One question humanity has been trying to answer since the dawning of time is: what happens after you die? Now, one 55-year-old man who reached the other side but managed to come back to life is coming forward to share his vision of death and what it means for everyone who was ever curious about it. Kevin Hill, 55, suffered a cardiac arrest when his heart suddenly stopped beating while he was being treated for calciphylaxis, which is a rare condition that occurs when calcium accumulates in the small blood vessels located inside fat and skin tissues.

Hill from Derby, United Kingdom, revealed that there was “no light to go toward” while he was “dying,” but the experience was nonetheless peaceful and not filled with pain or strife. He could have easily just allowed himself to drift off into the nothingness of death, but instead, he refused to let himself go and returned to his body, and his heart began beating again, giving him another chance at life.

Doctors at the Derby Royal Hospital have dubbed Kevin Hill, a “miracle man” because he managed to defy the odds and return to life despite having his heart stop beating because of his rare condition. He revealed that he passed into the “spirit realm,” where he was watching his body slowly die and deteriorate from a distance separate from his human form.

“I wasn’t looking down at my body, but I was separate from my body,” Hill, 55, said. “It was like I was in the spirit realm — I was conscious of what was going on, but I had so much peace.”

Hill allegedly lost five pints of blood before his heart gave out on him. He was dead for a few minutes while doctors worked feverishly to revive him, which they ultimately did, bringing him back from the spirit world.

“I knew I was bleeding. I knew it was serious. The staff kept coming in and out to stop the bleeding.”

He added, “I knew I had died. I was separate from my body. Then I just went to sleep, and I woke up alive, and the bleeding had stopped. I knew it wasn’t my time to die. The situation has made me refocus my priorities. When I came out of the hospital, my family atmosphere changed dramatically. I have become more resilient. I know I can bounce back.”

He concluded, “Everyone said I should be dead.”