As she lay between life and death, “Jesus took my hand and led me through a tunnel to a beautiful garden”

It seemed like just another evening in the life of the Leau family.

In a room on the upper floor of their Jakarta home, the Leaus were watching a movie – their usual family time before their 12-year-old daughter’s bedtime at 9.30pm.

The Leau family before the fire.

Neny Budiaman, then 41, was refilling their aromatherapy lamp – an exotic, beautiful deep blue glass bottle – with a special oil, as she had done many times before.

“It really freshened the air, and removed odours like cigarette smoke,” said Neny, who owned a children’s bookstore at that time.

As she lit the wick with a lighter, the bottle exploded. Small blue glass shards stung the family of three.

“My whole right arm was ablaze,” Neny, now 61, told Stories of Hope.

“Each morning when I look in the mirror, I thank the Lord for His hand that shielded my face from the fire,” said Neny. “He is good. It’s true that He knows how much we can handle.”

The oil was highly flammable, and Neny’s hair and her whole body caught fire too, her husband John Leau recalled.

John, 63, helped fill in the blanks in his wife’s memory of the fateful night 20 years ago in September 2005. Neny was in a state of shock for the first few days after the accident.

“The flames jumped onto our daughter Tuscany’s right hand. My instinct was to put the fire out by rubbing her hand.”

“After that, I tried to beat out the fire that was burning Neny’s hair and body. It was so oily.

“As I was doing that, Neny panicked and kicked the refill bottle. It fell onto the ground and the oil – which was highly flammable – spilled out and the whole room was set on fire.”

Recalled John: “I pushed Neny down and rolled her in the mattress on the floor.”

It extinguished the flames on her body – and saved her life.

The mattress wasn’t supposed to be in that room. Neny had been surprised to see John lounging on the mattress instead of the couch just before the accident.

“It’s a mystery how it got there,” both husband and wife recalled separately.

It would be the first of many instances where they saw the hand of God in Neny’s long journey to recovery.

Third degree burns over 60% of her body

The heat from the fire was so great, it blew up the can of mosquito repellent that was just under the air-conditioner unit. It caused another fire, blocking their exit from the room.

The only remaining evidence of the fire: The aircon, warped by the heat, still works today. John had the blackened, charred room cleaned and repainted, afraid that reminders would trigger Neny.

“Hearing our shouting and screaming, our driver and maid ran up to the room and opened the door,” recalled John.

“The driver got some water and threw it into the room. Just like that, the fire went out.”

Neny was in panic mode as the car sped her to the nearest A&E.

“Adrenaline took over. My body felt like it was in flight mode.

“I was just screaming for Jesus,” she recalled.

The hospital they went to could not handle her deep and extensive burns. They rushed her by ambulance to the only hospital in the area that had a dedicated burns unit. Neny was put in the operating theatre and given a strong painkiller.

“But I could still feel the pain as they cleaned off the glass and black stuff off me,” she said.

“I could see skin the shape of a glove coming off my hands.”

Neny suffered third degree burns over 60% of her body.

Today, Neny still bears the scars on her back, arms, and from her thighs down to her feet.

Her hair was singed. Her right eyebrow and eyelashes were burnt off.

“Can you imagine if the fire had affected my eyes?” she said.

“I also thank God that it didn’t scar my face in the long run.”

Elsewhere in the hospital, John and Tuscany were treated as outpatients for their injuries and first degree burns.

John’s hands, which were burnt trying to save his family, were bandaged for a month.

Between life and death for four days

Neny was in unimaginable pain.

“Every two days, it took the nursing staff four hours to change the dressing all over my body,” she said.

The dressing stuck to her skin, even though nursing staff doused it with copious amounts of saline to slowly loosen it.

“I could still feel the pain even though they shot me with strong painkillers.

“At night, I wouldn’t be able to sleep, because I would be dreading the next dressing.

“I would think about what is going to happen to me. I was thinking of my husband and my young daughter – wondering, are they okay.

“I asked God, ‘Why is this happening to me?’”

Neny was put in an isolation room under intensive care. In order to prevent her wounds from getting infected, visitors were not allowed.

“But there was a big window where I could see John, and we could talk through the intercom. Even now, I can still picture John sitting on the bench under the big huge tree,” she said.

From the outside looking in, John saw “an Egyptian mummy wrapped up from head to toe”.

“Even Neny’s feet were badly burned,” said John.

“Only her eyes, the tip of her nose and her mouth were showing – and her skin was black.

“The doctor told me, ‘She’s in pretty bad shape. If she can get through the first four days, she’ll be able to make it.’”

A tunnel of light and an emerald garden

John was “worried sick” for his wife.

“I had never felt so much fear in my life, not knowing if she would survive,” he said.

