A Louisiana boy who survived a near-drowning earlier this month stunned his nurses and family when he vividly recounted visiting heaven during the harrowing experience. The remarkable incident reportedly occurred on July 4th at the Paragon Casino Resort in the city of Marksville. Celebrating the holiday with his family, six-year-old D.J. Parker was sitting poolside and wound up in the water when his parents took their eyes off of him for a moment. His mother, Krista Parker, soon spotted his lifeless body and sprang into action to save her son.

Performing CPR alongside her husband, the couple managed to revive the boy, who was taken to a nearby hospital, where he had quite the story to tell. While recovering from the perilous incident, DJ told the nurses and his parents that he had visited heaven during the near-drowning. "God is real. I saw him. I saw him and uncle Quimaine," Krista recalled her son saying to the astonished adults in the room. Amazingly, the boy also recounted hearing a choir of angels and seeing a bevy of clouds as he seemingly made a brief journey to the 'other side.'

Similar to many individuals who report near-death experiences, DJ was transformed by what happened to him, telling his parents that he wished to change his name to the Hebrew word for air, Avir, because that was where he encountered God and was granted a return to the realm of the living. The boy's family stressed that he did not receive any medication nor suffer any brain or lung damage that might explain the vivid account he shared at the hospital. "His story is just so real," Krista marveled, "only he can explain it."