Randy remembers his mother screaming in the morning.
At the time, he was 16. He and his family were at a hotel in New Jersey.
His father had a heart attack while he was running. He started mouth-to-mouth resuscitations after getting some training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It didn't work.
He ran into the hallway and tried to get someone to help him.
Nobody did that.
He died that night. He was really sad. He was consumed with guilt and fear when he thought about his father. He would think about him on the floor of the hotel.
I would go into panic attacks. "I would get real tight in my chest and the only way that I could control it was just try to settle myself down and say, 'Okay, get it out of your head, get it out of your body.' "
Death was a black wall for Schiefer. He faced it on his own.
He had a near-death experience, which has been documented around the world and can lead people to change their lifestyles.
The flu that Schiefer had in March 2020 was very persistent. As the days went on, his symptoms got worse. He was positive on the test.
Things got worse for Schiefer quickly. He was placed on a heart-lung machine after he was rushed to the hospital.
He was not breathing for a long time. He came through after his daughter pushed for it. The doctors were able to turn off the heart-lung machine after he received the blood transfusion.
By Tuesday, my lungs were clear. My organs began to work again, and so did my body. His daughter was allowed to stay with him in the hospital room after the medication wore off. She says he started communicating with her after she was at his bedside.
A person can experience a near-death experience if they face a life threatening situation.
People have said that they feel like leaving their body and looking at it. His journey began with a piece of an airplane. When he woke up after being in a coma, he remembered a moment when he was in a coma. He was traveling through a tunnel with light streaming through the windows.
"Beautiful, warm, loving light," he said.
There were arched windows and stained glass in the room. It was permeating with the same light. A gentleman told Schiefer that he didn't belong there and that he had to leave. He walked out through the doors.
"I went through the doors and it took me out into a golden city, and it was absolutely beautiful," says Schiefer.
He told his daughter that the city was more beautiful and more pristine than Paris. The grass in the parks was a deep green.
I've been to the Highlands of Scotland.
The awe-struck stroll took a turn when Schiefer realized he didn't know where to go. He didn't feel right.
He says that he started to cry when he sat down.
He felt a warm feeling. He says he was frightened.
"I looked over my shoulder and saw a big white staircase in the sky," says Schiefer.
He crawled on his hands and knees while climbing the staircase and then someone grabbed him and whisked him away.
I remember it going black, back to my world.
His daughter told him that he hadn't been to any cities in a long time. He had been in a coma for over a month. The experience was real, he said. She said that it might have been a dream or a hallucination from the heavy medication. My dreams weren't clear. My delusions were dumb. Nine panda bears danced on the ceiling. This was realistic. I was present. I was involved with my environment and it made me feel good. More than I've experienced before.
Lisa noticed differences in her father almost immediately after he got home, like when he opened up about his father's death from a heart attack.
She says that she and her mother sat at the kitchen island. He told us about it.
He asked his daughter to get an eyeglasses case from a closet as he talked about that night.
He looked at the glasses while taking them out. He looked a little shocked as he told her that his father was the last person to remove them from their case.
She says her dad was 16 when he died. He's nearly 70 now. How long have those glasses been in their case?
This was not the same as Schiefer. When it came to the deaths of loved ones, he wasn't willing to talk about it.
Father never talked about death before birth. We didn't discuss death. We did not discuss god. "We didn't talk about the end of the world." We did not discuss any of that.
She thought differently about what her dad had told her in the hospital. She was able to see his near-death experience as real.
It's not uncommon for experiences like Schiefer's to happen.
According to Bruce Greyson, professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the University of Virginia, between 10 and 20% of people who have a documented cardiac arrest will experience a near-death experience.
Greyson has been looking for patterns for 50 years.
Greyson says that the best definition is that it is a profound experience that many people have. Your thoughts are fast and clear. You feel like you're in a state of timelessness. You might have a review of your life.
He says it includes a sense of peace and well-being, a sense of oneness with everything, and an experience of love.
Greyson is surprised that people can see things in their near-death experiences that will later be proven correct. There are certain tools used during open heart surgery that can happen when someone is unconscious.
Greyson is most interested in what happens after a near-death experience.
There are many stories of people who couldn't go back to the same profession, people who couldn't shoot after a near-death experience, and people who were in competitive businesses who didn't feel like getting ahead.
These people often change their lifestyles.
That was what the man had experienced. He was willing to talk about all sorts of questions related to death. He began to pray more frequently and Deeper into his family's Christian faith. He says he's become a better person because of it.
"I'm much more open, much more welcoming, much more understanding than I was before, I think much more loving as a husband and father as I was before."
Lisa says her dad seemed a bit lost before he died. Just moving along. He has new energy now. He's happy and hopeful. He likes to share his near-death experience with people who are interested.
It's good for him to talk about it. She is happy that he has a hobby.
It has been difficult for her to adjust.
Each time she hears her dad's story it brings her back to a time when she was so scared she didn't want to go.
She says it's not exciting for her to listen and be reminded of how close her dad came to death.
There was still a period of mourning after a family member came home.
Her dad has been her best friend all her life. She missed the pre-COVID version of him even though she was seeing a transformation. At times, the one who was a little short- temper was closed off.
Lisa says she felt alone. I was very upset and hurt. I would like you to return to pre-COVID. I want to pretend that these six weeks had never happened so I can have my father here.
The family has been together for more than two years. His daughter moved to Florida to be closer to her family.
Some families don't make it through experiences like this.
Sometimes they can't accept the changes. They think they don't have the same values.
They can't ignore the real changes that come from a loved one even if they don't want them to. Greyson has been affected by some of the changes.
"I was raised in a scientific household, and I didn't believe any of this stuff before I came across it," Greyson said. I can't deny that they happen and that they profoundly affect people's lives and present us with things that we don't have materialistic explanations for.
Greyson said that uncertainty didn't always sit well with him, but he has learned to accept it.
Greyson said it became like an old friend. The near-death experiencer has told me that the universe is a good place. It isn't anything to be afraid of. There isn't one there because you don't know the answer. There is something bigger than us that is in control of things. I don't think I can say that, but I have absorbed the feeling that this is a safe place to be.
His explanation is easy for him to understand. He is no longer afraid of death because he is.
He used to experience panic attacks.
If you want to know why he's no longer afraid of death, you should ask him.
I have been there." I've been there many times. I have experience with it.
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