The accounts of that night, and the days that followed, are recounted in her book "You Live Forever."  It starts on a day when everything changed in her life. "August 5, 2006," Hargis said."I got sick. I'd been water-walking, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me." That night, Hargis said, she told her husband to call an ambulance because she could feel herself dying. Hargis said she recalls being placed on an ambulance gurney and being rushed to Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center. Once in the emergency department, she said, her soul left her body. She said she looked on as doctors and nurses attended to her in the emergency room, giving her little chance to survive.

"To my right was a woman in a gossamer-like dress," she said. "I could also see a man who looked like a doctor with a saline bottle in his hand. I could see everything." Hargis said she was standing on the same level as the woman and man, and her feet weren't touching the floor. Both the woman and the man who stood beside her were angels, she said. The female angel kept telling her, “ ‘You live forever, you live forever, you live forever and you never die,’ ” Hargis said. The female angel led her down a dark hallway, past a room with red flames in front of it,  which Hargis said was hell. Then, the angel led her through an open door leading to a bright, white light that Hargis said was heaven.

There, she said, she saw people she once knew and talked with them through the veil of a curtain. As she neared heaven, Hargis said, she announced that she believed Jesus was the son of God. While standing at the portal of heaven, Hargis said she was given the opportunity to go to the other side, but if she did, she wouldn't be able to go back to Earth. She said she return to Earth to care for her 83-year-old husband Warren, a former Topeka firefighter who is battling neuropathy. As she recuperated in the hospital for treatment of breathing problems, she said, she was taken to a room on the sixth floor, where she saw another angel that also was visible to others in the room. That angel disappeared before their eyes, she said. Hargis said she wrote the book to let people know they can believe in heaven, and that they don't need to fear death.

"I've had people call me day and night, especially older women," Hargis said. "They said, ‘I read your book, and I'm not afraid to die.’Hargis continued, "I want people to understand there's nothing to fear about death — nothing. You can't do anything about it, anyway. But if you're evil, you definitely go to hell. You go there long before you see the white light." She said the female angel who accompanied her told her there is no need for money in heaven, and there are no clocks or time there — just distance. Also, those who make it to heaven "will be raised up glorified" with new, youthful bodies.

Hargis, who attends Northland Christian Church, said she is expecting another visit from her angel someday."I know she will come back and when I see her, it will be time to go," she said. "I understand that. I only came back to take care of Warren." Hargis said she was thankful to be alive, saying she hasn't been back to the hospital since she was released after her near-death experience. "I just marvel every day that I was given that extra opportunity," she said. "I just want to share it with others."

Visit Gladys Hargis [website].