Content note: This episode includes strong language, discussion of opioid/heroin and crack use, overdose, stroke, withdrawal, arrest/incarceration, and suicidal hopelessness. Listener discretion advised.

 

At 27, Scott Jenkins woke up thrashing in a bathtub—his left arm dead, his vision blown out—after days of speedballs and Agatha Christie marathons. Doctors later confirmed he’d had a stroke, but even that didn’t stop the obsession: “I want to get high, I want to get high… It’s all you can think about.” What began with pain pills after routine procedures spiraled into years of heroin and crack, arrests, and a jail-cell detox that finally forced a choice: surrender or disappear. In this raw, unvarnished account, Scott traces the path from the early opioid boom to the economics of switching to heroin, the surreal comedy of being “stuffed to the brim with sausage biscuits” during an arrest, and the moment he decided to let other people help. He rebuilds—six months in rehab, twelve-step work, service, and, eventually, a thriving plumbing company staffed by people in recovery. It’s a story about obsession, consequence, and the quiet miracle of a craving that never came back.

If you or someone you love is struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky

If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at [email protected] We’d love to hear your story! 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 17, Nicholas Tecosky, one of our Alive Again story producers, slipped on a rock face above Gem Lake and nearly fell thirty feet to his death—then spent hours lost on the wrong side of the mountain. The brush with mortality was followed by years of anxiety, alcohol, and a brutal run at creative success that left him sleepless, gray, and suicidal. Years later, a harrowing night on psychedelics cracked something open; the morning after, he chose help—therapy, medication, sobriety—and slowly rebuilt a life anchored in love, fatherhood, and a gentler definition of strength. This is a story about escaping the gravity of an abusive past, redefining worth, and discovering that being a good person matters more than being a successful one. 

This episode includes discussion of suicidal ideation, substance use (alcohol and psychedelics), childhood trauma, and a near-fatal accident. Listener discretion advised.

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For resources outside the U.S., please check local crisis services.

Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky

If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at [email protected] We’d love to hear your story! 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trigger warning: This episode contains a frank discussion of sexual molestation and drug overdose. Listener discretion advised.

After a lifetime of compounded trauma—childhood sexual abuse, relentless bullying, chronic illness, and consequently a two-decade opiate dependency—Brandon Densmore overdosed on heroin and flatlined. What happened next changed everything. In vivid detail, Brandon describes the presence he felt, the visions he was shown (including the unbearable image of his mother finding his body), and the deal he made to come back. This is a blunt, no-BS account of clawing out of addiction: medical detox and the radical, unsentimental forgiveness that finally let him drop the weight he’d carried for 20 years. He rebuilt a life—marriage, fatherhood, purpose—and then underwent a second awakening that reframed success as inner quiet over external hustle. It’s raw, direct, and ultimately hopeful. Listener discretion advised for references to sexual abuse, drug use, and overdose.

Download Branden’s free Quantum Forgiveness Starter Kit to start dissolving old emotional blocks and step into the life Spirit intended: 

https://coach-branden-densmore.kit.com/quantum-foregivness-starter

Here’s a link to Brandon’s Facebook profile, where he posts ongoing reflections and resources

https://www.facebook.com/branden.densmore

 

Story Producer: Dan Bush

If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at [email protected] We’d love to hear your story! 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trigger warning: Discussion and images of gun violence.

At 33, championship-level ultimate player and teacher Eileen Murray started coughing up blood—then spent a year being dismissed by doctors before hearing the word no one wants: lymphoma. Six months of chemo followed, buoyed by a community she’d spent years building on the field and in the classroom. Two decades later, driving to a friend’s wedding with her husband and kids, a sniper’s round blew out the back glass—missing her temple by a hair. No one died. It barely made the news. But the PTSD was louder than cancer.

In this blunt, compassionate conversation, Eileen unpacks the visions that foreshadowed her diagnosis, the rage and surrender of treatment, and why the shooting reshaped her parenting. She refuses to center the gunman—saving her anger for systems that fail and doubling down on connection: teaching her sons media literacy, checking their sense of belonging, writing them letters for the day she’s gone. It’s a story about cultivating community before you need it, and choosing grace over grievance.

Listener discretion advised: frank discussion of cancer, medical trauma, gun violence, and PTSD.

 

Eileen’s links:

Eileen’s ultimate frisbee team - https://www.nygridlockultimate.com/ 

Eileen also made a blog post about the shooting which you can check out here: https://www.nygridlockultimate.com/blog/wear-orange

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On a dangerous Australian beach, actor Frankie Mulinix was swept down the coast by a powerful undertow, slammed against rocks, and pulled under again and again. Time telescoped; panic rose; then came a stark clarity—“I’m done… I made peace with it.” At the very moment of surrender, a stranger hauled Frankie to safety and lifeguards took over. What followed was the quiet chaos of shame, flashbacks during rehearsals for Dante’s Inferno, and a hard re-examination of identity, purpose, and community. Frankie reflects on accepting death, being “robbed” of that ending, and choosing a second act—anchored by the realization that “we need each other… nobody makes it on their own.” 

