Norfolk man's vision after near-death experience 

Former Norfolk Fire Brigade technician Trevor Palmer died for 15 minutes in a Norwich hospital and received a vision from God before doctors managed to resuscitate him. Keith Morris reports.

Trevor, aged 77, went into the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital for a heart oblation operation to rectify his atrial fibrillation condition on August 20, 2024.

“I remember signing the paperwork but nothing else until I woke up three days later in a side room with a nurse there,” said Trevor, who was on a life-support machine for 15 hours and in a coma for three days.

“The doctor came in and told me that things didn’t go according to plan. ‘We started the procedure and you were under full anaesthetic and you had a cardiac arrest and were clinically dead,’ the doctor told me. ‘We resuscitated you and put you onto end-of-life support in ICU and with the chaplaincy. Things looked pretty grim but we are very pleased and you seemed to recover a lot more quickly than we expected, especially considering you also had pneumonia,’ recalled Trevor.

Trevor, who retired in 2007 after working for the Fire Brigade in Hethersett, felt at peace when he woke up: “I was at peace but different than I was before,” he said. “In a way I felt that I had my old body but I had a new spirit. I felt very much more at peace than I had for a long while.”

Trevor also remembered having a dream or vision while he was unconscious: “In the dream I found myself in a large peaceful, quiet room. There stood my church pastor Noel Wood, from Taverham Evangelical Church, holding a Bible saying something over me. Beside him was my son David and my wife Susan and I was stood up looking at them.  They all looked so sad.”

“A couple of days later they moved me out of the end-of-life ward and Susan brought my Bible in for me. Noel came in and I asked him what he was reading over me when he came to see me when I was unconscious. He could not understand how I knew that had happened, but told me what he had read over me.


“He said it was Psalm 118 v 17: ‘I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.’

“And I knew straight away why the Lord had allowed this to happen - so that I could give that testimony to other people.”

Over the last 18 months, Trevor has faced seven full theatre procedures.

“I have not felt afraid at all but at peace. I sincerely believe that God allowed me to come back to do his work. Today there is so much interest in the supernatural whether that is angels, ghost stories and the occult that people seem really interested in my story.

“I now have amyloidosis on my heart, which is a terminal illness. I understand the situation but I am really happy to be here and also happy to be with the Lord – so I class myself as a winner all round. Susan has done well to adjust to it all.

“All I know is that while I am here I have to just keep on telling people what God has done for me. God is totally in charge and there is nothing I can do about it. Whatever my destiny is, it will be with God – his grace is good. I have prayed that I keep the soul in me that cares for others and I don’t become hard and selfish because of my experience.

“God has brought me through this so that I can tell people how powerful, loving and gracious he is. He is in charge despite what this world thinks.”

Susan said: I feel very happy to have Trevor back but sad that he is having to take one day at a time now. But I know that God will look after me when Trevor is no longer around.”

Pastor Noel Wood said: “Trevor’s story is quite incredible. God definitely stepped in and did a miracle for Him.

“I do believe that God saves us from death for a reason and it is great to see that Trevor is getting his story out there and giving God the glory for his miraculous recovery. We continue to pray for him that God would complete his healing.”

Pictured top is Trevor Palmer and, above, with wife Susan. Picture (c) Network Norfolk.