Alive Again: Daily Summaries Delivered

45 | Overtime: A Conversation With Dr. David Fajgenbaum

44 | Fourteen Bullets

43 | Rip

42 | Extraordinary Awakening: A Conversation with Filmmaker Jonas Elrod

Filmmaker Jonas Elrod never set out to become a spiritual seeker. While making a documentary in San Francisco, his life was suddenly upended: lights flickered, voices appeared, and a portal opened in the corner of his room. What followed was a series of visions and encounters that would change his life forever — and inspire his acclaimed documentary Wake Up. In this episode of Alive Again, we revisit Jonas’s extraordinary journey, first captured in Wake Up, and later expanded in his series In Deep Shift, from living an ordinary life to suddenly seeing and hearing angels, auras, and spirits — a shift that doctors could not explain. With his skeptical yet supportive partner at his side, he traveled the country seeking answers from teachers, scientists, mystics, and healers. Wake Up became more than a personal story; it was a call to consciousness, an invitation to look inward for peace and happiness while recognizing that life holds far more than meets the eye. Jonas describes himself as “a southern writer and director who grew up in Georgia with a deep appreciation for story as a means for change. He fell in love with stories told on porches late at night of fallen heroes, misfit love, and spiritual redemption.” In this conversation, Jonas recounts his extraordinary awakening, the challenges of integrating mystical experiences into everyday life, and why storytelling remains his truest path to healing and connection. If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

41 | Angel Falls

At 26, Taylor Maxson was searching for purpose while working with at-risk youth in Kentucky. After months of exhaustion and stress, he and two friends set out on the Cumberland River for what was meant to be a healing trip into nature. But when their canoe flipped above Angel Falls—a class V rapid known for its deadly currents—Taylor was pulled under, battered against rocks, and certain she would not survive. In this episode of Alive Again, Taylor recounts the terrifying minutes when he nearly drowned and resurfaced, and how the experience led him toward connection, healing, and a new way of living. Story Producer: Kate Sweeney If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

40 | The Bondage of Self

In this unforgettable episode of Alive Again, Charlie Collins shares the moment that changed everything: when he was electrocuted by 12,500 volts on top of a moving train in New York. Legally blind since childhood and long battling self-doubt, drugs, and despair, Charlie’s near-death experience left him burned and broken—but also opened the door to a profound transformation. Through survival, recovery, and surrender, Charlie found meaning, connection, and a calling to help others discover their own light. This is a story about ego death, resilience, and finding light after decades of darkness. And it reminds us: sometimes the near-death isn’t what nearly kills us—it’s what finally sets us free. Story Producer: Dan Bush If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

39 | Maybe It Saved My Life

On a 110° Grand Canyon trek rerouted by wildfire, Drew Seibert collapsed alone—hallucinating a friend, cooling in a cave, and realizing he might die there. He didn’t. A river guide’s sat phone summoned a helicopter, and Drew went home to Atlanta… where a midnight fall in his bathroom broke his neck and stopped his breathing. Kept alive by his partner’s improvised rescue and then a ventilator, Drew awoke to a new life as a quadriplegic. What followed was the slow, stubborn work of neuroplastic recovery at Shepherd Center: first wrist, first ankle, standing, driving, and the daily discipline of building strength when it would be easier to give up. Along the way, he reimagined purpose—leaving medicine, going to law school, and now advocating for veterans while speaking frankly about autonomy, access to care, and what we owe one another. “You don’t have a lot of choice in the matter,” he says. “Do the best you can to keep heading in the right direction.” Story Producer: Brent Dey If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

38 | Play The Tape Through

At UC Santa Cruz, Brooke Knisley fell more than twenty feet from a redwood while drinking and spent ten days in a coma. What followed was the long, messy work of living with a traumatic brain injury: double vision, memory gaps, relearning daily life, and building white-board systems to keep moving forward. With sharp humor and hard-won clarity, Brooke traces the shift from bar fights and self-numbing to therapy, sobriety, and a steadier kindness toward herself and others—learning to “play the tape through,” when making decisions, and to find joy in the small moments. Brooke is a talented freelance writer specializing in humor, personal essays, and reporting on disability, mental health, and culture. To read more of Brooks insightful and engaging work, visit her website: https://www.brookeknisley.com/ Contains traumatic brain injury/coma, alcohol misuse, and a reference to sexual assault. Listener discretion advised. Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.