This episode of the Knowledge Seeker Podcast takes you into one of the most intense, life-altering stories you’ll ever hear. Our guest, Annie, lived through a moment most people can’t even imagine—a doctor looking her in the eyes and telling her she had six hours to live. What followed was a journey through fear, denial, surrender, and ultimately, a complete rebirth of her identity and purpose.
Annie shares how her symptoms began quietly with strange color changes in her legs, difficulty breathing, and severe back pain. Even then, she didn’t believe anything was seriously wrong. Like many of us, she avoided doctors and tried to keep going. That denial almost cost her life. When her blood work revealed dangerously high D-dimer levels, she was rushed to the ER, where scans confirmed a pulmonary embolism, internal bleeding, and lung damage. Hearing a doctor calmly tell her to “find peace” because she might not make it through the next six hours felt unreal.
She describes the moment the embolism struck as a terrifying fight for air. Each breath felt like air leaking from a pinched balloon. But what’s surprising is that she didn’t panic—she stayed logical, steady, and intentional. She knew panic would kill her faster. That presence of mind helped her survive long enough to get help, even though she waited days before finally agreeing to go to the hospital.
During those critical hours, lying in a hospital bed with IVs in both arms, Annie began thinking about her life in a completely different way. She replayed her memories, her work in construction, the people she had influenced, and especially her kids. She realized how much of her life she had spent masking who she really was, living in a world of pressure, deadlines, travel, and nonstop corporate demands. She didn’t want that version of herself to survive. And she allowed that part of her to die right there in the hospital.
What emerged after her recovery was a woman who values time more deeply, who refuses negativity, and who protects her peace with clear boundaries. Annie now sees life as something precious, fragile, and too meaningful to waste on the wrong people or the wrong kind of work. She simplified her life, became more present for her children, and rebuilt her identity around creativity and passion instead of stress and achievement.
Her near-death experience also led her into a completely unexpected career. Today, Annie is an entrepreneur and bone-carving artist who transforms animal bone and natural materials into meaningful, reclaimed art. She works with museums, exhibits, copper, antler, snake skin, and other elements—turning what many consider “waste” into beauty. Her philosophy is simple but powerful: life is beautiful, even after death. That belief guides her art, her business, and the way she now chooses to live every single day.
This episode is an emotional reminder that life can change with a single breath. Annie’s story shows that sometimes you have to come face-to-face with death to finally start living.