Knowing when death is close

My aunt suffered from Alzheimer's and as her condition worsened, she was taken into a care home.

Family members would visit her and show her photographs that she had once cherished.

She never recognized the people visiting her, nor the photos.

My aunt, sadly, was very confused and didn't make any sense until one morning, she awoke and seemed very bubbly and happy.

She had said emphatically to a carer, that she was going to see her mum that day.

Her mum had passed away when aunt was a child and she had never mentioned her mum for years and certainly not during her illness.

That afternoon, my aunt passed away.

I often wonder if my aunt knew that she was going to be reunited with her loved ones and that is why she was so looking forward to seeing her mum.

I was talking about that this morning and my brother told me about a lady he knows who works in a care home.

There was a resident elderly lady who was senile and she never spoke.

The carers would chat to her but she never responded.

The carer one day was walking this old lady into the lounge and out of the blue, the lady had said, "I'm going to die today!" and she did.

I wonder if some people really do know when they are about to pass.

Does anyone else have similar stories?

reply to post by ashflash


I have not only heard of such stories, but know that things like this are referred to as the "bulb gets brighter before it goes out". That is how I have heard many, many people describe it. If you have ever witnessed a lightbulb burn out, you will know that is exactly what it does. It shines very brightly, then... just goes out.

I can tell you when a person starts talking to the ceiling, or tells you they are talking to their mother or father or other relative that have long been deceased, they will die soon.

Some people reach for the light, or start "picking" at their clothes or sheets, trying hard to get up out of the bed to go to their loved ones.

Some people will come out of near coma like disorders, and sit up and start talking and acting like nothing had ever been wrong with them, only to die a short time later.

Most people call it hallucionations, but I will share one very .. I will just say, disturbing story.

There was a woman that had suffered a fatal gunshot wound. She was on life support, and expected to die very shortly.

In a room next door was a man who had also suffered some injury, and he was only confused, and not totally oriented to time and date.

When the woman passed, he got terribly disturbed and cried out for someone. When someone went to him, he hasked if a woman had just died.

When she asked him why he was asking, he said she had come to see him after she had died. He then gave a very accurate description of her. She told him he was going to be just fine, and he was.

There was no way he could have known anything about her, but he did.

You can also find videos on youtube about parents losing their children to lukemia or other reasons. They will tell you stories of how their loved one knew at the exact moment, they were about to die.

There are some very touching videos on youtube like this that I ran across quite by accident, and I spent some time going through and viewing some of them.

It certainly made my life richer in a way, to have shared these stories so bravely posted by their families. If you go into it with the right attitude, it is a very touching experience.

Most people die peacefully. This is one thing we can be greatful for.

I do believe there are things about life, and death, that we will never understand, but that it is also one of the things that keeps us searching for answers that we will most likely never find. I think this is just how the human spirit is.

In the 90's I worked with a girl who's father became ill. She told me he would look upwards and reach out grabbing a hold of something. She told me he said "They are feeding me cake" and he was laughing. He told her "they" were angels, visiting him. I have heard of this before, we are never alone, I guess in certain circumstances we can actually see our guardians. I have sensed their presence in times of need or distress. Glory be God's

I once woke up at 3 AM and tried to go back to sleep but suddenly dreamed of a figure I call Death coming down out of the sky. He or it was coming for me. I did not want to go. I actually started praying. Our house did not get any damage. Right at the end of the roof, a large pine tree was ripped off right at roof level by a tornado. An even larger pine tree had several branches overhanging the house with the largest branch only about 2 feet above it. All of those branches that were above the roof were gone. The largest branch we found tossed into the yard. Across the street a 3 foot diameter pine tree was snapped off a few feet above the ground. The tree was stuck back into the ground upside down at a slight angle as if a giant had stuck a toothpick in the ground. Tornadoes are like death from above.

This thread reminded me of the cat, Oscar. He's quite famous - he's had a book written about him - he is cat in residence at Steere House Nursing Home in Rhode Island, USA.

The staff know that when Oscar decides to visit and stay with a patient, they will soon die.

This link -
findarticles.com...

takes you to a 3 page article on Oscar and the Dr in residence whoa t first didnt believe what Oscar was doing - then he wrote a book about him.

