A Kiwi woman has lived to tell the phenomenal tale of what she experienced while in a coma for nine days and claims she saw herself dead in a coffin.
Each year, people with various health conditions either fall or are put into a coma.
Last year, two American neurology professors found as many as 20 percent of patients had “covert consciousness,” a state in which the brain reacts to the outside world with some comprehension.
Gisborne gym-owner, Di Akurangi, was put into a coma in September 2021 after specialists found she had three blocked arteries.
The discovery of three blocked arteries came after she felt weird niggles in her shoulder that would travel up her neck and into Akurangi's jaw while at the gym.
After 18 months of tests coming back clear and health specialists not knowing the cause, Akurangi, who is fit, healthy and ate well was told shocking news.
"One of the specialists comes along and says 'Ms Akurangi you need a triple bypass'."
She told AM's Ryan Bridge what was meant to be a four-to-five-hour operation turned into a 15 hour "marathon to try to save my life".
After the lengthy battle to keep Akurangi alive she was put into a coma for nine days, an experience she can still remember like it was yesterday.
The Gisborne woman claims she saw herself dead in a coffin while in a coma.
"I was standing at the foot of the coffin looking over myself."
She said while looking at herself in a coffin, she turned her back to herself and "flew, and I was flying as fast as I could because my mission was to find people that could help me".
"I ended up flying back home to Gisborne. I remember hovering above one of our local marae and I was watching people gather, they were all dressed in black," she said.
"They were gathering for my tangi."
While in the coma, she could hear the people at her bedside and told AM she knew exactly who was talking.
"I remember my boys talking to me, I remember my baby saying 'I love you mama' I remember my big boy saying 'fight mum, fight'."
Watch the full interview above.
