During an interview with Unsolved Mysteries in 1997, he reported of his life prior to his near-death experience that he was an atheist and an aggressive person, feared by his wife and children.

After returning to his Paris hotel room with his wife around 11:00 a.m. from a morning excursion, he had a sudden onset of severe abdominal pain.

As he lay waiting for surgery, he truly believed that he was going to die due to the severity of his pain, and he mentally prepared himself for death.

Storm reports the following experience: He opened his eyes and found himself standing outside of his body, looking down at the hospital bed with his wife crying beside him.

He then heard a voice saying, “Pray to God,” and so he recited fragments of Bible verses and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Storm also recounts “a Voice” that told him to ignore the advice of doctors and buy return tickets to the U.S. a week after his procedure, which he did.

Upon his arrival in Cincinnati, he was admitted in the hospital in critical condition with double pneumonia, collapsed lung, extreme peritonitis, and non-A non-B hepatitis.