“But on the fourth morning, she looked very peaceful and calm.

“She told me through the intercom, ‘Don’t worry, John. Jesus told me I am going to make it. It’s not my time yet.’”

Neny then proceeded to tell her husband about a supernatural encounter she had had the night before.

“It was pitch black, I couldn’t even see the machines around me in my room.

“I looked up and saw a small dot of light.

“I kept staring at it. It became bigger and bigger and got nearer and nearer until I saw a tunnel with soft rays of light.

“In the middle, I saw a figure of a man with curly hair. He was in a white robe.

“It must be Jesus coming to take me, I thought. I was so happy,” she recalled.

“I couldn’t see His face because of the radiance of light which was soft and comfortable.

“But I knew He was Jesus.

“He took me by my injured right hand, and we walked up into this tunnel. I felt like I was floating upwards.

“The feeling was so peaceful – like me holding my dad’s hand – just following Him.

“There was no rush, there was no feeling of time.”

Neny said: “From the time I was admitted to hospital, I don’t know if I was asleep, awake, dazed, in another dimension, dreaming or hallucinating.

“So I didn’t know if I was dreaming or dying. But it was very real.”

At the other side of the tunnel, Neny and the Man entered a garden.

“The sky was blue as anything and the grass was emerald green. Everything was crisp. The air was so nice. I saw trees. And I know there were animals roaming around,” she recalled.

“I was just focusing on this Man. He sat on a rock, and I was sitting at His feet, listening to Him.

“I don’t remember what He said to me. But I had this overwhelming sense of peace, happiness and full surrender.

“I asked Him, ‘After this garden, where are we going?’”

Neny and the Man kept talking, until the sudden flap of a huge white wing filled half the room.

She believes it was an angel’s wing.

“It was so strong. It felt like a helicopter’s blades going zhu zhu zhu near me.

“I was back immediately back in my hospital room. I didn’t want to come back. It was much nicer where I was. I wanted to go back and see what’s after the garden.”

The room was now bright, and Neny’s eyes fell on the A3-sized poster facing her bed. Made by her daughter, it was full of Bible verses of encouragement.

Philippians 4:6-7 especially resonated with her: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Among them, a message that her daughter had written jumped out at Neny: “It’s not time for you yet.”

Near-death experience that changed their lives

Her experience in hospital made an impact on her and her husband in ways they would have never imagined.

For one, it brought John close back to God. John was “distant from God”, even though he had been educated in the faith and baptised at the age of 13.

“God brought me back to him through my wife’s experience and pain,” he said.

Said Neny: “That’s the good thing that has come out of a bad thing.”

(From left) Neny and John (her caregiver during her long healing journey) now befriend and bring hope to other burn and acid attack/spill survivors and their families in Singapore and Indonesia, like Wawa and his wife Alice.

Ten years after Neny’s supernatural encounter, John came across a TEDx Talk by an emergency room physician who has seen 2,000 people die and had resuscitated several hundred of them.

Said John: “After they’ve come back to life, most of them have shared descriptions that are exactly the same as Neny’s – the tunnel of light, the garden, the freedom from anxiety.”

He added that subsequently, he and Neny later ministered to someone who had a supernatural journey the other way – to hell. “The man’s doctor testified that he had died for 10 minutes. That man turned his life around and is a Pastor today.”

“12 angels” and more

The encounter helped Neny and family pull through the long difficult times ahead, where they would see more examples of God’s miraculous provision, through people He would bring into their lives at the right time.

Neny’s sister, for instance, instigated her transfer to the Burns Centre at Singapore General Hospital, which accelerated her recovery, even though it took at least two years before her wounds stopped weeping.

Model patient: Neny (right, partially hidden) was diligent in doing rehabilitative exercises that reduced scarring and improved her mobility. At that time, she didn’t want to be identified when The Straits Times featured her occupational therapist.

Miracles included a community of “12 angels” coming into their lives, helping them heal and grow spiritually.

John (standing, in checks) and Neny (seated, third from left) with some of their “12 angels” – their small group members from their church in Singapore, who helped them heal and grow spiritually.

Even what seemed like a roadblock to her permanent residency status in Singapore opened the door to a new job in insurance for Neny, who was by then in her 50s. Today, she is a financial consultant.

“Even today, when I am depressed or down, I remember Jesus coming to take my hand,” said Neny.

“It brings down my heart rate and gives me peace. I will never forget that feeling of peace, happiness and, most of all, joy, with no worries about what happens tomorrow.

“I want to tell you: Death is nothing to be afraid of. We are going to a better place if we believe in Jesus. Perhaps how you’ll die is the scary part. But where you’ll go with Him is so beautiful.”

A version of this story first appeared on Stories of Hope.

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