He spends his time counselling terminally ill patients and fellow veterans

There is less than one chance in a million of getting struck by lightning, yet that’s exactly what happened to US Marine and businessman Dannion Brinkley in 1975.

Speaking to KLAS, the 74-year-old said: "It went into the side of my head above my ear, it went down my spine.

"It threw me up in the air, I see the ceiling, it slams me back down, a ball of fire comes through the room and blinds me. I am burning. I am on fire. I am paralysed."

He was taken to hospital where doctors declared him dead. However, 30 minutes later, Brinkley woke up in a hospital morgue after his 'soul temporarily left his body'.

Eventually, two long years after the incident, Brinkley learned to walk again.

However, ten years later, while Brinkley was under the knife for open heart surgery, he once again faced death.

The businessman claimed that during his second near-death experience he was 'reunited with his angelic instructors' and learned how to 'use his new psychic and spiritual gifts to aid the dying and the desperate.'

Brinkley has now written a book about his experiences called 'Saved by the Light'.

Though many were skeptical, doctors have supported his theories.

Dr. Sam Parnia, an associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, told The Post in an interview: "There are signs of normal and near-normal brain activity found up to an hour into resuscitation.

"We were not only able to show the markers of lucid consciousness — we were also able to show that these experiences are unique and universal. They’re different from dreams, illusions and delusions."

The 74-year-old now spends his time counselling terminally ill patients and fellow veterans, encouraging them not to fear death.

He told KLAS: "When you learn you don’t die, when you learn you’re a spiritual being, you’re not going to go to hell. That’s enough to inspire you to change."