Woman seeks purpose in close call
By Nadine Parks
The Post and Courier
Rose Simpson
To learn CPR
The Carolina Lowcountry Chapter of the American Red Cross offers classes on cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Classes are held about once each week. The cost is $65 for a four-hour, adult CPR class and $85 for a six-hour class that includes CPR for adults, infants and children.
Registration and payment are required at least two days prior to class. For more information, call the Red Cross at 764-2323 ext. 358 or visit lowcountryredcross.org.
Rose Simpson knew she was dead. She could see the white light and feel it drawing near.
But just as suddenly as she had collapsed a few minutes earlier, she awoke to find that she was very much alive and in an ambulance headed toward the hospital.
She credits her neighbors, roommate, police and emergency medical personnel for saving her life after an apparent heart attack June 28. Now, she's trying to understand the forces that pulled her back from the brink of death and what purpose she has yet to fulfill.
Simpson, 48, doesn't know if it was her heart condition, the summer heat or a combination of both. She was outside her home near Remount Road in North Charleston at high noon. The temperature was 91 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
"I just collapsed," Simpson said.
Neighbors found her unconscious on the ground and not breathing. They called 911 and roused her roommate, Johnnie Avery, who was inside.
One look at Simpson and Avery knew she was in trouble. Her face was purple, and she wasn't breathing, he said. "She would have been dead if someone hadn't helped her."
An EMS operator gave Avery instructions, and he began chest compressions until North Charleston police Private 1st Class Christopher Hollowell arrived. Hollowell wrote in a report that he found a pulse, but Simpson was not breathing, so he started breathing for her until EMS arrived and gave him a bag mask to force air into her lungs.
"The color in the subject's face began to return and after about a minute or so the victim began to breath on her own but was still unconscious," the officer wrote.
The report said that Simpson started coming around in the ambulance.
Simpson said she is grateful to the people who saved her life, but a part of her wishes they had not. She said she can't stop thinking about what she experienced in those moments of unconsciousness and the sense of tranquility that she felt.
"I saw a white light, and it had fingers coming out of it, like the (rays of the) sun," she said.
She said she felt as though the light was pulling her.
"It was so peaceful, and then I woke up," she said, adding that she felt disappointed. "I really wish I just had gone on."
Simpson is searching for meaning in the close call.
"I'm confused about whether I should be here, but I'm here," she said. "Jesus saved my life for a reason, and I know that."
Simpson said she is no longer afraid of death.
Reach Nadine Parks at 937-5573 or nparks@postand courier.com.
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ChasGuy71 (anonymous) says...
Oh boy....another wack job that has to seek meaning in a purely biological matter. Face it, you almost died and quick medical intervention saved you. Doesn't seem so hard to understand to me.
July 4, 2009 at 1:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nighteyes (anonymous) says...
"I really wish I had just gone on." So much so that you HAD to call the newspaper and tell us all about it. Get over yourself. I bet there are billions that would have given anything to come back.
July 4, 2009 at 5:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LocalHero (anonymous) says...
The experience of disappointment upon being brought back from the brink is not all that uncommon. True, this story didn't have much to add but it might be some comfort to someone facing their own upcoming end.
Who knows what is awaiting us after death. It's just as arrogant to claim to know that it's "a purely biological matter" as it is to claim to know that some god is awaiting us with open arms.
July 4, 2009 at 8:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lifeisprecious (anonymous) says...
Thanks for posting LocalHero. Its just a human interest story. I don't know why some people feel the need to attack her personally calling her a wackjob and saying she needs to get over herself. Geesh.
July 4, 2009 at 11:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Mon_Kie (anonymous) says...
"Simpson said she is no longer afraid of death."
She should move to Gaffney then.
July 4, 2009 at 11:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ysillyme (anonymous) says...
Not a bad looking wench. The silly one thinks perhaps she was saved to become my "soul mate" and travel to Argentina perhaps.
July 4, 2009 at 11:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jess47 (anonymous) says...
It disgusts me some of the posts of the users on this board. This article is simply one lady's experience and she has THE RIGHT to say what she feels. If you don't like it, ignore it. To comment negatively or cut down any individual's beliefs/views is wrong, period. Personally, I myself have had near-death experience very similar to the one she states about seeing a bright light and feeling a sense of tranquility that cannot be described. For those who think this kind of experience is unusual, I'm so sorry that you're not up on the education of life. Perhaps it would help if you, yourself, knew what it was like to empathize with others. But no, the world has seemed to become less and less empathetic of others and quick to judge. The Bible says, "Judge not lest ye be judged," (Matthew 7:1). What a difference this world would be if people were to look in the mirror first and stop being so hypocritical and learn to be more compassionate toward others.
July 4, 2009 at 12:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ysillyme (anonymous) says...
jess47~
Have you ever been in a Turkish prison; how about seen a grown man naked?
July 4, 2009 at 12:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nighteyes (anonymous) says...
I'm not judging...I'm observing. It annoys me to think that anyone would have rather died when there are millions of people right now with life threatening diseases and disabilities that would give anything to live normal, healthy lives. If that is the way you feel, keep it to yourself. Don't call the newspaper, and have an article written on yourself when people like the ones listed above all read the Post and Courier. What a slap in the face. Cruel? No way.
July 4, 2009 at 2:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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