Cats may have nine lives, but we only have one, and we're all terrified to talk about the ending of it. Many of my residents have forgotten almost everything they have ever learned over their lifetimes. They seldom remember the names of their children or the year they were married. Yet they seem to like having pets around.

Smigs

we can only see a small fragment of reality. perhaps when we are to die, or maybe too some lucky people, though are able to see more of the invisible around us. '___' anyone?

I have been with more dying people than I care to remember. Some have been Alzheimer's patients. I have come to the realization that, these people do recognize the photos, and their visiting loved ones. But the deterioration of the brain, does not allow them to properly express themselves. An example is a person who suffers from a stroke. If Boaka's area is affected, then speech is problematic. They know what they want to say, but just can't verbalize, to get it out, however, they maybe able to write or type it out immediately. I find this similar with Alzheimer's patients, only the response, if any, may become violent (not the choice of the patient, but it's the only emotion brought forth).
Toward the end, some patients may have the clarity of thought. This IS a gift from G_D!
Peace be with you.

reply to post by Libertygal

It's so interesting to read other peoples experience. I also have heard that some very ill people seem to make a remarkable recovery, only to pass away within hours.
What I find intriguing are the stories of people who seem to know they are going to die and seem really comfortable with it.
I wonder what these people know, that we don't.
But I guess one day the penny will drop for us all.
Your story really had me glued/

Smiggle, I read about Oscar. Do you have any theory as to how an animal could sense a person is close to death?
Maybe when we are about to pass we give off an odour that animals can smell but we can't.

I know i am not completely comfortable thinking about death, most especially my own,

but if we were less emotional about it we might gain more insight about it.
The transition phases before final termination of biological function.

I still don't believe in some kind of here-after, but whatever is, is.
One will cross that bridge when one gets there regardless.

I worry that these sort of delightful, charming thoughts [delusions?] may just be the last unhitching to oblivion.

I suppose in the end we rejoin the great whatever we were probably a part of before we arose as individual consciousnesses. But it is likely our individual personalities/selves are slowly, inevitably surrendered or dissipated.

I like being alive. It is quite enough 'magic' for me for the time being.

I have experiences of close relatives dying and exhibiting unusual phenomena, my gran who had been hospitalised and had an amputation below the knee and the doctors really didn't think she'd survive, but when she came round from the operation, she amazed everyone by sitting up and eating a full dinner (considering she hadn't been eating properly for a long time) She was in very high spirits, laughing and joking and we really thought, Wow, she's going to pull through this. Then a couple of days later we got the dreaded phone call to come immediately, as she had badly deteriorated and she was dead a few hours later.

My aunt, had gone into hospital to sort out an infection, and during tests the doctors discovered a tiny shadow on her lung, so launched into cancer treatment, which unfortunately as she had an unknown heart condition caused her to have 2 massive heart attacks and sadly the cancer spread rapidly throughout her body, she was barely conscious, yet all of a sudden she started to sing, and it was truly beautiful, I was never aware she could sing and I'd never heard her sing before, but also the weird thing was that all of the wrinkles on her face seemed to disappear and she just looked so peaceful and healthy. She stopped singing and just smiled, a really happy contented smile and that was it, she was gone!

However, when my father died suddenly when I was 7 yrs old, there were no indications whatsoever beforehand, he went to work as normal and that was where he died, his work colleagues also said there was nothing that gave them any hint until he collapsed in front of them. However, I have a very strong memory of him the night he died, as he worked backshift he left for work about 10pm but earlier on the whole family had been visiting friends and as we were getting ready to leave, I remember him shouting to my brother to hurry up and it's almost like a freeze-frame image I have in my head of that moment, him standing there in his uniform beside the car, in front of our friends house, with the sunset in the background - to this day the image is very clear in my head, so although he gave no signs about what was about to happen perhaps I was being given that memory to take with me throughout my life

As a doctor, I have seen this happen MANY times.

Very often, when patients have beenobtunded, or even comatose, they will "wake up" to talk to family members, then drift back off, and die shortly after.

I have even had outpatients that would come in and tell me they had the feeling that they were going to die. Medically, you would think that pershaps they felt "something" in their bodies that told them something was wrong, even if it was at a subconscious level. However, one patient, who was fairly young, told me this, and the next day died from a car accident. I cannot imagine how one could sense an impending motor vehicle accident without involving a supernatural source.

That is my input, for what it is worth.