Man declared clinically dead reminisces on how he walked out of hospital days later

He was in an accident that left him clinically dead and at number two on the Glasgow Coma Scale, but Nico Strydom lives to tell the tale.

On September 6, the ex-Umdloti resident told his story at the Ballito Gesinkerk (NG Noordkus). He lived in Umdloti from 2016 to 2017.

Strydom survived a horrific car accident in October 2003, which changed his life forever, reports North Coast Courier.

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Early one morning, Strydom was working at his manufacturing company on Beyers Naudé Drive in Johannesburg. He had been out to buy food for his staff, and as he was returning to work, a car smashed into him from behind.

The car was travelling at an estimated 180km/h and the force of the impact flung Strydom from the vehicle and he landed 90m away.

He was alive, but only just. His brain was bleeding, he had multiple skull fractures and ten ribs were broken. His pelvis was broken in four places. One of his lungs had popped, and another one popped later in the trauma ward.

He was resuscitated twice on the scene and again in a helicopter on the way to Sandton Mediclinic.

“On arrival they took me into the trauma ward and they saw that I flat-lined on my EEG – my brain was dead,” said Strydom.

His heart then stopped, but started beating in fits and starts. It was swollen to the size of a medium-sized paw paw, and the sac around the heart was filled with air – which is life threatening.

Strydom was declared clinically dead. But a trauma doctor, Rob Gentz, heard him trying to breathe even though both his lungs had popped, and decided to put him on life support.

“It can only have been God who showed the doctor that I was still fighting for my life.”

The other doctors, however, disagreed and thought he would be dead within days. They told his family that nothing could be done and advised them to say their goodbyes. “Even if I made it, they thought I would basically be a vegetable.”

Strydom’s family just kept praying as hours became days. After 12 days, he woke out of the coma, rated second in severity on the Glasgow Coma Scale.

Six days later Strydom left the hospital – on foot!

“I was very thankful to be alive, even though I could not believe it had happened to me. I would testify and it felt like I was telling a story from a book.”

Strydom had some difficulty settling back into social life. Because of the brain injuries, he had trouble with his nerves, emotions and his sense of reality. He would at times find himself overly emotional, sensitive and even paranoid.

“It took about six years before I felt normal again,” he said. He also had trouble remembering names and with spelling.

After two years back in the business world, Strydom left it forever for full-time ministry. He started to testify about what had happened to him. In September 2015, he went over to the United States and was talking at a church in Florida when he met his future wife.

“She was taking photos for the church when she saw me and we just knew that we were meant for each other,” said Strydom.

“I went back home and we became Facebook friends, and essentially fell in love with each other over the phone. I went to America with an engagement ring that December. We got married the next February in South Africa.”

Strydom now works with churches all over the world. It is clear that the accident changed his life irrevocably.

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