A hospice nurse has revealed that dying people often see very specific things in their final moments.
Julie McFadden said her patients often tell her that they see their loved ones who have already died – before they themselves pass away.
She added that their deceased relatives will tell them comforting words such as, ‘We’re coming to get you soon,’ or, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll help you’.
Julie has worked in hospice care for more than five years after spending more than a decade working as an ICU nurse.
She recently started sharing her knowledge and experience on TikTok, under the username @hospicenursejulie, and she has gained more than 430,000 followers and 3.6 million likes.
Julie is often around death due to her job, with hospice care focusing on helping terminally ill patients reduce their pain and suffering.
According to her, it’s extremely common for dying patients to see dead friends, relatives and even old pets.
She said it happens so often that they put it in their ‘educational packets that they give to patients and their loved ones’ but that she can’t explain why this occurs.
“This happens so often that we put it in our educational packets that we give to the patient and their loved ones so they understand what’s going on. But we don’t know why it happens and we can’t explain it,” she said.
“It usually happens a month or so before the patient dies. They start seeing dead relatives, dead friends, old pets that have passed on – spirits, angels, that are visiting them.
“Only they can see and hear them. Sometimes it’s through a dream and sometimes they can physically see them and they’ll actually ask us, “Do you see what I’m seeing?”
Julie explained that the patients are ‘usually not afraid,’ but that they’re actually very ‘comforted’ by it.
She added: “They’re usually not afraid, it’s usually very comforting to them and they say they’re sending a message like, ‘We’re coming to get you soon’, or, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll help you’.
“Most people love this, they’re very comforted by it, it’s not scary to them. But yeah, we can’t explain it and it happens all the time.”
When someone asked Julie if she thought it was a hallucination, she said that she didn’t think so, since the patients are normally ‘pretty alert and oriented’.
“I don’t know what it is,” she continued. “It doesn’t seem like a hallucination to me because the people who are saying this are usually pretty alert and oriented, they’re usually lucid.
“It’s not like they’re saying a bunch of crazy things that don’t make any sense. They’re usually functional and logical and questioning me, ‘Why am I seeing my dead mom, do you see her?’
“I’ve seen hallucinations and what we’re talking about here is not that. But I don’t know.”