Show Notes
At 20 years old, Amanda Kloehr was a quirky, irreverent Air Force airman trying to find her way in the world. But everything changed in an instant when her car collided with the back of an 18-wheeler. She was nearly decapitated, lost her right eye, suffered major facial trauma, and spent months in the hospital enduring over 20 surgeries. Against all odds, Amanda lived—and began a long and often painful journey of physical healing, emotional reckoning, and radical self-reinvention. In this unforgettable episode of Alive Again, Amanda recounts the horror and absurdity of her accident, the quiet trauma of public stares and whispered judgments, and the complex dance of identity that comes with living in a body permanently marked by survival. With humor, vulnerability, and unflinching honesty, she shares how she went from post-crash denial to public speaker, from hiding behind long red bangs to owning her story on national television. Now a mother, wife, writer, and advocate, Amanda reflects on what it means to live in a society that defines people by their scars—and what it means to rewrite that narrative. Her journey isn’t a tragedy. It’s a declaration: "I am the hero of my own story. I’m proud of the woman I fought to become." Story Producer: Kate Sweeney “In the shadow of a wreckage, where silence lay thick, I danced with the darkness, my heart beating quick. One eye now a memory, a glimpse of the past, Through the veil of my trials, I learned hope could last. With each faltering step, on the path I would tread, Change bubbled in me like laughter, While the outside reflected all the places I bled. Life carved its lessons, etched deep in my soul, Through pain and resilience, I learned to feel whole. From the ashes of anguish, a phoenix would rise, With wings made of moxie, I took to the skies. I cradled new life, a new generation born, An ode to strength and a blood oath sworn. In love, I found solace, our connection, a dream, Yet storms brewed within me, found safety as a team. Through heartache and healing, I learned to embrace, The beauty of journey, the joy in each space. Two degrees on my wall, symbols of fight, In the tapestry woven, I found my own light. To love myself fiercely, to cherish each scar, Is to know every struggle has brought me this far. With grit and determination, my sparkle continues to amplify, A testament to living, to truly defy. So here's to the battles, the laughter, the tears, To the moments of triumph that silence our fears. In the journey of being, of learning to fly, living out loud is my battle cry.” Amanda Kloehr * 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.
More from Alive Again
Today’s guest is Dr. David Fajgenbaum, survivor, scientist, physician, and disease hunter. Dr. Fajgenbaum is a world-renowned physician-scientist, bestselling author, inspirational speaker, and survivor on a mission to save lives by using AI and relentless hope to unlock hidden cures. At 25 years old, Dr. David Fajgenbaum was told he had hours to live. A rare immune disorder called Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease was shutting down his organs. He received last rites. He said goodbye to his family. And then — against all odds — he survived. Not once. Five times. With no effective treatments available, he turned my desperation into determination— As both patient and scientist, David made a radical decision: if no cure existed, he would chase one himself—even if it meant experimenting on his own body. What followed wasn’t just recovery. It was transformation. In this episode of Alive Again, David recounts what it feels like to grieve everyone you love all at once — to prepare for death while still conscious. He describes the strange emotional flip from despair to overwhelming gratitude when the chemotherapy began to work. And he shares the moment everything changed: when the world’s leading experts told him there were no more options. So he decided to become his own. Drawing on his training as a physician-scientist, David began studying his own blood, searching for a clue. What he found was hiding in plain sight — a decades-old transplant drug sitting on pharmacy shelves that had never been tried for his disease. That drug, an mTOR inhibitor called sirolimus, put him into remission and has kept him alive for over a decade. But the story doesn’t end with survival. David went on to help launch the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network and later co-founded Every Cure, a bold initiative using artificial intelligence to systematically match existing drugs to diseases they were never intended to treat. His mission: to find cures hiding in plain sight — not just for himself, but for anyone running out of time. This is a conversation about urgency, agency, grief, and gratitude. About what happens when hope turns into action. And about how living in “overtime” can clarify what truly matters. For more information on Dr. Fajgenbaum and his work and writing, visit his website. For more about his book got to Chasing My Cure, and click here for more about Every Cure 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.
On May 5, 1994, South Australian police officer Derrick McManus was shot 14 times in under five seconds and left bleeding on the ground for nearly three hours while a 40-hour siege raged around him. In this raw conversation, Derrick reconstructs those first seconds, the long climb through surgeries and rehab (including a steel plate in his forearm), and the mental frameworks that kept him calm when survival looked impossible. We talk suffering, meaning, and mortality—and what his ordeal ultimately took, gave, and taught him about human durability. 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.
Zoe Cooper grew up around parachutes—her parents were skydivers—and by her eighth jump she felt like a pro. Then the parachute ripped. Spinning low, she and her instructor had to cut away and free-fall before a reserve could open. As the ground “was coming up impossibly fast,” time slowed. Zoe made a stark bargain—“I was willing to lose both of my legs in that moment”—yet a calm certainty kept breaking through: “today wasn’t my day.” She walked away without injury and with a revelation about fear, survival, and how the mind protects us when it matters most. This episode, as harrowing as a failed parachute is, is really more about an almost certain life-or-death moment and how one human’s brain responded to the circumstance. 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.
Filmmaker Jonas Elrod never set out to become a spiritual seeker. While making a documentary in San Francisco, his life was suddenly upended: lights flickered, voices appeared, and a portal opened in the corner of his room. What followed was a series of visions and encounters that would change his life forever — and inspire his acclaimed documentary Wake Up. In this episode of Alive Again, we revisit Jonas’s extraordinary journey, first captured in Wake Up, and later expanded in his series In Deep Shift, from living an ordinary life to suddenly seeing and hearing angels, auras, and spirits — a shift that doctors could not explain. With his skeptical yet supportive partner at his side, he traveled the country seeking answers from teachers, scientists, mystics, and healers. Wake Up became more than a personal story; it was a call to consciousness, an invitation to look inward for peace and happiness while recognizing that life holds far more than meets the eye. Jonas describes himself as “a southern writer and director who grew up in Georgia with a deep appreciation for story as a means for change. He fell in love with stories told on porches late at night of fallen heroes, misfit love, and spiritual redemption.” In this conversation, Jonas recounts his extraordinary awakening, the challenges of integrating mystical experiences into everyday life, and why storytelling remains his truest path to healing and connection. 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 26, Taylor Maxson was searching for purpose while working with at-risk youth in Kentucky. After months of exhaustion and stress, he and two friends set out on the Cumberland River for what was meant to be a healing trip into nature. But when their canoe flipped above Angel Falls—a class V rapid known for its deadly currents—Taylor was pulled under, battered against rocks, and certain she would not survive. In this episode of Alive Again, Taylor recounts the terrifying minutes when he nearly drowned and resurfaced, and how the experience led him toward connection, healing, and a new way of living. 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] We’d love to hear your story! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.