From the time that they pronounced me dead was
a good 45 minutes. They cut my clothes and then
they paddled my heart, my heart had stopped and
I could see people screaming and crying but I
didn't realize that was actually my physical
body because I was somewhere else. The only thing
that I could feel if you could imagine absolute
love and peace there wasn't anything else to
be felt. I was greeted by people I'd known in
the past. I'm back home again. Incredibly safe
and felt at home. Welcome, welcome to Round Trip
Death, everybody. And hey, we have a cool guest
today, Terrence Sheehan. Yeah, Sheehan, S -H
-E -E -H -A -N. Terrence Sheehan coming to us
all the way from Michigan in the United States.
And Terrence, how you doing today? Doing well.
Glad to be here. Good. Well... Wow, you had a
dramatic car crash we're going to be talking
about in just a minute, and an NDE, and before
we jump into that, who is Terrence? Let our audience
get to know you a little bit. Music's been a
big part of my life. I went to Full Sail in 1992
and graduated in 1993 with an audiovisual degree.
Music and technology has been a big part of my
life. So during the early 90s through the 90s
to about 2000, I did recording for bands and
things like that. And then as that kind of dried
up, as people started to go to the home recording
studios, I went into more of a website based
business and did SEO. And so my business now
is I'm an SEO consultant for Google. I also do
multimedia productions for businesses and things
like that. But I still have the music going always
on the side. Okay, just in case people want it
want to reach out to you whether it's for that
or anything else If you don't mind we'll stick
a link in the show notes later on so people can
reach out to you, but Let's jump into it. Let's
go back a few years. Well about 20 years. You
know Tell me what led up to this tragic day where
you had this horrific accident Okay, so just
a little of that day, which was June 16th 2004
I was just recently separated from my wife at
the time and I had just gone to Davison, which
is about 20 miles from Grand Blanc to pick up
my son to bring him over for the weekend. And
we were, it was a bright sunny day and we were
on a road called McCandlish Road in Grand Blanc,
which is, it's got hills up and down the road
and it's a 55 mile an hour two lane road, a rural
road that is paved. We were coming towards Grand
Blanc towards our place. I came over a hill and
there was a Lowe's truck parked on the side of
the road, the opposite side. unloading furniture
and the view was kind of obscured and the truck
was partially in the road so it had I assume
it had its you know little adult warning thing
up in behind it so it was partially though in
the other lane of traffic. Well when we came
over the hill there was the truck there and out
of the blue I mean I was going 55 miles an hour
a full -size Yukon and we were in a two -door
Saturn coupe I'll just add an SC2 Saturn so it
was a two -door car and a full -size Yukon Apparently
she lost her attention span or whatever and crossed
across the center line and I maybe had one second
of braking and then we hit full impact 55 miles
an hour each way. the car did a 360 in the air
from what the witnesses said and my son was in
the car with me so you know it was a day I'll
never forget. At the time of the accident when
I came to and we'll get through whatever questions
you want to know about that but I didn't even
know he was in the car once I finally came came
to in the car you know when I finally came back
to my senses which I wouldn't call my senses
I was not for a serious loop obviously from that
impact and lucky to be here so every day is a
blessing from there. That was one of the things
actually that caught my attention in the email
that you sent me was that you had a two -year
-old son in the car Yeah, and after your experience
and you're kind of waking up. It's almost like
a computer reset I think when our brains have
to figure out what's going on. What did your
two -year -old say to you? Okay, so here's how
it went you know from my recollection so like
I remember I remember maybe having one second
to break and and I the car was on me you know
it just out of nowhere was there it was and what
happened was is all of a sudden I just I remember
a white flash I know you hear this a lot but
there was a white flash of light at that point
now I've since come to understand what actually
happened but as I mentioned to you in our conversation
I had a perspective of being over the vehicle
Sort of like a drone view, but I could see down
on the accident I could see my car kind of in
the middle of the road people kind of milling
around I could see that the Yukon was in the
ditch I could see people that were looking but
not really getting too close because you know
It was a fresh accident the next thing that I
actually remember after that. I've mentioned
this to many people It's like I was out of body
experience there and then the next thing I remember,
you know in this process is I was violently thrown
back into my body. It wasn't like, you know,
I came to in the car and I was just there. My
soul was out of body was like thrown back into
my body. It was like a violent experience. I
mean, that's how I remember it. So after that
happened, I came to and it gets me kind of worked
up just thinking about this, but I came to in
the car and I didn't know where I was. I had
