Velma Thomas will go down in history as one of the most shocking medical cases ever recorded in history. In May 2008, Thomas’ heart stopped beating three times and doctors began to inform family members that she had passed away from a heart attack. 17 hours later—as medical professionals were preparing to remove her organs for donation—everything changed.

According to ABC News, the 59-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to a local West Virginia hospital and, for more than 17 hours, Thomas had no measurable brain waves. Doctors tried everything to save her life to no avail, even inducing hypothermia in an attempt to lower her body temperature and stimulate the brain. Eventually, her family members said their goodbyes and left her at the hospital to start making funeral plans.

And then, in the most shocking twist—after the doctors decided to take her off life support—Thomas miraculously woke up. Ten minutes after the nurses removed Thomas’ breathing tubes, she blew medical professionals away by all of a sudden waking up and breathing on her own.

Her son, Tim Thomas, had told news outlets that, before his mother was taken off life support, “There was no life there. Her skin had already started hardening, her hands and toes were curling up.” However, not long after he had left the hospital to start considering his mother’s funeral plans, he received a life-changing call stating that his mother had officially experienced a near-death experience.

After waking up, Thomas coughed, moved her arms, and began asking for her son. Dr Kevin Eggleston, the senior expert treating Thomas, explained how there had been “no signs of neurological function.”

In fact, hospital staff were only minutes away from preparing Thomas’ body for organ donation when the woman, astonishingly, woke up. Thankfully, she managed to walk away from the episode with both her organs and her life intact.

There have been others similar medical marvels recorded previously. For example, one woman—after having died for approximately 25 minutes—wrote a spine-chilling letter on her return to the living. However, Thomas’ 17 hours in the afterlife truly made her experience one in a million.