0 trees and i want to breathe as much oxygen as possible. >> since he's really worried about the change in climate, he decided to cruise his new skills to create a new app called trees and cars. >> these would be riders in this same area. who want to ride with me. >> okay. >> if you make money off of this app -- >> right. >> are you going to go get an apartment? >> oh, yeah, of course. trump plaza hotel. >> but even if he never makes it to the plaza, he still has friends like these city workers looking out for him. >> that's why i tell guy, don't judge no one. >> and then there is his infectious inner peace. all the money in silicon valley just can't buy. how do you manage to keep such a positive attitude? >> faith, friends. it works. try it. >> anderson cooper's special report fwins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com their stories begin tragically. orthopedic surgeon mary neal was trapped under water for more than 15 minutes. anita moorjani was living her final moments with stage four lymphoma. and ben breedlove's heart stopped beating for minutes at a time. on the brink of death, mary, anita, and ben say they went to heaven and they came back. their stories raise questions about faith and fear. is heaven real? what does it feel like to die? tonight cnn's randi kaye talked with three people who say they have left this world for another. we leave it to them to tell their stories, their words, their answers to questions we all would like to ask. >> my name is mary neal. on january 14th, 1999, i died while kayaking on a south american river. i live in jackson hole, wyoming. i am married. i had four children. they were all competitive cross country skiers. i am an orthopedic spine surgeon. and i was very busy. i mean, i finished my residency and was married with a full-time job and one child and then had another one and another one and they kept coming. and i think i was very, very typical. i had very little time for my spiritual life. >> what was your relationship with god and spirituality? >> i did take my own children to sunday school. i tried to incorporate spirituality into my daily life, but then i would run out of time. >> tell me about your husband, bill. >> my husband is also an orthopedic surgery. he is a very bright guy with a keen sense of humor. my husband and i have been married for 26 years. this was in january of 1999. friends of ours are professional kayakers and during the winters, they go to chile to kayak. and so for my husband's birthday, i surprised him with this trip. and so we had planned to go to chile for a week of kayaking. >> and you were really looking forward to it. >> it was wonderful. we spent a week enjoying the people and the food and our friends. >> what was going to be our last day of kayaking was january 14th. we had planned to kayak on a section of river that's well known for its water falls. drops of 10 to 15 feet. that morning, actually, my husband woke up with terrible back pain. so he chose not to good on the river. >> how did you feel that morning? what was on your mind? >> when i first put on the river, i didn't feel quite right. i just sort of said, oh, well, i guess i'm just nervous. as we started down the river, i still felt this sense of unease. things weren't quite pauling together. then we came to the first big drop. as i crested the top of the water fall, i could look down and it just looked like this bottomless pit of churning water. i couldn't see a clean outflow or clean exit. i hit the bottom of the water fall and the front end of the boat became pinned in the rocks, and the boat and i were immediately and completely emerges in 8 or 10 feet of water. i started to do the things that would free me from the boat. but the force of the current had my body absolutely pressed to the front deck of the boat. >> did you have any sense while this was happening where your friends were, what they were trying to do. did they know where you were? >> neither the boat nor i were visible from the surface. and at that point in time, they started their watch. time is very important because it determines whether you are trying to rescue someone or whether you are really just trying to recover the body. >> they had a tough time reaching you. >> because they kept failing. their sense of really of panic kept raising. >> did you think you were going to die at that point? >> oh, i was sure i was going to die. i knew at the time i really had been under water too long. i gave up trying to control the outcome. i really gave it all over to god. and i really, really sincerely said, your will be done. and the moment i gave up control, i was immediately overcome with this very, very physical sensation of being held and comforted and reassured that everything was fine. regardless of whether i lived or died. my husband would be fine. my children would be fine. but simultaneously, the other part of my brain kept doing these self assessment exams thinking, wow, this is really, really strange. >> and were you still in the water when you were being held? >> yes. i was still very aware of my physical surroundings. i could still feel the boat. i could still feel the current. the father of this group that became very clear to him that what they were going to do was not going to make a difference. they all said there was a point in time when everything shifted. one of them said it was almost like a sonic