no idea or any idea what was going on. I just
thought maybe I was in a dream. You know, that's
kind of how it felt to me. As I started to realize
I wasn't in a dream I could see there was smoke,
milling around in the cabin of the car. And I
realized I was in a car accident or in a car
that was smoking and I didn't know how I got
there or anything at that point. So I immediately
panicked because it seemed like maybe a fire
was on in it. And so for God knows why I was
able to get my car door open. It's still even
after that huge impact that I was able to get
my door open on my driver's side. I tried to
get out but I didn't realize all my ribs are
broken, both my hands are broken, my hip was
shattered, all my ribs, closed head injury. I
was able to try to get out of the car but since
my hip was shattered I couldn't stand up or anything
so I fell out with my legs still in the car onto
the pavement. Once I got the door open I fell
butt first onto the pavement with my legs still
in the car. this is where it gets really crazy
is I was on the ground you know kind of coming
to and I could see people are in the in the vicinity
you know looking around and I realized that you
know I was at that point I finally put two and
two together I was in a car accident from the
backseat I heard and my son was too I heard daddy
are you all right and I was like what is that
and you know and then again he said it daddy
are you all right so It was a two -door coupe
so I looked behind the seat and I could see he
was in his baby seat and his whole face was full
of blood and he was asking me if I was alright.
So that put me into another panic because I realized
he was in the car and the car was smoking like
I said so I was already very fearful about a
fire and there was a guy that I said was a bystander
standing maybe 20 yards from me looking right
at me and I said please help me get my son out
of the car there's going to be a fire. Please
help me get him out of the car. But you know
how people are. They're hesitant to help. So
he didn't initially. And then I really forcefully
somehow connected with him spiritually. And I
said, please help me get my son out of the car.
You know, it's going to be a fire. I need to
get him out. So he came over and got my son out
of the car. And as soon as Gavin is my son's
name, as soon as he got out of the car, I passed
out. As soon as I knew he was safe out of the
car, I just, all everything, the trauma hit me
at that point. At that point, I don't remember
a lot about the scene other than I know they
showed up and the paramedics were working on
me and got us in the ambulance and all that.
And Gavin rode in the ambulance and one of the
paramedics held him. For that time between the
time that they got me prepared to get in the
ambulance and then we started to go to the hospital,
there's kind of a blackout period there. And
then I wake up in the ambulance and I realize
we're on the way to the hospital. I have asthma.
All my ribs were broken and it just felt like
mush in my chest. So I was pretty sure I wasn't
going to make it. You know, I was just, they
were asking me questions and things. And Gavin
was really traumatized by just seeing me injured.
The fact that he didn't sustain major, huge injuries
is, I have no idea how, you know, we had a great
baby seat, but I have no idea how he ended up
being able to get out of the hospital later that
same day. He just had a broken lip where his
teeth went through his lip and they were able
to stitch that back up. But I wasn't so fortunate.
Well, yeah, I was just going to ask you about
the injuries to your son. That's yeah, those
child seats are awesome. And that's fantastic
that he wasn't hurt worse. It's a total miracle
without a doubt. I mean, I have a picture that
I don't know if you can see on the screen there.
There's the there's the car. you know, after
the accident. But I have some other pictures
I can share with you later. Yeah, it's a total
miracle. And if anything would have happened
to him, he's my only son. So I don't know what
my life would have become if something had happened
to him. But just the experience of having him
say, daddy, are you all right? Now we're talking
about a two -year -old. He was about to be three.
His birthday is June 28th. So he was just about
to be three years old. He was born in 2001. And
I can't imagine how helpless of a feeling that
must have been when you're barely conscious,
you can't stand up. So there's no way you can
help your own child. And thankfully, someone
was willing to respond and help out. Exactly
and the thing that they say about the spirit
being able to connect now i know no one really
wants to get involved in an accident scene but
the person that i don't even know the guy is
if i could ever thank him you know i would love
to i don't know who is maybe someday reach out
to see the show or something spirit to spirit
i was able to connect with them and get him to
do what i need done. Alright let's get to the
point of this show which is the near -death experience
part which. You talked about coming out of your
body. Did you have any kind of feeling for time,
like how long you think you were above looking
down on the scene? Not really, except it probably
wasn't a super long time because I have just
this vision of the exact scene. I had enough
time to look around and know that where I was,
I knew the location. I knew my car, you know,
so I would say it was a short period of time.
