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'I died while I was pregnant and now no longer think that death exists'

A pregnant woman who had a near-death experience has said her whole perspective on dying changed after what she saw on the other side, saying "I'm convinced there's another plane of existence"

[Close-up of a pregnant woman's belly in the hospital bed with catheter in hand]

A woman has said she is 'no longer afraid of death' after her near-death experiences (stock)(Image: SerrNovik via Getty Images)

Despite the knowledge that death is a certainty, what happens after we pass away is still something of a mystery.

However, one individual has suggested they think death may not exist at all, but it could simply lead to another "plane of existence". Marta Zacharia was clinically dead after her heart stopped at the age of 26. The pregnant woman had a near-death experience while in surgery.

Nearly 50 years on from that event, she has spoken about her terrible ordeal and how it gave her an insight into both the rest of her life and what may come after it. She told the publication Clarin that she feels no fear about what is to come next.

She said: "I am convinced that what comes next is far better than this life, based on what I felt....I don't want to die right now because I want to watch my grandchildren grow up and enjoy their company; I am human, after all. But I'm not afraid of death.

"The body is just a case, a vessel. Let the wind take me, because I don't believe in death. I am convinced there is another plane of existence, that it doesn't end. When does it end? I don't know."

[Empty Hospital Bed in intensive care unit]

Marta said the experience happened in hospital during surgery (stock)(Image: Jackyenjoyphotography via Getty Images)

Marta recalled how, while she was pregnant, she "fell into the hands of some quack surgeon who told me I needed to have uterine surgery".

During the first surgery an issue with her cervix was found, reportedly necessitating a second surgery. It was during that second surgery that Marta's near-death experience occurred. During the procedure she suffered a cardiac arrest, requiring her resuscitation, but also meaning she was, at one point, clinically dead.

Remembering what it was like, Marta said: "Suddenly, I left my body and was looking down at it on the operating table. Then I entered a tunnel at incredible speed and saw a light.

"I woke up in the room, and my husband was holding my hand. I was hooked up to wires and had a drain in my abdomen. That's when I told him: 'I dreamed of Saint Peter.'"

Furthermore, following her surgery, Marta made the major decision to adopt instead of to keep trying for another child. Marta suffered a miscarriage as a result of medical malpractice and says this decision was in part driven by the desire to avoid any further risk to her health.

Sh explained: "That's when I told my husband I wouldn't undergo any more treatments. I didn't want to keep taking the risk. I've concluded that God had something in store for me, a purpose. In my case, a little boy who needed me."

[A doctor's hand in a surgical glove pointing at a brain scan image on a computer screen, diagnostic tools and medical concepts.]

Scientists are still trying to work out what happens to the brain when it dies (stock)(Image: Martin Philip via Getty Images)

Marta isn't the only person to have had a near-death experience, with thousands of people experiencing them every single year. The experiences have helped give scientists an insight, not into life after death, but into what life is like in the process of dying.

Speaking to the Guardian, Professor Jimo Borjigin, said they were still trying to work out what actually happens to the mind when someone dies.

They said: Whats still beneath the surface is a full account of how dying actually takes place. Because theres something happening in there, in the brain, that makes no sense.

Professor Borjigin's comments have been reflected by resuscitation specialist Sam Parnia who added that in the next century scientists may have discovered something incredible and optimistic: I think in 50 or 100 years time we will have discovered the entity that is consciousness. It will be taken for granted that it wasnt produced by the brain, and it doesnt die when you die.

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