My Encounters With Death

I have been so fortunate that despite having had at least three encounters with death, that I am fully aware of, I am still among the living.

The first encounter took place, believe or not, before I was even born!

You must be wondering what am I talking about.

Well, this first encounter had a happy ending thanks to my father’s powerful desire to bring my mom back to life when he was told that she was dead. My mom had already given birth to four of my siblings and my father could not accept the fact that they would face a life without their mother (You can read exactly how he felt by reading his verse The Miracle which he wrote shortly afterwards).

My mother was about six months pregnant with me, when she suffered from a lung embolism which made her heart stop. When my father arrived at the hospital, three doctors told him “I’m sorry your wife is dead.” Most husbands would have tearfully and reluctantly accepted the verdict feeling also sorry for the four little children who would have become mother orphans.

My father, however — who by the way, before becoming a civil engineer had studied medicine for one year — asked for a new drug that was barely being tested, namely, levophed (norepinephrine bitartrate) which is vasoconstrictor, similar to adrenaline, used to treat life-threatening low blood…