I wouldn't say it was a tremendously long period
of time, probably under a minute or 10, you know,
in 10 to 30 seconds, maybe just enough to get
an idea visually of that. I was not in the car
and that my that I was above it. Sort of like
I mentioned to you, like a drone view, but I
saw it completely clearly and I could tell it,
you know. That was my car and I could see the
Yukon in the ditch and like I said, some of it
seemed like a dream, but you know, that part
is distinctly in my mind as far as a memory of
seeing down on the accident. And the next thing
I remember, like I mentioned to you earlier,
was just like violently being thrown back into
my body. Although, you know, I can't say that
I was aware of what was going on, but I just
remember. I just remember that feeling of like,
it's almost like a second car accident when I
feel like my soul came back into my body. It
was like, it was not a gentle thing. It was very
powerful. And it was like, I don't know if there
was a message being sent by, you know, the maker
above. I'm spiritual. I'm not hugely religious,
but I feel like maybe I could have left this
world, but maybe I wasn't done doing whatever
I had to do. And also that maybe when I was throwing
back my body, I was he was letting me know that
maybe I hadn't lived correctly up to that point
and that I had something else that I needed to
do, which I've always contemplated might have
been, you know, raising my son or, you know,
the things I've done for people or music or whatever
my life has went. But from that day forward and
that moment forward, I've always felt like I
was almost like a different person. That's that's
cool. We'll talk about those changes in just
a second. I want to stick with this being put
back in your body for just a second. I don't
know if you've studied many near -death experiences,
but... I have not. It's a fairly typical thing
for that to be sort of like you explained. The
term that I hear the most is I was slammed back
into my body. That is very accurate. That is
very, very accurate. That is very typical. So
I don't think I would interpret that as something
from God saying, boom, I'm going to make this
uncomfortable for you. I think that's a normal
way of coming back into the body. It seems to
be much softer and nicer coming out if people
even remember the coming out part. I haven't
really studied a lot in your death experiences.
I'll be honest with you, I'm very interested
to do so. And I would look forward to hearing
your episodes and your show. It's very interesting.
My sister mentioned it to me. And I just didn't
wanna look at it beforehand, but I haven't really
studied it, but I have watched some shows on
Netflix and things regarding that. I don't know,
there's a couple shows on there that deal with
that topic. I've watched some of those. Yeah,
I mean, I think the way you described it is perfect.
It was a, I would almost call it violent. Like,
slammed is a great way to describe it. Yeah,
just the term that I hear the most. While you
were out of your body, Did you feel like you
were dead? Did you feel pain? What did you feel?
I didn't feel any pain or anything at that time.
I always describe it as a light. I lost my wife
to cancer about five or six years ago now. She
always asked me before she passed, what did I
remember? Because I actually feel like I died
for a period of time. The experience makes me
think that I did. What was your exact question?
Just so you answer it correctly again. Well,
just how did you feel out of body? Did it feel
normal? Did you feel pain? I didn't feel pain.
I felt like light, luminous, like a luminous
presence, no pain, like I was in the light, like,
or I was the light. it felt like I was obviously
I was a flying in a sense and so my soul was
light I don't recall any pain at the at all about
it was more or less just like an observation
nothing about that was any pain or any knowledge
even that I was that I was in a car accident
other than I was looking at it I don't know that
I'd even put it together at that point, but it
wasn't a very long time, but the way I always
describe that part of it was I've always kind
of experienced this, through this experience,
felt like there's something about it that has
to do with light, if that makes any sense, you
know? Like a luminous presence where maybe the
soul is out of body, maybe it doesn't require
a body. I felt free. I can't say there was any
pain that I recall at all about it. Did you feel
like you were looking down on the accident itself
or after that? You know that's been asked to
me and and I don't know that and that's a tough
question to answer you know when did I realize
that that had happened obviously that happened
and I remember it okay so I'm assuming that it
happened before I came to in the car and I remember
being slammed back into my body as you described
it I started coming to after that these things
happen before I started to real come to in the
car as it is in my memory, right? Now, my mom
asked me that because I was mentioning I was
going to be on the show and she said, well, do
you remember it before or after? And I can only
assume it's before. I mean, then I'm remembering
what happened before, but it was definitely in
my memory after, you know, when I finally came
to in the car, I didn't know where I was because
I had a closed head injury. I didn't really know
where I was until I think the time when I finally
realized where I was was when I was out on the
cement. Like I said, after I realized I couldn't
walk and I saw the blood everywhere and I knew
I started to figure it out. You know, I could
see my car was crushed. But I mean, it was it
was such a violent accident that I was I can't
say that I really was pulling any kind of memories
together at that point. Well, I don't think you
have to have the kind of near death experience
where you travel. off to some kind of heavenly
place to have profound changes in your life.
