chest,” Richard recalls. “They were doing CPR on me.” Suddenly, he found himself standing next to the bed watching himself being resuscitated. Standing alongside him he saw his grandfather and grandmother. His grandfather had died in 1994, at age 92, and his grandmother passed two years later in 1996, at age 94. Richard had been very close to them. “Some guy with a big beard and long hair was there with them,” Richard recalled. “Oddly, I didn’t have to communicate with them. If I thought something, they answered.” What are you guys doing here? I thought. “We just came to check on you.” Who’s the guy with the big beard and long hair? “That’s Jesus.” At that point, Richard said the man they called Jesus asked, 'Do you want to come with us or stay here?' “I stood there thinking about it. I thought of my employees who depended on me for a job. Mostly, I thought about my parents who were 76. I thought of how hard it would be on them to lose me now. “I’ll stay here,” I said. “I’ll go with you guys later when I’m old.” Instantly, Richard was back in his body. His mother, seeing signs of life, cried out with joy. “Look! His heart is beating again!” The medical staff worked hard to stabilize him enough to be flown to another hospital—one with a burn unit. They assessed his injuries as they worked. Richard had been hit with 7200 volts of electricity that had burned a 2-inch hole into his brain. He had a traumatic brain injury and was declared brain-dead. His hand had a hole burned through it. His wrist was also burned. The fall had shattered the left side of his face, and his hip was broken in two places. Likely, Richard would not survive the flight, doctors speculated. If he did survive, he wouldn’t be able to sit, stand, walk, talk or recognize anyone. After doctors spent six hours working to stabilize him, Richard was loaded onto a helicopter to be transported to the burn unit of Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown. En route, he died again. Once more, he was resuscitated and arrived at the hospital alive. On life support, he appeared to be what the doctors had predicted: brain-dead. The wound to his head required 44 staples to close. The fall had broken ribs which injured his liver, kidneys, spleen, gallbladder, pancreas and lung. His punctured lung had filled with blood. Richard’s parents remained at his bedside for 10 days. Finally, after seeing no change they made what seemed the only compassionate decision. “Take him off life support,” Richard’s mother said, speaking on his behalf to the doctors. “Our son wouldn’t want to live this way.” 14 : BVOV

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