Honoring The 30 Year Anniversary Of My Near-Death Experience

Jen Galvin-Anderson
Dec 14, 2025
11 min read

I posted this yesterday on my Facebook page and some have asked for the link to share with others and I had intentions of getting this on my blog, but it's been a busy weekend! Finally passing this on for my blog! Thanks for the patience and taking the time to read my thoughts and feelings on this important anniversary date and also taking the time to listen to my Dad's letter I recorded this week in order to share the full story of December 13, 1995. I hope my story speaks to whoever it's meant to and may it inspire every survivor of every kind to continue to live fully, one day at a time....

Link to video of my Dad's letter with photos of my Journey

My post December 13, 2025:

December 13... you're here...Another year! A big year - 30 years!!! Wow, I can't believe it... with that energy & emotion, I've been reflecting this past week on how to honor my Near-Death-Anniversary since it is a big one to honor, and decided this year for the first time to share me reading the full letter my Dad gave me on the 1 year anniversary of December 13, 1995. I’m also now 6 years older than the age my Dad was when he wrote and gave this letter to me and Evan is now just about to be only 1 year younger than I was in 1995. Wow…Time sure has a way of stirring up conflicting emotions…. The older I get, the more I think about and grieve for the girl I was before this fateful day and wonder who she would be today….

But I decided this year I wanted to share the full version of my Dad's letter …. especially because I have acquired many new friends over the years – Facebook primarily - and many know OF my story of being a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor and cancer survivor, but many don’t know the full story of how/what happened to me. I don’t talk a lot about that part since it’s both a complex story to share, and also because in many ways that’s not “my story” … but more MY PARENT’S story. I don’t remember any of it, at least not the year before it happened or year after, due to the permanent damage to my brain. In what I truly believe is again more Divine Blessing, I don’t remember the not-so-pleasant details of many tough challenges that my parents especially had to face – particularly the couple of years that followed. There aren’t words to describe that feeling or level of love and grace for parents who walk a path like this. Those emotions are forever there and part of my story, and is the very reason I fully participate and believe in the importance of a good therapist after trauma …. for the rest of my life.

I hope hearing this read as my Dad wrote it a year later helps give further understanding of my Journey and our Journey and also those who might connect with our story can hopefully be gifted some insight through the beauty of my Dad’s writing.

I also realized in the process of recording myself reading it, that there was a Divine Gift in the act of reading this out loud AND then hearing it in this format! I only take this letter out and read it every few years on the Anniversary date and when my Dad and I speak together, he reads some of it out loud to the audience, but reading the full story out loud this year and then listening to it with photos was very therapeutic and something I hold close to my heart and give Gratitude to my Dad for knowing this would be important for me to have throughout my life, especially for the never-ending healing journey of life.

And now as a parent I have a different understanding and appreciation for what my parents went through. I’ve done a lot of healing in these past 3 decades, but I do always take time on this day to honor that girl and life I had leading up to December 13, 1995. Yes, I survived this, but I woke up from the coma a different person and the girl you will see in the photo in this video on the morning of December 13, 1995 died that day and the girl who woke on December 18 is who I have had to come to know, accept and love these past 30 years.

3 decades is a lot of time between the day it happened and who I am today….and those 30 years bring with it A LOT of story in between! As you listen to me read this Letter from my Dad, PLEASE be mindful that this is just a very very very small sliver of my story! Anyone who has dealt with a similar life-changing event can understand that time is a weird concept…. It’s so easy, especially on anniversaries to think it happened, it’s over and life just goes on. I wish it was an easy black and white Journey with an “ending” … but there is absolutely nothing black and white about any rehabilitation or healing journey of any kind…. There’s NEVER a complete ending to it… Even in 2012 when I published my memoir, there was a naive part of me that felt my story was over and Evan’s birth was the final chapter. HA! Hindsight kicked my butt on that one … the past 5 years have especially reminded me that my Journey as a TBI survivor has never and will never have an ending until I take my last breath….until that moment, it’s forever evolving.

