Woman whose heart stopped for 17 minutes describes what she experienced during clinical death
35-year-old Viktorija Tomasa's heart stopped for 17 minutes during a workout. Years later she has revealed that what she experienced differs from how clinical death is usually described.
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During a workout, 35-year-old Viktorija Tomasa suddenly felt dizzy and lost her strength. She collapsed, and her heart stopped for 17 minutes — a duration doctors generally regard as critical for survival chances.
Several years after the incident, the woman has decided to speak publicly about what she experienced while her heart was not beating and she was, in effect, clinically dead. According to Viktorija, her experience differs sharply from how other people typically describe clinical death — she specifically denies seeing the widely known "light at the end of the tunnel" that many people report after similar experiences.
An unusual experience
Clinical death occurs when the heartbeat and breathing stop, but brain cells have not yet been irreversibly damaged and life can still be restored. This period usually lasts only a few minutes, which makes Viktorija's 17-minute cardiac arrest an extraordinary case in which successful resuscitation is rare.
The woman has stressed that she wants to share her experience precisely because it does not match the common perception of what happens to a person when their body stops functioning. Further details of exactly what she experienced were not disclosed.