boom. then this other rock became exposed and they were able to get closer to me. >> rock that hadn't been there before. >> no. when the rock opened up, and one attempt they were able to shift the boat just a little bit so then the current started sucking my body out of the boat. as i came over the front deck of the boat, my knees had to bend back on themselves and i could feel them breaking. and i could feel the ligaments and tissue tearing. i felt my spirit peeling away from my body. sort of like peeling apart two pieces of tape. and i felt my spirit break free and i rose up and out of the water and i was immediately greeted by this group of, i never really know what to call them, people, spirits, beings. those mean different things to different people. they started taking me down this path that was so beautiful. >> did you have any sense of what was going on with your friends and were they still in that mode of complete panic and frustration? >> they were still in that boat. and they saw my red life jacket pop up down stream. and one of the guys felt my body hit his leg. so he then was able to reach down and grab my wrist and pull me over to shore. my body was purple and bloated and my pupils were affixed and dilated. they immediately started chest compressions and breathing. i watched them do it. but i didn't physically feel them doing it. >> as a doctor, you know how long a human body can survive without oxygen. >> by about 10 minutes, it's over. they would believe i was without oxygen for 30 minutes. by every other definition, yes, i was dead. so if i'm hearing you correctly, you're having a conversation with jesus. of true artistry expet and some of the best offers of the year at the lexus december to remember sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection. at the lexus december to remember sales event. on the table by not choosing the right medicare d plan. no one could have left this much money here. whoo-hoo-hoo! yet many seniors who compare medicare d plans realize they can save hundreds of dollars. cvs/pharmacy wants to help you save on medicare expenses. talk to your cvs pharmacist, call, or go to cvs.com/compare to get your free, personalized plan comparison today. call, go online, or visit your local store today. my boyfriend has a lot of can't-miss moments. i checked out the windows phones and saw the lumia 1020 has 41 megapixels. so i can zoom way in even after i take the picture. and i can adjust the shot before i take it so i get it exactly how i want. so, i went with a windows phone. maybe i just see things other people don't. ♪ honestly ♪ i wanna see you be brave ♪ ♪ i wanna see you be brave a place where luxury and nature is so hand in hand. ♪ a place where by doing nothing you can get so much. how to explain a beach hidden by the earth? some things can't be explained, you have to experience them. vallarta-nayarit, live it to believe it. and you work hard to get to the next level. it feels good when you reach point b, but you're not done. for you, "b" is not the end. capella university will take you further, because our competency-based curriculum gives you skills you can apply immediately, to move your career forward. to your point "c." capella university. start your journey at capella.edu. at afraud could meanuld blower credit scores. and higher interest rates when you apply for a credit card. it's a problem waiting to happen. check your credit score, check your credit report at experian.com. i could see the stain on the river bank. i could see them pull my body to the shore. i could see them start cpr. i had no pulse. and i wasn't breathing. one fellow is yelling at me to come back. >> you were unconscious, so how do you know that all of this was happening? >> i felt my body break free. and i felt my spirit break free. and i was greeted by these people or these spirits. i could be with them and be going down this incredible pathway. and simultaneously look back at the river. when i saw my body, i will say that was the first time that i actually thought, well, i guess i am dead. i guess i really did die. >> in the book you write about dancing with them. were you celebrating something? i sort of looked at these people long enough to see there were in physical form. head, arm, legs, that sort of thing and sort of wearing these ropes and they were brilliant. >> y >> what? what were you celebrating? you just died. >> it was a great homecoming. it was as though i has been on this long journey to earth. >> so, you were dancing? >> and i'm a terrible dancing. >> eventually, they took you to this bright hall with love and again, it was love, we use love as an emotional word. but it was as though you could you could feel it, experience it and see it and it was complete and absolute and pure. and i was really surprised by the fact that i had no intention of going back. >> you didn't want to return? >> no. and i had all the reasons to return. i had a great life. i had a great job. i had a great husband. my children are wonderful and i love them more than i can ever imagine loving something on earth. but the love that i felt for them in comparison to god's love that was absolutely flowing through everything, was just pale in comparison. >> what were you told? >> at a certain point, one of the people or spirits told me it wasn't my time and that i had more work to do on earth and that i had to go back to