In this powerful episode, host Gabby Baker is joined by two truly remarkable guests — Ciara Connelly and Kenneth O'Driscoll (Coach Ken) — for an open, heartfelt conversation about life, death, and everything in between. Ciara shares her extraordinary story of surviving a cardiac arrest at just 24 years old. Clinically dead for 25 minutes, she was brought back against all odds — and came back changed. She opens up about her near-death experience: floating through a golden wheat field toward a wooden house, feeling a love beyond description, and meeting a woman's energy at a windowless pane who gave her a choice to stay or return. She also talks candidly about the aftermath — relearning to walk, read, and write, living with dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure, and the profound spiritual and psychic gifts that emerged from the other side. Coach Ken, founder of the Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard Running Clubs, shares his own journey from addiction and a troubled past to becoming a beacon of hope in his community. He recounts his own near-death experience during a hospital visit, his experimentation with DMT and the parallels he sees between that and Ciara's experience, and how running became the unexpected force that saved his life — and the lives of countless others in his community. Together with Gabby, the three explore consciousness, the spirit world, the science of DMT, retrograde amnesia, psychic ability, the meaning of goosebumps, and what it truly means to be alive. This is an episode about resilience, purpose, and the undeniable sense that there is something bigger at work. "If I can reach out to just one person and let them know there is something else — that their loved ones are not alone when they die — that's enough." — Ciara Timecodes 00:00 — Welcome & guest introductions: Ciara and Coach Ken 01:33 — Ciara's story begins: the day of her cardiac arrest in Drimnagh 02:32 — Six minutes to death: Dublin Fire Brigade, three shocks, and a faint pulse 02:54 — James's Hospital, a hypothermic coma, and 25 minutes clinically dead 03:43 — Waking up: stroke, memory loss, and only remembering her two children 04:27 — Being the 1 in 10 who survived an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest 05:14 — Diagnosis: dilated cardiomyopathy — a heart three times normal size 05:41 — Living with retrograde and anterograde amnesia 06:04 — The one thing she does remember: her near-death experience 06:50 — Describing the experience: a warm summer field, floating, overwhelming love 07:31 — The wooden house, the windowless pane, and the woman's energy 09:01 — The choice: come through or go back — and Ciara chooses her children 09:51 — Was it a bright light or sunlight? The group explores 10:33 — Ciara responds to the "just brain chemistry" argument — and why she knows it was real 11:17 — Gabby's take: the earthbound field vs. the other dimension beyond the window 11:35 — Coach Ken's turn: growing up poor, experimenting with drugs, and DMT 12:19 — What is DMT? The pineal gland, the brain's natural release at death, and Amazonian plant medicine 13:43 — Ken's own DMT experience: levitating, the brightest light, travelling through a portal 14:41 — The angel figure in the universe — and what it felt like 15:22 — Parallels between Ken's DMT journey and Ciara's cardiac arrest experience 23:31 — Gabby's near-death experience: a hospital visit, a red corridor, and her godmother walking toward her 25:43 — Being pulled back — and the explosion of psychic ability that followed 29:42 — Ken on being open-minded: why he doesn't argue, he just shares what he's seen 30:45 — How the experience changed Ciara's relationship with money and materialism 31:45 — The power of positive thinking: attracting energy, good and bad 33:34 — Living with heart failure: swelling, bed weeks, and choosing gratitude anyway 35:26 — The burnt toast theory: when things go wrong, they go wrong for a reason 40:00 — Ciara's defibrillator and a second near-cardiac arrest before Christmas 43:21 — Coach Ken's career break and handing the running club over to his committee 44:06 — Ken's daughter being born during his addiction — and the moment he stopped taking drugs forever 45:30 — Running as a new addiction: how it built confidence and community 46:02 — The Kerry Way Ultra: 28 hours non-stop, jelly legs, and toenails falling off 47:29 — The ripple effect of the running club: depressed women now thriving, alcoholics turning their lives around 48:36 — Ken as a healer through sport — and Gabby calling it out 50:08 — Ciara's life in Inchicore: close to her doctors, close to James's Hospital — right where she's meant to be 51:04 — Ciara's meditation experiences: seeing purgatory, souls in grey, and calling on her angels 52:44 — What is consciousness? The three discuss Eckhart Tolle, the soul, and the self 54:05 — Wrap-up: gratitude, bravery, and why Ciara finally agreed to come on the podcast 55:42 — Final thanks, a call for sponsors, and Gabby's sign-off: "Don't ghost me."
