In the USA, a man with a transplanted face reported visions of the afterlife while in a coma

Joe DiMeo from the USA was in a car accident in 2018, suffering burns to 80 percent of his body surface. The young man survived, underwent a face transplant, and shared details of his experience in an interview with People.

At the time of the accident, which occurred early in the morning right after Joe finished working a night shift, he was 18 years old. He fell asleep at the wheel of his car and woke up several months later in the burn unit. Although he was unconscious immediately after the accident, the man claims that he could hear people around him in the hospital. When they changed his bandages, he experienced pain, and he even dreamed about it. "They're not trying to torture you, they're just removing the bandages, but it still hurts," Joe shared.

People often ask him if he saw the afterlife while he was in a coma.

I was walking my dog. I thought: "Oh, so that's what it is. I guess this is the afterlife - just me walking with my dog on an endless hill."

In 2019, Joe met a doctor from New York University at Langone, who considered him a good candidate for a face and double hand transplant. Everyone understood it was a risky operation - it had been unsuccessfully performed on two previous patients. Joe was lucky, receiving a face transplant from a 47-year-old donor. Shortly after the operation, he met a nurse named Jessica, who later became his wife. The girl had heard about him from one of her instructors at nursing school and watched a documentary about the transplantation.

Although the couple regularly faces judgment, Joe himself believes that the worst part of his life ultimately led to the best. "I lost 80 percent of my skin, I have someone else's face and hands. But I found a life partner, and if the accident hadn't happened to me, I would probably still be a cocky 26-year-old kid," he concluded.