my body. they took me back to the path and literally i sat down in my body. >> your friends, they thought you were dead? >> i woke up, i saw them, and then i could hear yelling. and their faces were interesting. because it was a mixture, i think, of absolute shock and the sense of, oh, now what do we do? we're in the middle of nowhere. when they looked up, two chilean young men just appeared. they actually never said anything. and no one ever said anything to them. but they picked me up and put me on top of a kayak as a means to carry me. one guy helped pick up the boat and the other guy started chopping a path through the bamboo and when they emerged from the bamboo to the dirt road, there was an ambulance waiting there. >> not a common sighting in that area, i take it? >> no, there are no ambulances. >> you write in the book, it wasn't just one miracle. it was a constellation of miracles. >> the fact is, when you line up every single coincidence, you start to realize that you can't write everything off as a coincidence. i was in the hospital for five or six weeks. i absolutely felt like i was neither here nor there. i then again felt myself back in heaven and god's world. i was in this incredible field. again, it was the same experience of intensity. but i was having this conversation with jesus. >> so if i'm hearing you correctly, you're having a conversation with jesus. >> uh-huh. >> and what are you asking him? >> we talked more about reasons that i had been sent back. it had to do with my husband's health. so when a couple of our friends died from unexpected causes, i then pushed my husband to have his heart checked. and it was on this heart scan that they ended up finding this lung lesion that was malignant. >> how serious was it? >> had it not been found, he probably wouldn't be here. >> let's talk about your son, william. what do you remember the angel telling you about what would happen to willie? >> i knew very specifically with regard to my son, that he was going to die and that there is beauty and purpose in his death. not just his life. we talked about how he had really fulfilled his job. he really already had done what he was meant to do. i told no one until shortly before his 18th birthday. as his 18th birthday approached, i really started feeling like it wasn't fair not to tell my husband. so i did tell him. >> did you live any differently regarding willie? >> i woke up everyday wondering if this would be the day. >> over year and a half later, he went out for a roller skate training session with a friend of his. they pulled up to this area that overlooked this river valley. he made some comment to the effect of, wouldn't this be an incredible last sight if we never could see anything else. and then, 30 seconds later, he was hit by a car and instantly killed. >> so this is willie's room. >> you still have it pretty much decorated? all of his things. >> yeah, it is very difficult for me to come in and look at those things that really represented him as a person. as a -- as my son. because you know, the sadness never goes away. >> right. your story is, you know, incredible. do you ever look at it and maybe even be your own greatest skeptic? >> i am my own greatest skeptic. and i'm quite sure that i would not believe most of my life's story had i not personally lived each and every day of it. but i absolutely believe each and every person can look at their own life and see the hand of god retrospectively. being pulled out of the river and resuscitated is very dramatic. but most miracles are very quiet. that person that calls you just at the moment when you most needed it, or the person that shows up and directs you to something that you never would have imagined. >> do you look back on your accident as something tragic? >> i look back at this accident as the single most greatest gift that i could ever, ever imagine receiving. i would never change a moment of it. i was in a coma. my organs had now shut down. the oncologist said that i probably won't even make it through the next 24, 36 hours. hey there, i just got my bill, and i see that it includes my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit. good. i hate surprises. surprise! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card and see your fico® credit score. so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth. it's durable. and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to bounty duratowel. it's durable. and it's 3 times cleaner. is caused by people looking fore traffic parking.y that's remarkable that so much energy is, is wasted. streetline has looked at the problem of parking, which has not been looked at for the last 30, 40 years, we wanted to rethink that whole industry, so we go and put out these sensors in each parking spot and then there's a mesh network that takes this information sends it over the internet so you can go find exactly where those open parking spots are. the collaboration with citi was important for providing us the necessary financing; allow this small start-up to go provide a service to municipalities. citi has been an incredible source of advice, how to engage with municipalities, how to structure deals, and as we think about internationally, citi is there every step of the way. so the end result is you reduce congestion, you reduce pollution and you provide a service to merchants, and that certainly is huge.