And I know you mentioned to me that your life
really changed after this. Let's talk about that
for a minute. The way that it originally changed
was, and this is a kind of cool experience, because
I played in a band with a guy named Randy Frunch
as a friend of mine. And we played in high school
back in the late 80s, mid 80s, after the car
accident, which First of all, I went to the hospital
and they couldn't fix me at the grand blank,
so they had to send me to Beaumont down in Detroit
because the surgeons couldn't do the repair to
my hip and the injuries I had were so horrific.
My friend, after I was recovering at home and
I got back home, he came over and he had been
in a similar near -death experience. He had his
back broken at work and he ended up getting pneumonia
at his house. So he had a near -death experience
as well. Now, I don't know how those two connect
for his near -death experience story. other than
the fact that he had one. He had a similar experience,
and his was through pneumonia. He said when the
paramedics came that once he got oxygen, he thought
he was going to die, and then he got oxygen,
and he said he was speaking in tongues is how
he described it. He didn't know what he was saying,
but he thought that he was speaking in some language
that he didn't have a clue what it was. So he
came and saw me afterwards, and we were musicians
and played music together in band in the 80s.
And we both just decided my parents had a place
up in the empire michigan which is up by the
sleeping bear dunes in michigan on the west coast
and we said hey let's go up there both of us
were messed up he had his back was broken he
was in a turtle you know the turtle shell thing
that they put around you when you have your back
broken and i was so messed up with my hips shattered
and we're like let's just go up there and my
brother played drums he was already up there.
And we were like, let's just go up there and
have some fun and play some music. And that whole
experience was like a two, we did two separate
weekends and we went up and I was a recording
engineer. So I had, you know, a Tascam M238 for
people that are geeks out there that want to
know about how we did it. But it was analog and
I had that recorder in a road case and a CD recorder.
We had no intentions of ever doing anything and
putting it out, but. The first thing I noticed
after the car accident in the hospital, my mom
brought me a fan, which was like life -saving,
because I couldn't believe how great it felt
to have a fan. I was just so uncomfortable. And
she also brought a clock radio. And as soon as
I heard music after the car accident, once I
was in the hospital, and I mean I was so messed
up, she brought me just a little clock radio,
and I mean it was tiny. But as soon as I heard
music, and I tell everyone, it sounded like the
music was coming out of the speakers like powdered
sugar. I'd never heard anything like that i'm
a musician i had a degree in audio recording
engineering but nothing ever sounded like the
way that i heard music. In the hospital was like
literally maybe hearing it for the first time
or hearing angels could be a way to describe
it but just hearing the music in a way that i'd
never heard it before that was the beginning
of us starting this journey in the music. I didn't
realize that anyway they were connected but so
we ended up taking this trip down and empire
and we recorded over the course of. two weekends
and then we made a CD out of the tapes we made
and we showed them to people and they're like,
man, you guys should release this stuff. It's
really good. We had no intentions of doing so,
but when we were urged by our friends to do it,
we finally ended up putting that stuff onto a
CD. Our band was called Three Piece. It's all
one word. It's T -H -R -E -E -P -E -A -C -E.
So it's all one word. It's the number three and
I'm peace altogether. And that's on Spotify and
all those albums. We ended up doing seven albums
together in the long run. But the connection
of Big R, it's his name in the band and mine's
Lefty, L -E -F -T -E -E, not the way you usually
spell it, because that has to do with golf. You
see these golf flags. That was my nickname in
golf. But the thing is, music became this catalyst.
