Children and NDEs
Many children who've had near-death experiences have spiritual guides and specific goals that stay with them throughout their adult lives.
Children describe angels, Light Beings, other spiritual entities and even voices guiding them through their brief journeys into the beyond.
Many of them say they were given a special mission to perform when they returned to this world, according to Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger, authors of Children of the Light (Signet, New York, 1995).
Both authors had near-death experiences (NDE) when they were children.
Of the nearly 30,000 respondents to their Steiger Questionaire of Mystical Paranormal and UFO Experiences, 64 percent said they had undergone NDEs - and some 82 percent had them before age 12.
One person in their book, Bonnie, a high school councelor, had an NDE at age 11 while in a four week coma following the injection of antibiotics.
Bonnie says angels had helped her during the ordeal, and she later established a rapport with one of the angles while meditating at age 17. To this day, she says she receives regular messages from this angelic being.
Thomas, a professional artist, was in a coma for three days following an automobile accident at age 19. During his NDE, he remembers feeling safe in the company of "majestic figures in lavender-robes and hoods who had kind and gentle eyes."
These lavender figures have continued to appear during his adult years, especially when he is troubled, he says.
One woman, Jean, tells of a severe case of food poisoning that sent her into a coma at age five.
"I remember that a beautifully robed entity, who at the time I believed to be Jesus, told me I was being sent back to my mother and father because I had to perform a special mission of helping people, she says.
Jean is now a psychiatric social worker.
Research shows that about one-third of people who face death in a hospital or clinical setting have an NDE, according to the authors. But in children, that figure jumps to 75 percent.
Lillian Nestler agrees. After interviewing 120 children who've cheated death, she's found 83 had NDEs.
"A boy named Jimmy recalled a nice man who wore a purple robe waiting for him at the end of a tunnel of light," says Lillian, 49. "Then there was cute, little Jessica. She was all excited when she told me about the angels who made her feel okay before sending her back to her mommy and daddy."