As a Catholic, one thing I’ve often found myself contemplating is the afterlife. I’ve always believed in it, but during life on earth we rarely obtain even a glimpse of what that may look like. Occasionally, we hear stories about people who have died and been revived, and many of them make compelling points that line up with what others have shared – creating a surprisingly consistent case for the existence of life after death. One such account comes from Dr. Mary C. Neal in her powerful memoir To Heaven and Back.

I first heard Dr. Neal’s story through the Netflix docuseries Surviving Death. It’s a great binge-watch for those who are curious about what might come next. Some things in the series seemed a bit iffy at best, but that’s expected when you’re gathering experiences from so many different perspectives. Dr. Neal’s story, however, felt to be one of the more realistic ones because of her personal account and her scientific background. For me, as a devout Catholic, I will always believe in the afterlife from a religious perspective, but it’s fascinating to hear what a realist with a background like Neal’s has to say. Her testimony doesn’t feel like blind faith; it feels like a scientist explaining an extraordinary experience as logically as she can.

Dr. Neal was underwater after her kayak became lodged beneath a Chilean river for an impossibly long amount of time. The fact that she was revived at all is miraculous, but when you add her description of otherworldly beings guiding her, the comfort of Christ holding her, and the details surrounding her rescue (a boulder suddenly appearing to form a bridge for her friends, young local men appearing from nowhere to help transport her to the road and then vanishing once she was safe, and an ambulance inexplicably parked in the middle of nowhere despite no ability to call for help in the pre–cell phone 1990s) it becomes clear that something incredible happened, and that God had everything to do with it.

She also recounts the events foreshadowing the sudden and tragic death of her oldest son, Willie. Despite the obvious despair of losing a child at nineteen, Neal beautifully describes his life and the peace she has in knowing where he is now – the same peace she briefly experienced during her own encounter – because of the relationship he had with God before his death. For anyone who has lost a loved one suddenly, her reflections are a moving reminder that our faithful loved ones truly do go on to a better place and will never again experience the suffering of earthly life.

For those pondering the mysteries of the universe, I fully recommend reading this account and listening to Dr. Neal tell her story in the documentary. The way she speaks about her experience brings an unexpected sense of peace, something that can feel impossible to find when we’re anxious about death.