3-Year-Old Boy Wakes Up From Surgery, But Mom Is Shocked When He Says He Met His ‘Other’ Sister

Stomach hurt

On Thursday, February 27, 2003, Colton Burpo, then three years and ten months old, complained to his mother Sonja that his stomach hurt. Unbeknownst to his parents at the time, this was the first sign of appendicitis. Sonja took him to the doctor, who told her it was the stomach flu. By the next morning he was feeling better. Colton, his mother, and his older sister Cassie left that day to meet Colton's father, Pastor Todd Burpo, who had already traveled to Greeley, Colorado, where he was scheduled to have a district board meeting for the Wesleyan church (the trip had a duel purpose and wasn't just a vacation like in the movie). They did visit the Butterfly Pavilion (pictured below). It was later that day, while still in Greeley, that Todd's 3-year-old son's condition took a drastic turn for the worse, eventually landing the boy in the operating room fighting for his life.

He described about her sister

He began describing events and people in heaven with such great detail that his parents were stunned. Colton recalled his unborn sister who died in a miscarriage, and whom his parents had never mentioned.

The little boy also detailed a great-grandfather who had died 30 years before Colton was born. In addition, he claimed that he met Jesus and sat in Jesus' lap while angels sang songs to him.

Heaven is for Real

Todd Burpo, Colton's dad and pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Nebraska, ended up writing a book about his son's experience in the afterlife. Heaven Is for Real became an instant success and was eventually adapted into a feature-length movie in 2014.

However, critics of the Burpos' story have called it a "hoax" and "fictional," and many have accused Colton's parents of coaching their own son.

Afterlife

As for Colton, he has continued to stand by the book and his story, and still remembers everything to this day.

Meet Colton below, his story of the afterlife.