ON NOV. 7, 2022 I DIED
I didn't realize it at first. I began to learn what happened when, out of the depths of nowhere, a voice asked if I knew where I was. I struggled to produce my monosyllabic answer: "No."
The voice responded: "You're in the ICU. You had a heart attack during your hockey game last night. A player on the other team saved your life."
I didn't remember going to a game last night. The last thing I remembered ... I couldn't remember the last thing I remembered. I didn't even know what a heart attack felt like.
I heard no more questions. There was only darkness, and my grandfather's voice, singing a polka: "In heaven there is no beer, that's why we drink it here." The voice modulated into something menacing, Luke Skywalker gone Joker, before I faded away. My sense of being alone in the dark stayed with me long after I realized I was in a room illuminated by artificial light.
My death occurred while I played beer-league hockey at the Winterhawks Skating Center in Beaverton, Oregon. My signs of life-breath, heartbeat, movement, the ability to perceive and form memories-left me. When I came back, I became fixated on the period I'd lost, what had happened to me and where I'd gone. It turned out there was more out there than I bargained for.
This is the forgotten story of my forgotten death.
I WAS RUSHED to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland and admitted to the ICU just after midnight. I had been unconscious when I hit the ice and remained so in the hospital.
This story is from the November 2024 edition of Reader's Digest US.
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This story is from the November 2024 edition of Reader's Digest US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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