Doctors said I was dead: Afghanistan veteran tells new podcast how he cheated death

A British Army veteran has told a new podcast how he had a haunting out of body experience after being pronounced dead by medics in Afghanistan.

Derek Derenalagi was tasked with clearing a helicopter landing site when the Land Rover he was travelling in was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device. The blast in 2007 instantly severed one of Derek's legs – the other one was later amputated at the field hospital in the main coalition base at Camp Bastion.

While he was on the operating table – where he was officially pronounced dead by medics – Derek had an out of body experience in which he could see the body bag he was about to be put into.

In his own words, Derek explains to the Near Death podcast that it was at that moment he made a conscious decision that it was not his time to go.

Warning: This article – and the video above – contains details of death and injury that some readers and viewers may find upsetting.

'I saw my body lying on the table'

"The last thing I remember was lying on the table in a room," Derek said.

"When a nurse was talking to me, she was standing right above my head, telling me 'Derek, be strong, you are going to be OK' and I was going in and out of consciousness at the same time.

"She was talking to me, like inside a tunnel because every word that she was telling me was echoing. And every light that I saw when I was lying on a table was covered in red. 

"Any light that I saw in that room or in that operating room in the field hospital in Camp Bastion in Afghanistan was red. 

"And I remember like my spirit was looking down and I saw my body lying on the table.

"I believe the same nurse was talking to me that very moment, was standing around that operating table and I saw a few doctors standing around the table as well. 

"And I saw the body bag on the side as well. I saw this same nurse holding a hose pipe and cleaning my body which was covered in blood. That's when I knew that I had this out of body experience." 

'I am not giving up'

Derek said the out of body experience had been a terrifying moment, but he refused to give up.

"When I saw the body bag, I just knew that 'oh, that's my body – I'm about to be put in that bag and into a coffin'.

"Part of me knew that I would be going back to the UK in a coffin. But part of me was never giving up. Even though I knew that 'ah this is it, this is it'.

"But part of me, I don't know whether my spirit or my soul, or just reminding myself that 'no, I am not giving up. I am not giving up as yet. I will have to fight this'.

He continued: "And one of our medical staff did this last check and found that you had a slight pulse. So from that very moment, everything changes.

"Because I believe that when I was pronounced dead, there were like procedures to be taken, already been put together. And when that moment, when that medical staff, felt that I had a slight pulse, it changed everything."

'I will always be in debt'

"For me, until this day, I always remind myself that I am so blessed to be alive today.

"I always say that I now live on borrowed time because I was pronounced dead on 19 July 2007.

"To be alive and well today, I'm always grateful and I'm very humbled by the experience that I went through. And I'm always thankful, I'm always in debt.

"I will always be in debt to the team that rescued me from the battlefield, my colleagues, the medics, the Czech SAS soldiers, they were there on the day, and there were a few American soldiers as well.

"I will always be in debt to them, and most of all to the medical team in Camp Bastion and the medical team in Selly Oak, because I believe without them I wouldn't be here today."

Near Death is a brand-new podcast from BFBS Creative, part of Forces News' parent company, sharing remarkable stories from members of the military community who came back from death's door.

One episode will be released every Wednesday over the next six weeks.

You can watch the interviews on the Forces News YouTube channel and listen to them here or wherever you get your podcasts, just search 'Near Death'.

For anyone affected by this story, information and support can be found here.