Vincent Todd “Vinnie” Tolman died at age 25 in a Dairy Queen bathroom from a toxic supplement overdose, was declared dead, zipped into a body bag, and later resuscitated by a rookie medic who heard a voice saying “This one’s not dead.” He then spent three days in a coma with zero brain activity before waking up at 1:11 a.m. after his brother prayed over him. During those three days, his consciousness traveled to the afterlife, where he met a spirit guide named Drake, underwent a life review, received 10 core spiritual lessons, and experienced profound healing. He returned with a completely transformed understanding of reality, consciousness, and the purpose of life, and has since dedicated his life to sharing what he learned.
How He Died
In 2003, Vinnie and a friend took a liquid muscle-recovery supplement imported from Thailand, not realizing it was lethally potent.
Within minutes, both felt overwhelming sedative effects. Vinnie locked himself in a Dairy Queen bathroom, collapsed, and lost consciousness.
His friend collapsed in the dining area and was quickly taken away by ambulance. Vinnie remained undiscovered for a significant period.
A manager eventually found Vinnie’s body in the bathroom — swollen, cold, covered in vomit. A 16-year-old assistant manager attempted CPR under 911 operator guidance but felt the body was cold and lifeless.
A second ambulance arrived. Medics confirmed no vitals, recorded time of death, and zipped Vinnie into a body bag. He was clinically dead for at least 45 minutes to over an hour.
The Out-of-Body Experience
Vinnie’s consciousness was above the Dairy Queen, watching the entire scene unfold from a ceiling-down perspective, like a movie filmed from above.
He could hear both spoken words and people’s thoughts simultaneously. He did not realize the body below was his own.
He watched the manager discover the body, the assistant manager’s fear, the medics’ pronouncement of death, and the zipping of the body bag — all while thinking it was a poorly made Hollywood movie.
He was unable to follow his friend’s ambulance but was allowed to follow his own ambulance to the hospital.
Resuscitation by a Rookie Medic
A rookie EMT in the back of the ambulance began glowing with golden light from his chest area, which Vinnie observed with fascination.
A powerful, commanding voice — not his own — said twice, “This one’s not dead.” The rookie heard it (or felt it) despite telling himself it was his imagination.
Against orders not to touch the body, the rookie unzipped the bag, checked for pulses, and eventually felt a faint spark near the femoral artery.
He performed defibrillation. After the third round, Vinnie’s heart began beating. They arrived at a brand-new trauma center within seconds.
The Moment of Recognition
During the transfer to a hospital bed, Vinnie’s body went into full seizure with fluid coming from the ears, nose, and eyes.
When an orderly tried to strap down Vinnie’s left arm, Vinnie felt the resistance in his own arm and suddenly realized the body was his.
A dark, accusatory energy flooded him: “You idiot. You’ve been watching your own death this whole time.”
He then underwent an instantaneous life review, seeing every negative thing he had ever done from both his own perspective and the perspectives of those he had hurt.
Meeting His Spirit Guide, Drake
After the negative life review, a cloak of warm, loving light enveloped him and showed him all the good he had done — far more than the bad.
He turned to see the source: a tall, broad-shouldered older man in white with a long white beard and piercing, loving eyes.
The man said, “I’m not God. I’m not Jesus. I’m your guide.” His name was Drake.
Vinnie later discovered through a family reunion and his grandmother that Drake was his great-great-great grandfather, Charles Kazier (nicknamed Drake), an early settler and clergy leader in Afton, Wyoming, whose 1800s prayer described his afterlife duty as guiding loved souls wherever they want to go.
The 10 Lessons from the Other Side
1. Be Authentic. The most important thing in “Earth School” is authenticity. People wear masks from roughly age 5 to 85, becoming who they think others want them to be. Authenticity is required to truly love oneself and others. Children and the very elderly are the most authentic.
2. Understand the Purpose of Life. Earth is not a courtroom (pass/fail, heaven/hell) but a classroom and playground. Souls must do extensive spiritual work before earning the right to come here. Earth is a reward, not a punishment. Many souls in other realms are envious of those who get to come here.
3. Love Everyone. Authentic love for oneself is the foundation for loving others. Pretending to love without sourcing it from within is merely reflecting love, not generating it.
4. Listen to Your Inner Voice. Intuition is the connection to the quantum field. It is strong in children but gets drowned out by the distractions of modern life and technology.
5. Use Technology Responsibly. Technology has replaced source in people’s daily lives — it’s the first and last thing they interact with each day. It becomes a hermit’s cave even when surrounded by loved ones, blocking emotional connection and inner voice.
6. Release Prejudice. Hating prejudiced people is itself a form of prejudice. You can oppose prejudice without hating those who hold it. Vinnie’s energy literally halted his forward progress in the afterlife until he accepted this.
