From “On the Banks of the River Styx”

I had a long and very busy day today, and am only getting back to my computer rather late at night.  So I think that I’ll share some passages that I marked during a recent reading of Michael Nahm, Marjorie Woollacott, and Natasha Tassell-Matamua, eds., On the Banks of the River Styx: New Perspectives on Terminal Lucidity and other Near-Death Phenomena. Perhaps you’ll find them of interest.

First, I offer some general comments on the phenomenon of “terminal lucidity”:

Terminal lucidity can be defined as unusual or unexpected periods of mental clarity occurring in confused, drowsy, or otherwise nonresponsive patients in the hours or days before death. (20)

Specific to TL is an unexpected surge of mental clarity that is marked by changes to cognitive state and abilities just prior to physical death, which are spontaneous, unanticipated, contravening of medical expectations, and can be accompanied (although not always) by alterations to physical capabilities and verbal communication.

These cognitive, verbal and physical changes typically manifest as any of the following: particularly meaningful communication with family, friends, and/ or caregivers, which can include providing reassurance that the dying person and their significant others will be “OK”; verbally reporting or inferring through physical actions or eye movement the presence of non-visible entities, such as deceased significant others; acknowledgment and/ or acceptance of impending death; stating they have been journeying back and forth between different realities or dimensions; indicating they are about to go on a journey; and, positive affect and gestures, including happiness, excitement, joy and peace, as well as smiling and singing. Sometimes affective responses including reluctance, fear, and sadness, may also be expressed by the dying person.(7)

The next several passages come from a section of the book that offers “Some Case Examples in Children”:

James regained awareness. He wanted to say goodbye to his parents, but because they weren’t there he instead spoke to the nurses. He asked them to ‘Tell my Mom and Dad that I will be ok. So-and-so is going to help me cross over. So-and-so is going to be with me.’ James died shortly after communicating this message to the nurses.” (11)

Joe came to alertness just before dying. He told his parents not to worry about him as grandma was going to be with him. He remained alert and seemed peaceful and not in pain for less than an hour, before dying in his mom’s arms.” (11)

Prior to his death, John became unconscious for many hours, but roughly 24 hours before he did die, he woke again and told his mum that he had met a funny, happy man during the period he was apparently unconscious, and that the man was going to be taking care of him. The man he went on to describe was in fact his mother’s younger brother who had died in her teenage years. She had never spoken to John about her deceased brother, and she was very emotional as she recounted the story to the hospice nurse. (12)

“There were several episodes. The day before, Juan began predicting his imminent death. He also told me that he would take care of his siblings and that the Lord Jesus would take care of him as much as, if not more than, I would. It was a long conversation… It was a calm, peaceful conversation. He only got nervous when he told me they were already touching him. He knew they were coming to greet him. But, as he told me, ‘I didn’t want to die.’ He didn’t want to go. The next day, among other things, he told me that ‘it was his turn.’ After a few hours of napping, he set off on his journey.” (13)

Jack was feeling better because he said he had been to a place called Summerland, over a rainbow bridge. There were other children there and they told him that he could not stay . . .  He began to visit Summerland in times when he was failing. He would come back and report to the caregivers that he had interacted with other children, by name, who had died at the children’s hospital. A child would die, and then Jack would go to Summerland. This happened repeatedly. Jack then talked to his mom and said, ‘I want to go to Summerland for good.’ Mom called me and we went to Jack and explored that. Mom said, ‘Okay, you can go.’ They then stopped treatment. The staff agreed. This child had known nothing but cancer treatment, in bed, etc. He wanted to go to Summerland. I was there. He had gone in and out. He became unconscious. It was goodbye time. Before he became unconscious, he said, ‘The bridge. The rainbow bridge. There they are!’” (14)

A ten-year-old girl in a hospital in Pennsylvania recovering from pneumonia. Her temperature had subsided, and she seemed to be past the crisis. The mother saw that her child seemed to be sinking and called us [nurses]. She said the child had just told her she had seen an angel who had taken her by the hand—and she was gone, died immediately. That just astounded us because there was no sign of imminent death. She was so calm and serene—and so close to death! (23)

I close, though, with the case of an adult:

“I went to visit my ex father-in-law while vacationing in Florida. I had not seen him for several years, but knew that he was now in skilled nursing care due to dementia. His wife and son reported that he usually did not know who they were, and had warned me to be prepared. As I came into his room, I said ‘hi’ and told him who I was, and he greeted me with obvious understanding that he knew who I was. I don’t recall exactly what we talked about, but we conversed about shared memories and at one point he asked about my father, clearly remembering his relationship with him and my connection to him. We had a very lucid visit. I told his wife and son about our visit and they expressed surprise as they had not had any lucid interactions with him for a long time. I was aware that something rather special had happened, and wondering why I was the one who experienced this. About a week later, I got a message from the family that Al had died. No one knew that he was close to death.” (27)

Posted from San Diego, California