And at the time, like I say, I was just coming
out of this accident. I had no idea of how profound
the music would be. Both of us We were like brothers
back in the 80s. He's like my other brother.
But the connection that we shared through this
near -death experience and the music kind of
set us off on this little journey, which it was
dictating itself as it went along. I didn't really
start to realize some of these things and these
changes that happened to me until we got into
doing these songs and the music. And then it
kind of turned into a mission, which has nothing
to do with anything I ever did before, which
was like promoting the good ideas of the world
and peace. Not something I would choose to do
because in this day and age, as you know, with
many pop artists and things that social critics
aren't really embraced anymore. So we spoke out
against things that we didn't think were right.
It wasn't really political or religious, but
we would just, if there was a song we felt needed
to be addressed, we would sing it. But this first
album, is kind of strange because as we moved
on to the other music, the first one was more
or less a venting of all of our troubles. As
I look back on it, I mean, we sang about 9 -11,
I sang about the fresh feelings of divorce. There
was a lot of pain on that record and it was like
a purging of that car accident. In fact, I think
we mentioned the surgeons on the thanks for the
record, you know, but music. ended up being this
huge catalyst for this change that was about
to happen in my life and I was already into music
so I kind of wasn't even thinking that way but
it just ended up being that this music gave us
an avenue to express and excise the demons of
our pain and of this near -death experience.
We both shared a similar, you know, thing. I
don't know exact details of how his near -death
experience other than I know he had one. So the
music was very healing it sounds like. Absolutely
but you know until we got into doing it i already
played i'm a drummer i play i couldn't play drums
cuz my hip was shared but luckily my brother
was drummer and so he played drums on those recordings
and i played bass i had played bass in the band
previously so at that time i couldn't play drum
so i played bass and did some vocals. and played
a little guitar on the record but i couldn't
play drums so it just kind of happened we were
all together as a band in the eighties and my
brother played drums i played bass and randy
played guitar and. Twenty years later here we
are both of us completely messed up and we're
back together and it felt like a reunion but
it also felt like a new journey. That we were
on but we did we didn't really realize that at
the time when we were recording those first tracks
we did it over two weekends like I said it was
kind of like we were just putting it together
and I was recording engineer so I was just making
sure we got the stuff recorded because it was
really for our own love of the music but that
kind of set us on to a journey. Which it became
something totally different like I say when I
came back I started to realize that I probably
wasn't the same person that I was previously
is not. I'm just saying I didn't have as much
concern for others and care about people. I was
starting to understand that I had this mission
to do, which was nothing to do with my personal
vanity, but it was to give to others. And that's
something I never thought about ever before.
And it just felt like that wasn't me. And although
I still have memories of everything that I did
when I was younger, those memories weren't necessarily
of a person that I really was proud of. This
accident. and the music set us off on this direction,
which was a thing of positivity. So this message,
this mission of giving to others, how are you
living that now? What kinds of things are you
doing right now? Personally, I work from home.
I do the SEO consulting, as we mentioned, and
I'm an SEO, a Google consultant, and I still
do the multimedia of films. But I work from home
and I'm caregiver for my mom who has Parkinson's.
And she's a quadriplegic with Parkinson's. She's
nine years old. So she gave to me after the car
accident and she's like the hugest reason that
I made it through the car accident. And instead
of putting her in a nursing home, a place for
mom or wherever they people put their parents,
I just felt like it's my duty. So this is something
very important to me. And sometimes she feels
like she's a burden and my dad passed of Alzheimer's.
So for the last eight to 10 years, I've been
caregiving for them. and working full time, but
I'm glad to do it. It's not a burden to me. A
lot of people feel that it probably would be,
and maybe it does take, it is taxing, but I feel
just absolutely fortunate. Every day is a bonus
since the car accident. That's another thing
that I probably should lay out right here. It's
been 7 ,600 in some days. I usually check it
every once in a while. Because every day is a
bonus been for me and i'm not afraid of death
anymore at all and i used to be like a worry
war i used to my mom used to have this book this
physician's desk reference and like everything
in there like had a flow chart that led to your
dying possibly I remember that great big book
back in the pre -Google days, the PDR. It was
about two inches thick. I think it was red even.
