(NewsNation) — We’ve all heard the expression “life flashing before your eyes” used in literature and film, but now it may be our reality.

A new study published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience explores what really happens in our brains as we die.

Researchers were monitoring an 87-year-old epilepsy patient that unexpectedly went into cardiac arrest during a brain scan. His heart stopped, but his brain waves did not.

“There are some aspects that point toward the fact that the memories of our life, that are memorable events, are flashing just in the span of seconds before we pass away,” study organizer Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, said during an appearance Friday night on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”

The neurosurgeon claims the findings challenge our understanding of death and “when exactly life ends” which could lead to the reexamination of organ donation timing.

In a related interview, Stephanie Arnold claims that she saw afterlife during her 37-second death.

“My life flashed before my eyes for three months before I died because those premonitions were so real,” Arnold said during an interview Friday night on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”

Arnold suffered a very rare embolism during her C-section, and bled out. She then died and stayed dead for 37 seconds.

Arnold joined NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield to discuss her now best-selling book “37 Seconds: Dying Revealed Heaven’s Help–A Mother’s Journey.”