A man who had a severe coma for three months has described exactly what he seen during his absence from reality.
On his way home from working a night shift, Joe DiMeo, an 18-year-old from New Jersey, fell asleep at the wheel and was engaged in an automobile accident that changed his life.
In July 2018, his Dodge Challenger rolled on its back and caught fire, leaving him with third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body and necessitating the amputation of his fingertips.
The sparks from the metal scraping on the floor ignited the gas, which in turn caused the car to catch fire. The inferno started when the headers he had put on the motor scratched the curb, splitting the oil can.
Seven years later, the 26-year-old described how doctors performed 20 reconstructive surgery and skin transplants on him after his lips and eyelids were totally burned off.
He became the world’s first person to successfully get a face and double hand transplant in August 2020.
However, in the three months following the accident, he had what he considers to be an afterlife experience.
Explaining what he felt and saw while in a coma, he told People, “You can hear people. It’s all dreams, but they’re mostly bad dreams, because, like when they take you into the tank room, where they wash you off, take off all the bandages – that’s not fun.”
“You can feel the pain, so you’re dreaming about pain. They’re [doctors] not meaning it towards you, they’re just taking off the bandages, but it still hurts.”
DiMeo continued, “Everyone’s asking, did you experience the afterlife? The only thing I experienced is me walking my dog.”
“He passed away 2012/13. [I’m like] oh, this is, this is it. I’m assuming this is the afterlife, just me walking my dog on an endless hill.”
Yes, oddly enough, the adolescent at the time described how, up to six years before his accident, he had been walking his deceased dog.
Jessica Koby, a Californian who began following DiMeo on Instagram after learning about his tragedy, has been his spouse since the crash.
Shortly after they began dating, a 22-year-old Dimeo found the confidence to direct message her. Koby was 30 at the time.
The pair celebrated their love by getting married in Hawaii in December of last year.
Speaking about going public with his story, DiMeo added, “I realized, you know what? Let me be real like, actually real, real. Putting my story out there to motivate people to get out their funky days and the cloudy days.”
“Didn’t realize my story can actually save life. It sucks, I got into accident, I lost 80 percent of my skin, and I have someone else’s face and hands on me, but then also found my life partner, and if I wouldn’t have had an accident, I’d probably still be a cocky 26 year old.”
“I would prefer not to be burned, but I like my life now, just because I have Jessica around.”