It was red. That's it. Yeah, it was red and it
had flow charts. You could easily look. I think
what it was was a thing to get you to go to your
doctor and make the doctor lots of money. But
every single thing that I would look at, if I
took the right flow chart, it led to, oh, you
might be dying. So I had this super huge phobia
of dying. But after the car accident, I have
There's no fear of dying at all because there's
nothing about that experience that was painful
except the recovery afterwards. There's nothing
like you were asking me, did I feel pain? No,
there was no pain. The pain came after I came
back. Every day since then has been a huge bonus
spin and I always think twice about whether I'm
doing something for myself or for others and
I try to be unselfish and... in what I do. I'm
not perfect, but I definitely am, I think, a
better representation of who I want to be than
what I was before. Yeah. One other little thing,
and this may not be important at all, but I had
it in my notes that you had mentioned this in
your email, that taking a shower after this experience
was... Completely different which you explain
what in the world that means. Well, there was
a couple Let me also tell you the both and once
one's kind of funny so in the hospital I don't
know everyone that's ever been in the hospital
knows you've got like there's two different types
of nurses. There's like the There's like the
nurse ratchet tough one and then there's the
loving ones and you get one or the other, you
know, the story that starts out with with the
nurse. OK, so the first time I came to and in
the hospital I was OK. Well, she was really a
pretty young nurse and I, you know, I was probably
in my 30s or whatever and she came in and the
other nurses were always were bothering me to
like take tests and try to read things. And I
was just had a close head injury and I didn't
want to like be read a book and have to take
a test. Like that's what some of the things they
were trying to figure out with my clothes and
I was like I was rejecting all of that because
I was literally that messed up that I couldn't
even put my mind to that but she came in and
she said water is medicine too and you know she
had a sponge bath for me and I was like this
is okay yeah that was good that was really really
good then the part that I meant thing I mentioned
to you so I already recognized that that like
the water was healing okay but after I got home
the time that I knew I really still didn't know
if I was gonna make it through this thing But
when I got, they finally released me from the
hospital and I got home and I got the first shower
and the water like rinsed all that grime off
me and whatever was on my body from the surgeries
and stuff. That was the first time I was like,
okay, I'm going to make it through this thing.
I mean, like the water was so healing. It was
almost like a baptism of sorts. It was amazing
that that stuck in my mind as like a point of
like, I knew I was going to, going to make it
through this thing. Okay. Blasting that I have
for you. And that is that our show is all about
hope. And a lot of people are wondering, you
know, is there really a life after this and things
like that? And you didn't go clear off to a heavenly
place, but through your experience, would you
say that there is some kind of message that you
would like to share with everybody? Yeah, absolutely.
And I would say most people would look at this
experience and say that it is a negative. Like
everyone always hears, oh, how horrific that
was. And, you know, yes, it was. And it was awful
to to recover from it. But it's made me a much
better person. It's made me appreciate life.
It's made me want to give back as opposed to
being selfish in my own personal interests. Just
the fact that every day is An important one to
me and i think anyone that's been through an
experience like this and is maybe fearful about
what might come we all have different levels
of what we're able to do i've been very blessed
to be able to do a lot of things because they
did a good job getting me back to being normal
golf and everything. I'm able to do a lot but
no matter what it is i think. I totally believe
that there's life after death. Or even more than
that, I feel that the body is like a container
for the soul. And having that out -of -body experience,
I believe my soul was out of my body. So I definitely
believe there is something else to it. Now, where
it goes or what it is, I don't know. But definitely,
it was for the better, where most people would
think it would be absolutely for the worse. So
it was a life -changing event. Like I say, it's
almost like I'm a different person altogether.
Although I still have the memories of my past,
I don't feel like I'm the same person as I was
previous. Terrence, I appreciate you sharing
all that and spending time with us today. Oh,
absolutely. Glad to be here. Thanks again for
listening and sharing this podcast. Don't forget
to hit the follow or subscribe button and sign
up for our newsletter at RoundTripDest .com.
If you want to share your near -death experience,
or if you have questions or comments about the
show, send an email to eric at roundtripdeath
.com. Until then, I wish you everything good
that you're looking for in this life and the
next.