How One Vet’s Near-Death Experience Sparked A Life of Love

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Though the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 are now a distant memory in the minds of many, the events of that day and its aftermath on American society are still felt by many—particularly those who signed up to join the U.S. military following the attacks. One such brave soul is Chase Skylar DeMayo, who joined the Air Force (USAF) in 2006 immediately after high school as a direct result of the attacks.

However, one thing that DeMayo never expected to befall him during his time serving in the USAF was a near-death experience.

On April 1st, 2008, DeMayo — then only 19 years old — passed out in his room. He was found by colleagues who rushed him to the hospital. Amidst having vivid memories of nurses and doctors surrounding him in a chaotic scramble to resuscitate and save him, DeMayo recalls feeling that he was about to die. That was, until, another new presence was felt at his left-hand side that sent a wave of serenity washing over him.

In an interview earlier this year with the JeffMara Paranormal Podcast, DeMayo said, “…I remember the whole feeling was extremely comforting. A calm presence at my left was stroking my left arm and saying…’don’t worry; everything would be fine.” 

Moments later, DeMayo watched his heart monitor flatline, and the doctors who had been working to save his life mere moments prior officially declared him dead. Yet, as the world and people around him began to fade away, DeMayo says he felt no pain.

In fact, it was quite the opposite; he recalls feeling full of joy and at peace as his body was lifted upwards and surrounded by music. When he was able to open his eyes, DeMayo found himself in an ethereal garden, placed before a figure shrouded in divinity that he instinctively recognized as Jesus Christ.

“He was nowhere similar to the pictures we have seen in pictures or books,” DeMayo said in his interview with the JeffMara Podcast, “but…I immediately knew [it] was Christ…He smiled at me and told me to live my life to the fullest and also to [return to] Earth to spread love, laughter, joy and light.”

Since his near-death experience, DeMayo says he has been instilled with a certain sense of premonition; being able to predict if a certain person has lost a loved one in the past, and even what may happen to them in the near future.

While he wanted to use this newfound ability to help enrich and better the lives of others, DeMayo was understandably fearful of how this claim might be perceived by others, especially more spiritually-skeptical individuals. It wouldn’t be until some 12 years later, in October of 2020 at a mental health retreat for veterans, that he felt a renewed sense of encouragement to utilize this experience to help other U.S. military veterans.

Now, one year after DeMayo’s time at the retreat, he is one of the most prominent figures in the world of near-death experiences and is a routinely sought-after speaker at the International Association of Near Death Studies. His experience has helped gear him towards other avenues of assisting his fellow veterans, such as participating in Project Odyssey through the Wounded Warrior Project based in Jacksonville, Florida.

“I think of the Wounded Warrior Project logo,” DeMayo told Action News Jax while participating in Project Odyssey in September of 2021. “It’s a soldier carrying another soldier on his back and the ultimate goal for me, maybe at the beginning when I signed up [for the military], I was the one getting carried and I want to pay it forward and be the soldier that’s carrying someone else and the cycle will continue to grow.”

DeMayo also dedicates his spare time to practicing energy healing — a form of Alternative Medicine — to help spread the joy, light, and love that Christ asked him to during his near-death experience.

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