“I went to Heaven and came back” amazement when it happened from the doctors

It was 4:00 on Thursday March 15, 2007 when Darryl Perry died.

The former University of Florida therapist turned financial consultant and his wife, Nicky, had settled down to sleep around midnight after an otherwise normal day. Perry usually worked 16 hours a day, Monday through Saturday. The father of three also coached his 8-year-old son's baseball team. A deeply spiritual man, Perry usually woke up around 4 am to read the Bible and pray for his wife and children before starting the day. Although the XNUMX-year-old's sudden cardiac death was a shock to his wife, family and friends, Perry knew it would come.

Six months earlier, during his morning prayer, he says that God has given him a message. Alone in his room, Perry felt a hand touch his shoulder and a voice say: Son, you will have to die on my behalf.

Shocked, Perry asked, “Who is there? Is anybody here?" She felt a calming presence and believed it was God. Unable to face the fate of death, she pushed the moment away from her mind and continued her day.

Things were going well for Perry, his wife and their three children. They were happy. Life was beautiful He had never heard a message from God like this before. It couldn't have been true.

So, on the Wednesday before his death, Perry heard the voice again. He had just left his two youngest children in school. Son, it is time, said the voice. This time, there was no denying what he had heard. He sat in his truck in front of his children's school and cried for 30 minutes, not wanting to leave them.

But he made it through all day, night and a whole week, as usual. Until morning his wife woke to the sound of his unusual snoring. So, Nicky says, she was gasping for breath and foaming at her mouth before she stopped breathing.

“My spirit was in the air watching Nicky give me mouth to mouth,” Perry tells Guideposts.org. "I saw everything."

There was no trip from her bedroom to Heaven that she could remember. The next thing he knew was right there in a space of incredible brightness, warmth and indistinguishable colors.

“An angel God sent to receive me was called Gabriel,” says Perry. "It was huge." The 6'2, 230-lb Perry says Gabriel towered over him. With brown skin, a muscular build, hair in his hair and an immeasurable wingspan, Gabriel never said a word to Perry and Perry was never afraid. When Gabriel pointed to his back, Perry climbed up to rest while Gabriel flew him across the Sky to see his loved ones who had passed.

“I saw my uncle, my grandfather, my wife's grandmother,” recalls Perry. And then, he says, he saw God.

"God in Heaven is a bright light," he says, as he was unable to distinguish any distinguishing features, only the presence of complete peace.

Perry began to celebrate, repeating himself over and over, “I did it! I've done it!"

Discover new Guideposts books with incredible stories of those who visited paradise and returned

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Back in the hospital, Perry's body was connected to a life support machine. The neurologist told Nicky that the only brain activity recorded on the EEG machine were seizures, signs of brain cell death. After an episode like Perry's, she was told that irreparable brain damage and death occurred within 4-6 minutes of the brain without oxygen. It took the paramedics 7 minutes to restore Perry's heart rate.

Perry's body was transported to the Orlando Regional Medical Center and placed in a hypothermia induction chamber to prevent further brain damage while Nicky prayed for a miracle.

The neurologist suggested that she prepare to remove her husband from life support. Instead, she sought out Dr. Ira Goodman's second opinion in central Florida.

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In the presence of God, Perry says, there is no fear, no anger, only peace. In the midst of his celebration, Perry says God spoke to him.

“My people have forgotten my power,” he heard God say. “They said, 'Son, come back.'” Perry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't want to go back. He refused. He said no! "

So, he says that God pulled back the veil between Heaven and earth and allowed him to see his family. They were smiling, frozen, like in a photo. The same peace he felt when he realized he was in Heaven remained as he agreed to return to his body on earth.

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For days Dr. Goodman would examine Perry, give him the order to obey, and nothing would register. Perry lay motionless in his bed, with no sound or movement beyond the hum of the machines. On March 27, day 11 of Perry's comatose state, Dr. Goodman entered his room, giving the same basic commands. "Open your eyes," Dr. Goodman told Perry. That day, Perry opened them.

Dr. Goodman had warned Nicky that even if Perry regained consciousness and could breathe on his own, he would be severely compromised, he would have no memory of himself or his family. He would never walk or speak again, he warned.

But when Perry opened his eyes, one of his nurses, named Missy, rushed to his side and asked, "Can you hear me?" Perry seemed to nod. “I'm Missy. Can you tell me Missy? " She asked him and he spoke the word Missy. By then, Nicky had rushed down the hall and was on the other side of Perry, holding his hand. "Who is that beautiful woman standing on the other side of you?" Missy asked and Perry turned his head and saw his wife. "I love you," her mouth told her.

His doctors still have no explanation for his recovery, other than the nickname they gave him: "The Miracle Man". For Perry, his return to earth is less of a mystery.

God's words to him in Heaven remain in the back of his mind: "My people have forgotten my power." When asked why he thinks God has sent him back, he says "I'm just talking to you [is] because I'm here."

"They said I would never talk, never know my family," says Perry, 10 years after that early prognosis. “Well, I've tried them all wrong. I go by bike. I walk every day and my memory is off the charts. " Nothing but the power of God could put this through, he says.

However, Perry continues to recover. After his heart episode, he was diagnosed with brain hypoxia, a chronic brain disease caused when he lost oxygen in the brain. Perry has learned that being a walking, talking miracle doesn't always mean days of total healing or frustration.

“I accepted the fact that I am always in the spotlight. People always look at me, ”he says of life after death. “Sometimes it gets difficult. It's like you have to be perfect all the time. "

Perry brings his frustrating moments on a punching bag that he uses for therapy. Some days she cries. Although his life will never be what it once was, Perry is not angry about returning to an altered state or having to leave the most peaceful and beautiful place he has ever lived.

“I can't be angry. I always ask God, 'What would you like me to do?' I'm here because He sent me back for Him. But I'll say, be careful what you ask of God! ”He says with a laugh.

Although the charismatic motivational speaker now has a slower, more confused speech, his message is stronger than ever.

“I'm not a quitter. I'll never stop, ”he says. "As long as God gives me the breath, I'm in the game."