Today, Frankie is a performer, emcee, producer, dramaturge, choreographer, director, mental health worker, voice and performance educator, swimming and triathlon coach, and intimacy choreographer and coordinator. 

Their theatre company Burning Bones Physical Theatre, is dedicated to collaborating with fellow creatives to engage with the local community and expand the possibilities of live performance in daring and imaginative ways.

In addition, they are an internationally ranked competitive endurance athlete and integrate their expertise in optimum performance techniques as a teacher, performer, and athlete.

Links:

IG: @Vandellous  

@burningbonesphysicaltheatre

@VibranceCentre

 

website: https://frankiemulinix.com/

 

Story Producer: Kate Sweeney

 

* If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at [email protected] 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Maggie Slepian flipped her kayak on Montana’s Gallatin River, she found herself trapped underwater, fighting to escape a spray skirt she had never practiced removing. In those harrowing moments, she felt time slow down, her thoughts split between terror, sorrow, and love for her family as she faced the possibility of her final breaths. Surviving the accident left Maggie grappling with PTSD, grief, and the loss of the friend who had pulled her from the water. In this episode of Alive Again, Maggie reflects on her journey from an “indoor child” to an outdoor adventurer, the dangerous drive for validation that pushed her into risk, and the hard-won lesson that the people who love you don’t need you to prove yourself—they love you for who you are.

Maggie wrote about her story for Longreads, which you can read here. 

Story Producer: Kate Sweeney

* If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at [email protected] 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when the part of you that defines your identity begins to fail?

Dana Swanson was a rising creative force—an award-winning writer-producer at Adult Swim, a voice actor, a musical performer, and a self-proclaimed comedy nerd on the brink of big things. But in 2012, her world unraveled when she began to lose control of her speech. What started as a stuttered sentence became a devastating diagnosis: a rare brain tumor—neuronal neoplasm—lodged in a precarious part of her brain.

In this episode of Alive Again, Dana recounts the surreal journey from slurred words to a high-risk, eight-hour brain surgery that would change her life forever. With humor, vulnerability, and crystal clarity, she explores the collapse of identity, the death of an old self, and the painful but profound process of learning to live—and speak—again.

But Dana’s story doesn’t end in silence. It becomes a story of spiritual awakening, intuition, chosen purpose, and using her voice to help others connect to their own. From losing her father at 14 to channeling messages from the other side, Dana opens up about survivor’s guilt, intuitive healing, and embracing the power of reinvention. She reminds us that we all have “battle scars,” and that the ability to evolve—again and again—is the truest sign of being alive.

Cover Art: Daniel Garcia @Superduperfi

Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky* If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a tornado ripped through his Alabama neighborhood, Chris Alonzo found himself clutching his young son in a closet as the walls shook and the front door blew open. In that moment of terror, his desperate plea—“take me, don’t take my son”—became a prayer. 

Raised in a devout Catholic family but long estranged from faith after his grandmother’s painful decline, Chris’s brush with death forced him to confront anger, doubt, and the mystery of survival. In this episode of Alive Again, Chris shares how near-death transformed his understanding of God, community, and unconditional love—and why sometimes, faith is born not from certainty, but from fear, fragility, and the will to protect those we love.

Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky

* If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at [email protected] 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thrill seeker, Nate Dorn, never saw himself living past the age of 25, until he set sail for Cuba on a 28-foot boat with no idea he was heading straight into the storm that would change his life. Trapped in gale-force winds with his fingers crushed in an anchor chain, Nate suddenly recognized the recurring dream that had haunted him since childhood—he was living it in real time. What he thought might be his last moment became a rebirth, one that freed him from fear and gave him what he calls “extra credit” on life. 

In this episode, Nate shares how risk-taking has shaped his adventures, his creative path as a photographer, and his outlook on what it means to truly be alive.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 18, Jessica Sanchez thought she was dealing with wisdom tooth pain. Instead, doctors found a tumor that would lead to 18 surgeries, chemotherapy, and a near-fatal bleedout. Years later, she faced another harrowing battle: an ectopic pregnancy and rupture that nearly killed her. Jessica’s journey was made even more perilous by political barriers to reproductive healthcare. 

The repeated medical traumas—from cancer to miscarriage to near-drowning—stacked one on top of another until her nervous system froze, shutting her down in order to survive. Yet her breakthrough came when she realized her body was not her enemy but a messenger, urging her to pause, listen, and heal.

In this raw and unflinching conversation, Jessica shares how she learned to listen to her body, survive the freeze of PTSD, and find strength in compassion. 

Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky

Artist: Jeramy Muxworthy 

* If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at [email protected] 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.