7. Exercise the Power of Creation. Thoughts are creative forces. If you think something and sustain it with mental energy, your physical energy will join in and manifest it.
8. Avoid Negative Influences. Media is deliberately programmed with violence, hopelessness, and darkness — especially around religious holidays. This lowers collective vibration, increases cortisol, and shapes how people perceive reality even through passive exposure.
9. Understand the Purpose of Evil. Evil exists as a necessary choice. Without the option of evil, there is no free will and no growth — just as muscles cannot build without tearing. Evil also serves to unify good people against it. Some “villains” are volunteer souls who agreed to play that role so others could grow.
10. We Are All One. All beings — humans, animals, plants, Earth itself — are fingers on one hand of the creator. Hurting another is hurting the creator and yourself. The pointed finger principle: pointing blame outward points three fingers back at yourself and equal blame at the creator, while pointing praise outward sends positive energy.
The Journey “Home”
Drake guided Vinnie to a realm of unimaginable scale — larger than thousands of Earths — where Vinnie experienced grass, flowers, trees, and water with senses far beyond the physical: taste through his feet, musical tones from each blade of grass, luminescent colors, healing water.
The water found and repaired deep trauma fractures in his soul from childhood abuse — cracks, hyper-fractures, and tears he had carried his whole life.
When Drake hugged him, their two energetic bodies merged and produced eight times the energy of either alone.
During that hug, Vinnie heard his brother praying over his comatose body: “I command you to be whole. I command you to come back to your body.”
Waking Up
Vinnie woke at 1:11 a.m. after three days in a coma with zero brain activity. He described the return as “hell” — worse than the negative life review.
He felt extreme claustrophobia, describing it as “a whale in a sardine can.” He ripped out every tube, catheter, and monitor, walked naked to the elevator, and had to be coaxed back to bed.
He checked himself out of the hospital the next morning at 7:30 a.m. and went jogging that same day. He returned to construction work the following day.
Medically, his recovery defies explanation: no heartbeat for over an hour should cause severe brain damage within 3–5 minutes and make survival nearly impossible after 15 minutes. Every doctor he consulted said there must be an unknown factor.
Psychological Aftermath and Recovery
Vinnie was severely depressed after returning, feeling he was in hell. He researched the most dangerous jobs (underwater welding, crab fishing, military) because he wanted to die and go back.
He saw dead people everywhere and heard Drake constantly, leading him to believe he was schizophrenic.
He met his future wife Andrea, who was the first person he told the full story to. She believed him and became his anchor.
He attempted to see a doctor for medication, but a female spirit (likely the doctor’s mother or grandmother) intervened, causing the doctor to tear up the prescriptions and tell Vinnie, “You need a preacher, not a doctor.”
He began receiving intuitive guidance to help strangers — being directed to specific locations to assist people in need — and found that following these prompts produced verifiable results.
Discovering Drake’s Identity
At a family reunion seven months after his NDE, a documentary film showed the face of Charles Kazier, an early settler of Afton, Wyoming. Andrea pointed at the screen and said, “That’s your guide.”
Vinnie went to his grandmother and asked about Charles Kazier. She responded, “Oh, you mean Great-Grandpa Drake?” — the first time Vinnie had ever heard the name Drake in a family context.
He learned that Drake had been given a special prayer describing his earthly duties and, on the backside, his afterlife duties — including guiding loved souls wherever they wish to go.
Childhood Trauma and Dissociation
Vinnie endured severe physical abuse as a child. In one incident at age 6 or 7, his father beat him for getting his boots muddy, tore chunks of his scalp, and struck him with a 2x4.
During the blow, Vinnie dissociated — his consciousness left his body and watched from outside, surrounded by beings of light. A white arm intercepted the 2x4, which exploded into hundreds of pieces. A neighbor witnessed the shattered board.
Vinnie later realized this was trauma-induced meditation/out-of-body experience — the same skill that allowed him to observe his death from above during his NDE.
In adult healing work, he revisited this memory with Archangel Michael and discovered it was actually his own arm that had intercepted the blow — a revelation that left him with physical bruises on his elbow.
His Life’s Purpose Now
Vinnie works as a spiritual guide and healer, helping people step out of trauma cages, unlock old paradigms, and live beyond their old stories.
He communicates with Drake and other guides by “tapping in” — turning the self inside out to connect with the quantum field.
He describes his mission as a “PR campaign for heaven” — not to convince anyone, but to awaken people to their true nature as divine masterworks and to shift focus from problems to solutions.
He believes Earth is in a “shedding phase,” preparing to graduate to a higher state, and that those alive now are among the last volunteers chosen to witness this transition.
In the distant future he glimpsed, technology exists only in community spaces (not homes), people communicate without words, and lost abilities like levitation return.
