After the heartbreaking loss of her husband, Rosemary Thornton found herself fervently hoping for a miracle. Yet, she soon faced another personal crisis of her own.

In 2018, two years following her husband’s suicide, the Midwestern author began experiencing abnormal vaginal bleeding. Alarmed by the symptoms, she quickly scheduled an appointment with a gynecologist for further evaluation.

Days later, a biopsy confirmed the sobering news: Thornton, then 59, was diagnosed with stage two cervical cancer. This form of cancer impacts approximately 13,000 women in the United States annually and is responsible for around 4,000 deaths.

Faced with this urgent health challenge, Thornton promptly underwent emergency surgery aimed at both assessing the extent of the cancer and excising the tumor from her cervix.

Soon after diagnosis, Thornton underwent emergency surgery to assess the cancer and remove the tumor from her cervix. 

While this operation is generally considered safe, Thornton began to bleed out on the operating table and her blood pressure plummeted. 

As the monitors measuring her vital signs displayed an ‘error’ message, Thornton claims, she raised her arms toward the ceiling, with her fingers reaching up as though she was about to hold somebody’s hand.

When she flatlined seconds later, she was considered clinically dead and said she was ‘catapulted out of her body.’ 

Rosemary Thornton, pictured here, suffered a near-death experience while undergoing surgery to remove cervical cancer 

Thornton, now 66, said: ‘It was the most extraordinary moment.

‘It wasn’t gentle. I was catapulted out of my body like a ping. The first thing I declared was that my heart had stopped beating. I then told the universe I was no longer dying, I had died.

‘I didn’t feel any terror, though, only release. All the anxiety, regret and sadness was gone. What was left was me – every part of my personality, even my giggle – went with me.

‘I realized we carry everything that really matters when we leave this world.’

Thornton claimed she was floating through a ‘velvety blackness’ that was filled with peace. 

Rather than the afterlife being an empty void, it was calm. 

‘For someone who’s always struggled with anxiety, this place was surely Heaven itself,’ she said. 

Thornton is one of the one in 10 Americans who have had a near-death experience (NDE), a transformative event that occurs during a severe medical crisis. 

Some feel themselves being propelled down into a black hole, blinded by a bright light or wandering a Matrix-like grid. Many are met by an angel and taken to heaven for a visit. 

But not all NDEs are pleasant. A recent study out of the University of Virginia found  that ‘a small percentage of NDEs experienced [are] distressing.’ The team also suggested between 10 and 22 percent of these experiences are negative. 

Thornton is pictured here two days after her near-death experience. She claims the experience was so peaceful that she begged angels not to end her back

Thornton claims that as she floated through the darkness, she felt a ‘presence’ behind her that said: ‘You are the image and the likeness. I am the Original.’

She then entered a white room filled with ‘radiant light and a swirling mist’ that she compared to a ‘spiritual car wash.’ 

‘I was told I had been restored to wholeness and that it was time for me to push through,’ she said. 

She was then shown a vision of a nurse who had been caring for her sitting in a supply room sobbing uncontrollably, convinced she had failed her patient. Thornton absorbed the grief as if it were her own and claims she made the decision then to return to her body. 

She said: ‘I lowered my hand from death’s door and next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.

‘I felt disappointed. I even argued with the angels not to send me back.’

Tests concluded Thornton had suffered a heart attack, which caused her to cross over to the other side. But she was more surprised that four days later, she had no evidence of cancer and that her blood work was ‘textbook perfect.’ 

‘The surgeon said my tissue was so pink and perfect she would have never believed I’d had cancer,’ Thornton said. ‘The cancer was gone, but more than that, my soul was made whole again.’

Thornton (pictured here) said the experience strengthened her faith in God and taught her how to enjoy the small aspects of life

It’s unclear if the surgery she had was considered successful from a medical standpoint.  

Thornton now claims she is visited by angels dressed in light who surround her and sing during moments of sadness. 

The experience also helped her strengthen her faith in God and has shown her how to appreciate the small aspects of her life, prompting her to move to the countryside.

She said: ‘In the afterlife, I discovered God not only loves us, but really likes us, just as we are. It’s changed everything for me.

‘To anyone facing the end, I can promise you don’t need to be afraid. What’s waiting is peace, joy and more life than we can imagine.

‘Death really is like waking up from a very intense dream. And this whole time on Earth is reduced to this tiny little grain of salt. It’s not a big deal.’