A British doctor has witnessed countless miracles of patients coming back to life. He has seen the process from death to revival, and how their attitudes and behaviors towards life differ after being reborn. He has written a book exploring these life-and-death questions.
The doctor, named Matt Morgan, an intensive care unit physician, wrote in the British newspaper “Daily Express” on January 31 that he has witnessed hundreds of hearts stop beating; sometimes miracles happen, and the stopped heart starts beating again, bringing the deceased back to life.
For those who have been given a second chance at life, the second life is rarely the same as the first. When they die and come back to life, they often bring back something – not answers about death, but a clear understanding of life.
This is the reason he wrote his third book “A Second Act: What Nearly Dying Teaches Us About Really Living”.
He believes that instead of listening to millionaires, business gurus, or tech influencers, what people should truly listen to are the stories of those who have experienced cardiac arrest and survived. Here are 6 things he learned:
Morgan wrote that when the heart stops beating, blood stops flowing to the brain. Oxygen is depleted, and cells begin to fail. From an outside perspective, death seems sudden, but in reality, death is a gradual process. Therefore, time is more important than anything. Without performing CPR, the survival rate decreases by about 10% every minute.
Cardiac arrest can be caused by various reasons. He outlined some causes in his book, including lightning strikes, drug overdoses, infections, extreme cold, allergies, or simply bad luck. Since most cardiac arrests happen at home, learning CPR could save the lives of your family.
Many survivors describe that at the moment of death, memories flood back like a tide, including faces, smiles, and moments long forgotten. One’s entire life may truly flash before their eyes.
A woman told him she saw her parents and friends lying on the grass laughing heartily on a hot summer day. Another woman said she walked into a warm and bright light without any fear. Some people don’t remember anything, only darkness, calmness, or falling asleep.
Different stories share a common meaning – when everything is stripped away, what remains is rarely money, status, or success, but people, moments, and love.
Morgan pointed out that some patients describe watching doctors frantically trying to save them from above and hearing voices. They feel detached, calm, and unafraid.
A man who had his heart stopped for 45 minutes told him that the feeling of death was “like falling asleep.” He was not afraid. He briefly felt sadness and then became calm.
Whether attributing these experiences to physiology, psychology, or both, they have a clear common point – fear often dissipates. Death is not what many people expect.
Almost all survivors tell him the same thing: “I didn’t go back to my old life.” They have embarked on a new chapter, no longer bound by careers, with fewer arguments and clearer time. They describe awakening, taking control of their lives again, living with purpose, no longer living on autopilot.
They no longer wait, no longer reserve anything for “the future.” They understand that the “future” is never guaranteed.
Working in the ICU, Morgan spends most of his time with those who cannot have a second chance at life and their families. When someone passes away, their friends often say nothing, fearing saying the wrong thing. But silence is often the worst. You don’t need the right words because there are no right words. You just need to be there.
He says doctors like him will say the deceased’s name, ask what kind of person they were, what everyone misses about them, and then listen attentively. Keeping the life of the departed alive through language, stories, memories, and shared laughter is one of the most humane things they can do. Silence erases everything, while words can memorialize.
Morgan says we don’t need to go through a life-or-death trial to understand these truths, but most people only take action when faced with unavoidable situations like illness, loss of loved ones, aging, or setbacks.
The real question is not what will happen after we die, but what will happen while we realize we are still alive. If listening to the experiences of those who have died and come back to life can help us live more sincerely, kindly, and urgently, then their “second life” becomes a gift to all of us. Perhaps, that is the key.