A Texas teenager who said he cheated death three times despite a dangerous heart condition died Christmas night from a heart attack, but not before posting a two-part video on YouTube telling his story and describing a series of powerful visions.
Ben Breedlove left an incredible legacy of faith. This Austin teen told his story in YouTube video before he passed away on Christmas Day. Ben’s video went viral after he died.
A young man with an incurable disease left this world with an incredible message of faith. Nothing can be more pure and raw than his message.
Most have seen his video by now. Rapper Kid Cudi blogged about it and media has distributed it all over the news. It’s touched lives and sends a strong message about the afterlife. Ben suffered from an incurable heart disease all his life. In his YouTube video he talked about cheating death several times. Using handwritten index cards he tells his story, describing his three near-death experiences. This incredible video expresses a great vision while leaving a legacy of faith.
In the videos that have since gone viral, 18-year-old Ben Breedlove of Austin can be seen silently sitting in a room and using handwritten note cards to tell his story. The teen suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which one part of the heart is thicker than the other parts, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood.
He described cheating death three times.
The most recent scare was Dec. 6,2011 when he passed out at school and awoke surrounded by EMS medics preparing to use shock pads to revive him.
He posted a two-part video Dec. 18 titled "This is my story." One week later, on Christmas night, he suffered a heart attack and died. As of this afternoon, the first video had been viewed online more than 476,000 times.
"It was obvious to all of us that knew him that he knew what he was doing when he made that video," close family-friend Pam Kohler said. "There are times that [the family is] overwhelmed by the pain and the loss of Ben, but then it's replaced with knowing that he was at peace with what was going to happen."
Kohler said Breedlove loved coming to her house in the country where he taught her how to make and post YouTube videos for her husband's business and loved going hunting with him.
He had two popular YouTube channels, "BreedloveTV" and "OurAdvice4You," on which he would talk about his own life as well as dishing out relationship advice for his peers. Facebook and YouTube have been inundated with tributes to Breedlove.
"When you think of Ben, you can't help but smile," Kohler said. "He was curious, creative. You never knew what he was up to. He was always full of surprises. We look on all of it as a gift from God through Ben."
Kohler and her husband, Mark Kohler, were driving to the Breedlove home Christmas when they first realized something might be wrong.
"We were going over to share Christmas dinner with them that night and on our way over there, a police car passed us with sirens on," Kohler said. "My husband said, 'Start praying because it could be Ben.'"
When they arrived at the house, they saw ambulances and fire trucks. Breedlove had had a heart attack and medics were trying to revive him. He made it to the hospital, but died there.
At this point, Kohler said the family did not know about Breedlove's last videos. He had shared his visions with his sister, but no one had seen the videos.
He said in the video, through note cards, that the first time he cheated death was when he was 4 and described an experience he had in the hospital as he was being wheeled on a stretcher.
"There was this big bright light above me ... I couldn't make out what is was because it was so bright. I told my mom, 'Look at the bright light' and pointed up. She said she didn't see anything," Breedlove wrote. "There were no lights on in this hall. I couldn't take my eyes off it. And I couldn't help but smile. I had no worries at all, like nothing else in the world mattered."
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