Across cultures, many religions teach that good deeds open the way to Heaven, while wrongdoing leads to Hell. Others remain doubtful, and the truth about life after death is still a mystery. For many, belief in an afterlife offers comfort in facing the fear of death.
For Victoria Thomas, now 41, the question of what lies beyond became deeply personal. At age 35, she was clinically “dead” for 17 minutes. While weightlifting, she suddenly felt dizzy, told a friend she was unwell, and collapsed. Paramedics fought to revive her with CPR, but as the minutes ticked by, they feared her heart had stopped for good.
In that time, Thomas recalls a strange detachment—everything went black before she found herself floating near the ceiling, looking down at her lifeless body on the gym floor. There was no tunnel of light or sense of peace—only sharp details: her swollen legs and the yellow medical equipment surrounding her.
Against the odds, her heart began beating again. She was rushed to Bristol Royal Infirmary, where she spent three days in a coma. Doctors implanted a defibrillator to protect her from future heart failure—a device that proved life-saving on multiple occasions in the months that followed.
Astonishingly, she returned to playing netball just weeks later. But in 2021, life threw her another challenge: pregnancy. The strain on her heart triggered frequent cardiac arrests. At 24 weeks, doctors diagnosed her with Danon disease, a rare genetic condition. They urged her to deliver early, but she fought to hold on until 30 weeks. When fluid built up around her organs, an emergency C-section brought her son, Tommy, safely into the world.
Her heart function, however, had dropped to just 11%. Given only months to live, Thomas was placed on a transplant list—and, in time, received a new heart at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
Now fully recovered, she plays netball four times a week and treasures every moment with her young son. Her journey is more than survival—it’s a testament to relentless determination, hope, and the will to keep living.