My Dad even said in his letter - "You never get to the point of completely accepting the disability. It becomes a lifelong process." .... and of course, he was right!

Even at 38, my dad had a lot of wisdom to pass onto me at that point in life and boy over these 3 decades, I don't know where I would be without the continued wisdom he shares, especially in his words. Both of my parents are my parents for a reason. They both have gifted me, each in their different ways, but with their love and skills that God knew I would need on this Journey. I say this every year, but it is truth - they were chosen as my parents for this very purpose. No other 2 people would have been able to parent me the way I needed, especially in the years that followed December 13, 1995. There are no adequate words for my gratitude and love for my Mom and Dad!

One of the major lessons my Dad especially helped instill in me and in what he shared in my letter was the lesson on responding versus reacting....Life throws a lot at us! All the time. As humans we have the natural desire to REACT. It's inately in each of us. This Journey and the blessing of my Dad's teachings has taught me a lot about the importance of pausing, reflecting and having the power to CHOOSE how I am going to respond to something... it's the greatest power we each possess, and yet there is never any perfecting of this, but rather always improving in it.... I hope some of my story helps remind each of you of just that.

*Some additional notes to share after recording this letter and making this video -

The photo you will see shared in the video of me at the Junior High for the Newspaper photo for that month as the selected OK (Outstanding Kid) Student of the month by the teachers would be a very fateful photo, as it was taken the MORNING OF DECEMBER 13, 1995, just a couple of hours before I would become very ill and finally cave in and go to the nurses’ office where my Mom later came at lunch time to find me semi-incoherent and knew immediately something was very wrong. The fateful irony and eerie image of me as the old Jennifer in that image just hours before everything completely changed for me and my family haunts me at times, yet I am forever grateful for this photo that I know was no accident and Divinely led for me to have record of this day. If that isn’t a hint of fate, I don’t know what is…. One of MANY though in my story!

To my classmates and close friends who you will see in some of these photos - I hope you aren’t mad at me for sharing them and I hope more importantly you realize and understand the level of appreciation I have for your presence in my life, both then and NOW! I am VERY blessed to say the friends in those photos are all still in my life today! Some of my closest friends I have today, 30 years later, are in those photos from 1995! Now as a parent to an almost 13 year old this week, I can’t imagine that path they walked with me and the maturity they had at that time to give me grace and acceptance as they too had to grieve the death of the old me and learn to know the new me, and at a young age come to understand what brain injury is and does to someone and still be able to embrace them fully…. and they did just that!!! God Bless them! Rejection and Acceptance have been a HUGE part of my spiritual healing these past 3 decades, as you can now understand why. To look at these photos of us as young girls and be able to say that today they are now women in my life as some of my closest friends who have walked with me through it all is an absolute gift and blessing and having time this week to reflect on that has been a gift. I hope each of you in those photos know that you are loved and appreciated by me more than words could ever describe!

Also want to note that most of you know I’ve been subbing for the past 5 years now as a paraprofessional at the public Middle School and High Schools here in New Ulm and I absolutely LOVE IT! This is the very reason WHY. It’s my opportunity to give back for the appreciation I have for the Special Education teachers and support I had in my years from 8^th grade until graduation and in my college years as well. In a matter of a day I went from a straight A student who didn’t need to study to earn A, to someone who couldn’t remember what happened yesterday and had to be able to take tests to pass my classes. It was a journey to say the least, but thank God for the teachers who walk with us and support us every step of the way. I would not have done it without my Special Education teachers and the wonderful teachers I had who supported me, wanted me to succeed and believed in me! To be able to give back in that way as a para sub in a very small but meaningful to me way, is everything for me and I am Blessed for it.

On a lighter note - also please note that in the photo with my brothers you will see Patrick with a very scarred up face at the time! That week he had gotten into a sledding accident on the 5th North Hill! He was very lucky it wasn't any worse but he looked horrible and like he should be the one in the hospital at that time! It is also a perfect example of the very reality of Traumatic Brain Injury and Mental health - it is INVISIBLE! My parents heard from a lot of people shortly after I got sick, "she looks so good!" .... and yet no one knew the brutal truth of how sick I really was and the permanent damage it left on me. Please be mindful of this and use my story to think of this the next time you meet someone with something similar.... we look perfectly healthy and ok, but you have no idea of our every-day realities.

