Alive Again

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That which doesn’t kill us… Hosted by award-winning filmmaker Dan Bush, Alive Again is a weekly series featuring extraordinary stories from people who faced death—and came back changed. From near-death experiences to near-fatal accidents and moments of profound crisis, each episode dives into the transformation that happens on the other side of survival. Told in their own words, these first-hand accounts explore not just what happened in the moment, but how everything changed after: perspectives, priorities, purpose. Some stories are miraculous. Others are brutal. All of them are unforgettable. Our mission is to find, explore, and share these stories to remind us all of our shared human condition. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you don’t die– this show is for you. * If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com

  1. 36 | From Whom All Blessings Flow

    14 HR AGO

    36 | From Whom All Blessings Flow

    When a falling rock shattered Rhesa Bailey’s pelvis at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, survival became immediate and bodily— improvised splints, a perilous raft run to the remote ranger station, a turbulent helicopter through weather.  In the year leading up to the accident, Rhesa had begun to doubt her beliefs—beliefs that had defined her—beliefs that once seemed unshakable—about God, safety, and certainty. These were stripped down to questions.  In this riveting episode, Rhesa talks about the Grand Canyon accident that almost killed her, her crisis of faith, the ache of doubt, the humility of not knowing, and how her experience of almost dying helped reshaped her identity.  Eventually she re-imagined faith— not as answers to the mysteries of the universe, but as a practice: presence, honesty, and love enacted in small, daily choices. What emerged was a renewed understanding of herself and her place in the grand universe. This is a story of faith transformed by experience, moving from borrowed conviction to a grounded, personal belief that can hold both mystery and joy. Contains traumatic injury, blood loss, and medical/ICU details. Listener discretion advised. Story Producer: Brent Dey If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    53 min
  2. 35 | A Delightful Little Life

    23 DEC

    35 | A Delightful Little Life

    Angelyn Pass was an actress-turned-artist, making holiday ornaments in her Midtown studio, when a massive headache dropped her to the floor. Hours later she woke in Emory’s neuro-ICU, intubated, fresh from emergency surgery on a ruptured aneurysm. She spent weeks relearning, rebuilding and refusing to be defined by tubes and machines and she willed herself back to a craft fair barely ten days after discharge. But the real recovery began later: admitting the memory gaps, moving to start over, taking meticulous notes to be a better friend, finding purpose in helping others through legal casework, and—eventually—letting her creativity return on gentler terms. Angelyn didn’t see tunnels or light; she remembers “just nothing”—and from that void came a new vow: to stop chasing an identity and choose a smaller, kinder life she actually loves.  Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky Cover Art: Angelyn Pass If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    49 min

  3. 16 DEC

    34 | Surviving the Boxing Day Tsunami

    On the day after Christmas, Dwayne Meadows was packing for a beach day in Thailand when a distant “white line” on the sea became a wall of water. Swept through his bungalow and into a churning maze of debris, he fought to breathe, said goodbye to his six-year-old son in his mind, and surfaced into chaos—cars, propane tanks, entire bungalows surging past. Grabbing the lower half of a mannequin for flotation, he navigated toward shore, then helped lead other survivors to higher ground and improvised first aid for the injured until medical professionals arrived. In the months that followed, Dwayne grappled with the scale of loss and turned toward service—returning to Thailand, aiding recovery efforts, and applying his marine-biology skills to disaster mapping and reef restoration. This is a story about presence under pressure, the power of small kindnesses, and honoring the lives lost by the life you live after. Content note: This episode includes descriptions of a catastrophic natural disaster (2004 Indian Ocean tsunami), near-drowning, serious injury, mass casualties, and trauma/PTSD. Listener discretion advised. Story Producer: Brent Dey If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    49 min

  4. 9 DEC

    33 | Born Astride a Grave

    Aileen Loy grew up inside a storm—descended from indentured laborers, raised in a rigid, often violent household, and taught to keep the family together at any cost. At 13, she watched a Halloween car crash fling her four-month-older nephew through a windshield; the year before, a beloved brother had died by suicide. For years she became the caretaker and the peacemaker—“a people pleaser” who never prioritized her own pain—until the reckoning came: an ICU stay after a suicidal spiral and the hard decision to break from the patterns that were breaking her. In this raw conversation, Aileen traces the inheritance of shame and self-loathing, the pressure to assimilate, and the moment she realized, “I am a severely damaged person,” then chose to heal—through truth-telling, boundaries, and art. It’s a story about refusing the “family curse,” and finding dignity beyond survival.  Content note: This episode includes discussion of family violence, a fatal accident involving a child, suicide and suicidal ideation, depression, and intergenerational trauma. Listener discretion advised. If you or someone you love is struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    41 min
  5. 32 | No Soul Left Behind

