A photo of a tattoo of disjointed letters inscribed on a wrist that reads "It's Real" posted last week went viral because of the story behind it, which has sparked numerous positive comments about having faith and believing in heaven.
Maddie Johnson from California shared a photo of the tattoo she'd recently gotten on her wrist on Instagram that recalls the story of the time when her aunt had a sudden heart attack and how, after surviving the ordeal, wrote "it's real" into a notepad and pointed "up to heaven."
Johnson's aunt, Tina Hines from Phoenix, Arizona, had suffered a sudden heart attack last year while on a walk with her husband, Brian Hines.
"According to doctors [she] had died and was brought back to life four times by my Uncle Brian and first responders before arriving to the hospital," Johnson wrote.
"She was put on a defibrillator and after miraculously waking up the first thing she did, unable to speak because she was intubated, was ask for a pen and in my cousin's journal wrote 'it’s real,'" Johnson continued.
"The people in the room asked 'what’s real?' and she responded by pointing up to heaven with tears in her eyes,” she added.
The post has amassed more than 18,000 likes, and its accompanying post by her tattoo artist, who called the tattoo "really special," gained more than a million likes.
Johnson shared that Hines's experience has strengthened her confidence in a "faith that so often goes unseen."
"It has given me a tangibleness to an eternal hope that is not too far away," she added.
Photos Johnson posted of what her aunt had written into the notepad exactly matched the tattoo.
On Hines's Instagram account, the profile description reads: "#itsreal Heaven. Survived sudden cardiac arrest. Dead 27 min defibrillated 6 times," with the date of Feb. 12, 2018 accompanying the post. She also added: "Christ follower. Mother of 4 incredible kids."
"It was almost like that vision of a sun. And then Jesus standing there," in front of black gates. The station reported that upon finding herself seeing such a vision, she had the feeling that it was not her time.
Emergency responders also told the TV station that the rescue experience left a strong impression on them, so much so that they planned to share the story with their children.
"We ended up shocking her three times on scene and two en route,” one firefighter told AZ Family. “I've never shocked anyone five times.”
“It's one of those calls that none of us will ever forget. I was a witness to a miracle is the way I look at it,” another firefighter said.
According to comments on Johnson's Instagram post, the story behind her new tattoo is said to have also been shared widely to Facebook and Twitter networks.