And last but not least, as my Dad shared in the letter, I did have a knowing after my coma and hospital stay that I had an experience with Divine and commented about it to my mom. As I shared, I don’t have memory of this chapter of my life at all for about 2 years, BUT I do remember having an understanding and knowing of something happening to me. I don’t remember this full conversation with my Mom, but am not surprised I talked about it with her. I do believe in my story and experience and have always felt a deep sense of understanding and peace with what happened to me when I lay comatose for those 5 days. I do believe my Soul was somewhere and in the presence of God Source Divine and my Loved Ones in Spirit form at that time and I believe that some things are too Divine and Sacred to even be meant to be remembered fully. There’s purpose in that, I firmly believe and I hold onto that Gift with honor, but it obviously changed me and led me on my Spiritual Path in the years that followed. The call to lay my hands on people and Anoint has always been innately in me since December 13, 1995. Holy Water has especially always had a special place in my heart, even before I was told about me opening my eyes for the first time after my Grandma anointed me with it, and since then I have trusted every wink and nudge and door opened for me by God Source Divine to continue to use my experience for Highest Good to be of support to others in whatever way I am led to and used for Purpose.

2 months after this letter was given to me by my Dad in 1996, I found the lump on my neck and was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease, a form of cancer and we found ourselves yet again at the mercy of Minneapolis Children’s Hospital where I went through 6 months of chemotherapy and they once again took care of me with the best support I could have asked for! During the screenings, they also found a mass in my leg that would eventually cause excruciating pain and that needed to be surgically removed, but could not be operated on until after I finished chemotherapy at the end of summer of 1997. It was a long few months of pain, but I got through it :) The doctors believe I most likely had cancer cells in me in 1995 without us knowing but causing my immune system to be weakened, and therefore instead of herpes simplex coming out in the form of a cold sore like everyone else, mine turned around and attacked my brain with the Encephalitis virus and then the cancer and leg tumor lay dormant until 14 months later.

I do have gratitude for December 13, 1995 happening first, before the cancer journey .... There was a gift in that year preparing me for what lay ahead. Resiliency kind of became my middle name ;) I don’t believe I would have handled my cancer journey the way I did had I not been through everything I endured between December 13, 1995 to February 19, 1997.

As much as I grieve for that 14 year old girl who died on this day in 1995 …. I am even more damn proud of the girl who woke up on December 18 and has never once quit these past 30 years! Through any of it. My Dad wrote in his letter - "my hope for you is that you are happy in life and this does not make you bitter...." I am very proud to say that yes I am very happy and Blessed! Has there been pain and every other emotion in the book throughout these 3 decades? Absolutely! But did I allow it to make me angry or bitter? No! And for that I am proud... there's a reason I have "feel. it. all." tattooed on my foot ;)

Thank you for sharing this day with me and letting me express all of this with you and in this space... in 2 days it will be Evan's Birthday! As you will see at the end of the video, his guess date was actually December 13 ... I ended up going into birth time on the 14th and he was born on the 15th. I always say, he wanted his own special day and deserves to have that! But pretty amazing to know that he came into this world on a day that I was laying comatose on 17 years before that. Pretty amazing... those are the moments I say when God winks. Evan Craig is my very Gift of Grace and Love from God Source Divine... my reminder every year of why I didn't die on this fateful day 30 years ago.

So here’s to 30 more years, I hope, God willing, of living my best life that I have been Blessed to live after this 2nd chance gift of Grace.

I give thanks to God Source Divine for all of it! And thank you again for reading this and listening to this and for each of you being apart of my journey since then!

I am blessed!

Love & Light to each of you!

P.S. fyi - the recording is not perfect, but recording something over 20 minutes is a lot more challenging than you would think! Accept it with all it's imperfections ;) Thank you!