'I saw my future in an afterlife waiting room as my body crumbled in a head-on car crash'

In 2004, Jeanette Hedström experienced a horrific car crashthat she claims catapulted her out of her body as angels revealed to her the "other side" and offered her a choice about whether toreturn to Earth after showing her two potential futures. Speaking to NeedtoKnow, the retreat leader shared: "I had to explore my future as the angels predicted; so I made the decision to return."

The Swedish native and her stepsister were on a road trip when a truck abruptly switched lanes, pushing them into oncoming traffic where they crashed head-on with another vehicle. Jeanette's seatbelt forced her internal organs up under her heart, causing her diaphragm to rupture, tearing her intestines and puncturing her lungs.

Jeanette wasn't immediately transported to the 'waiting room', as she remembered feeling all of her injuries in the aftermath: "I couldn't breathe and everything hurt. I kept yelling: 'I'm dying' over and over. All I wanted was to go home – and then I left my body.

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"I saw everything unfold, like a film scene, where I couldn't even comprehend that my physical form was still in the car and I was just a soul floating above."

She could still sense her body struggling to survive when a voice told her to "let go" and she was whisked away. The waiting room she ended up in felt like she had returned home with "such a deep sense of belonging" that she instantly decided to stay.

There, she encountered three spiritual presences; her deceased godmother and two angels. They revealed to her "the energies" of the man she would eventually wed and three future children waiting for her should she choose to return. They also showed her how the world would continue if she chose to stay in the afterlife.

The 42-year-old said: "The angels showed me how important it was for life to carry on. The voices of everyone on Earth praying for me – my friends, mother, father and sister – all asking me to survive and fight played in my ears. I knew I couldn't let them down."

When Jeanette regained consciousness in hospital, her body had been undergoing life-saving emergency operations for three days. Each organ in her abdomen required removal and replacement after fluid was administered to relieve the pressure.

She remained on a ventilator for days whilst her eyelids were surgically repaired, a titanium rod was inserted into her arm and three vertebrae were fused in her spine. Medical staff remained uncertain whether she would regain the ability to walk or face a lifetime of chronic pain.

However, just weeks following the crash, Jeanette had recovered. She remarked: "The speed at which I recovered was beyond explanation."

She suffers no permanent complications from the accident, and the visions from her near-death experience have proven to be true according to the retreat leader. She said: "It turned out to be the right man, the one I knew deep within I was meant to meet.

"Today, we have two beautiful children – but one is missing. I lost a son in pregnancy, and maybe he was the third one I felt; or maybe there's still a surprise waiting for us."

Jeanette reckons her brush with death stands as one of the most profound and precious lessons she's ever encountered, as it destroyed her "false self" and redirected her soul's journey in this existence. She believes the waiting area she was transported to served as a gateway where her spirit was destined to be reborn.

She continued: "I carry a completely different relationship to life now. I want to live, and I know it's important that I'm here. I wouldn't want to go back to how things were before – I'm no longer living out of fear, but out of love and courage.

"Death isn't something I'm afraid of anymore because I know what's waiting for me on the other side. When my time comes, it comes."