By Mathis Lefevre –
Amateur hockey player Billy Garaffa suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and collapsed on the ice in April 2022. Doctors say he was dead for 16 minutes.
“I never felt like I died because I was standing in the light. I was standing with God,” Garaffa says. “I felt more alive than I ever had before.”
After seeing and talking to God, the Holy Spirit led him back to his body, which when he recognized it, he woke up.
Billy was playing for the Aspen, Colorado, championship when his Near Death Experience struck. It was later discovered he had grown rare collateral arteries which kept blood flowing when his heart stopped – adding a medical component to the miracle.
“’It’s like God built this miracle into me ahead of time,” Billy says.
The collapsing was completely painless for Billy. He saw God and the Holy Spirit. God quizzed him: What are the two most important commandments?
He knew the answer: “To love your God with all your mind, all your soul and all your heart; to love your neighbor as yourself. Everything absolutely made sense and it made it so everything so simple.”
The Holy Spirit drew him back to his body, where he revived.
Billy wondered for a long time: Why did he NOT see Jesus? He saw only God and the Holy Spirit. With most NDEs, people see Jesus. So he prayed and eventually got his answer.
“I had a vision in my prayer time,” he says. “I saw Jesus standing and kneeling over my body and guiding the people to do the right things.”
Today, Billy is still married and speaks publicly about his experience.