    2 DEC

    32 | No Soul Left Behind

    “We've taken huge steps backwards in the last few years with warfare and with violence and with disregarding the rights of human beings. It's time to reverse that and start acknowledging this much deeper lesson that's coming to the fore about the nature of our existence, how we're really all in this together, and to hurt another is to hurt oneself.” - Dr. Eben Alexander A Harvard-trained neurosurgeon once grounded in strict materialism, Dr. Eben Alexander was convinced the brain produced consciousness—until a week-long coma and near-death experience shattered that certainty. In this conversation, we explore his journey from “the mind is nothing but brain” to a wider view in which consciousness is fundamental, separation is an ego-made illusion, and love is the organizing force of reality.  Drawing from Dan Bush’s introduction, we frame the episode as an invitation: to question assumptions, to consider the mounting evidence from NDEs and consciousness science, and to ask what it means to awaken, heal, and come fully alive again. Along the way, Dr. Alexander recounts the medical facts of his illness, the “more-real-than-real” landscapes he encountered, and why practices like meditation and centering prayer can help us access the same unifying field—no brush with death required. We'll talk about the mind's role in shaping reality, the illusion of separation, how profound experiences—whether through trauma, loss, or near-death—can transform us, and also about the powerful transformation that can happen when we step beyond fear and into a larger view of existence. Our show is all about where human experience brushes up against mystery, and how those intersections transform us– so it’s a true privilege to have Dr. Alexander with us today to share his journey and insights. More About Dr. Eben Alexander: Dr. Eben Alexander is a renowned academic neurosurgeon who spent over 25 years teaching and practicing at some of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world, including Harvard Medical School. For most of his career, he held a conventional, materialist view of the mind and brain—until his own near-death experience and remarkable recovery challenged everything he once believed about the nature of reality. His journey from the world of materialist science to a deeper understanding of consciousness has become a beacon for anyone seeking to understand what it truly means to awaken, to heal, and to come fully alive again. His bestselling book, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, became a global phenomenon, offering millions of readers a deeply personal and scientifically informed glimpse into the possibilities beyond death. He has since authored several more works, including The Map of Heaven and Living in a Mindful Universe, bridging neuroscience, spirituality, and philosophy in a way few others can. To learn about Dr. Alexander and his work:  https://ebenalexander.com/ For more about the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies and to read the winning essays: https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/index.php/bics-afterlife-proof/bics-essay-contest-winners-2/ If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 25m
  6. 31 | The Death of Craving

    25 NOV

    31 | The Death of Craving

    Content note: This episode includes strong language, discussion of opioid/heroin and crack use, overdose, stroke, withdrawal, arrest/incarceration, and suicidal hopelessness. Listener discretion advised.   At 27, Scott Jenkins woke up thrashing in a bathtub—his left arm dead, his vision blown out—after days of speedballs and Agatha Christie marathons. Doctors later confirmed he’d had a stroke, but even that didn’t stop the obsession: “I want to get high, I want to get high… It’s all you can think about.” What began with pain pills after routine procedures spiraled into years of heroin and crack, arrests, and a jail-cell detox that finally forced a choice: surrender or disappear. In this raw, unvarnished account, Scott traces the path from the early opioid boom to the economics of switching to heroin, the surreal comedy of being “stuffed to the brim with sausage biscuits” during an arrest, and the moment he decided to let other people help. He rebuilds—six months in rehab, twelve-step work, service, and, eventually, a thriving plumbing company staffed by people in recovery. It’s a story about obsession, consequence, and the quiet miracle of a craving that never came back. If you or someone you love is struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    58 min
  7. 30 | Strong In A Different Way

    18 NOV

    30 | Strong In A Different Way

    At 17, Nicholas Tecosky, one of our Alive Again story producers, slipped on a rock face above Gem Lake and nearly fell thirty feet to his death—then spent hours lost on the wrong side of the mountain. The brush with mortality was followed by years of anxiety, alcohol, and a brutal run at creative success that left him sleepless, gray, and suicidal. Years later, a harrowing night on psychedelics cracked something open; the morning after, he chose help—therapy, medication, sobriety—and slowly rebuilt a life anchored in love, fatherhood, and a gentler definition of strength. This is a story about escaping the gravity of an abusive past, redefining worth, and discovering that being a good person matters more than being a successful one.  This episode includes discussion of suicidal ideation, substance use (alcohol and psychedelics), childhood trauma, and a near-fatal accident. Listener discretion advised. If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For resources outside the U.S., please check local crisis services. Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    59 min
  8. 29 | Living Is Forgiving

    11 NOV

    29 | Living Is Forgiving

    Trigger warning: This episode contains a frank discussion of sexual molestation and drug overdose. Listener discretion advised. After a lifetime of compounded trauma—childhood sexual abuse, relentless bullying, chronic illness, and consequently a two-decade opiate dependency—Brandon Densmore overdosed on heroin and flatlined. What happened next changed everything. In vivid detail, Brandon describes the presence he felt, the visions he was shown (including the unbearable image of his mother finding his body), and the deal he made to come back. This is a blunt, no-BS account of clawing out of addiction: medical detox and the radical, unsentimental forgiveness that finally let him drop the weight he’d carried for 20 years. He rebuilt a life—marriage, fatherhood, purpose—and then underwent a second awakening that reframed success as inner quiet over external hustle. It’s raw, direct, and ultimately hopeful. Listener discretion advised for references to sexual abuse, drug use, and overdose. Download Branden’s free Quantum Forgiveness Starter Kit to start dissolving old emotional blocks and step into the life Spirit intended:  https://coach-branden-densmore.kit.com/quantum-foregivness-starter Here’s a link to Brandon’s Facebook profile, where he posts ongoing reflections and resources https://www.facebook.com/branden.densmore   Story Producer: Dan Bush If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    48 min
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About

That which doesn’t kill us… Hosted by award-winning filmmaker Dan Bush, Alive Again is a weekly series featuring extraordinary stories from people who faced death—and came back changed. From near-death experiences to near-fatal accidents and moments of profound crisis, each episode dives into the transformation that happens on the other side of survival. Told in their own words, these first-hand accounts explore not just what happened in the moment, but how everything changed after: perspectives, priorities, purpose. Some stories are miraculous. Others are brutal. All of them are unforgettable. Our mission is to find, explore, and share these stories to remind us all of our shared human condition. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you don’t die– this show is for you. * If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com

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  • Creator
    iHeartPodcasts
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    38
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    2025 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
  • Show Website
    Alive Again

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