From Refugee to Neurosurgeon: What can death teach us about life?

By VOICE-TRIBUNE • Photos By Antonio Pantoja

Dr. Ajmal Zemmar is a world-renowned neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who lives in Louisville. His life story is a rollercoaster of fate, propelled by resilience, determination, hard work, and a man who constantly strives to turn life’s difficulties into success.

In 1989, when the Russian army left Afghanistan and a civil war was looming, Zemmar’s family, who lived a happy life and built significant wealth, did not want to leave their home. But then came the day that changed their entire story. Punctuality may have been a virtue, but on this day his mother paused to chat with a neighbor and lost track of time; a brief detour that became a life-saving twist of fate. That same day a rocket hit his kindergarten, injuring many of his friends.

Ajmal was only 6 years old when his family decided to leave behind their country, their houses, their wealth, everything they owned, and walk away with just a suitcase. Once living in a25,000-square-foot palace in Kabul, he and his mother found themselves sharing a modest one-bedroom apartment and survivingon welfare in Bremen, Germany. His father, committed to military service, was held back and separated from the family. Without knowing the language, without any support or stability, 6-year-old Ajmal had landed in a new country with an uncertain future. His mother, who had been a University Professor in Afghanistan, made ends meet with every job she could get. 2.5 years later, his father was able to leave Afghanistan and join them in Germany. 

Growing up in a refugee neighborhood, Zemmar did not accept the limits placed on him. “I was often not treated the way you would want to be treated. When I was a teenager, the cops would just come, smack us down on the street, and handcuff us. When you asked why, they looked you in the face and said: Because of the way you look”.

He learned pretty quickly that he had to earn respect in life. “We didn’t have the same rights as other members of society. I never saw anybody treating a physician or an attorney that way. It was not fair, but it was what it was”. At a very early age, his grandfather would quote the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte: “The word impossible only exists in the dictionary of fools”. 

Determined to earn these most basic human rights and be treated fairly, Zemmar excelled in school. He entered medical school at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, and after his medical degree, completed a PhD in neuroscience at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. He decided to become a neurosurgeon. 

His residency was completed in Zurich and Vancouver, Canada, followed by a fellowship in Toronto, the world’s most competitive and best place for neurosurgeons wanting to specialize in deep brain stimulation and spinal cord stimulation. Today, Zemmar is a neurosurgeon in Louisville, treating patients with Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, brain tumors, and back pain. 

His interest in the brain was triggered by a fortuitous accident. In 2016, Zemmar was treating an 87-year-old patient with a brain bleed. Dr. Zemmar performed surgery, the patient recovered well, and on the day he was scheduled to go home, he developed seizures; a known condition after a brain bleed. EEG electrodes were placed on the patient’s head to determine the source of the seizures. While his brain activity was being recorded, the patient suddenly suffered a heart attack and died. This left Zemmar and his team with the first-ever recording of a dying human brain. 

While analyzing the recording, they identified a specific brain wave pattern called gamma waves, which are associated with memory recall. Remarkably, these gamma waves appeared in the patient’s brain 30 seconds after his heart had stopped, suggesting that memory recall may occur at the moment of death and providing scientific support for the age-old adage of “your life flashing before your eyes.” 

“Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die,” Zemmar says of this discovery. Zemmar didn’t publish his findings immediately, hoping to find additional recordings of similar events. His search, however, proved fruitless, highlighting just how rare this type of brain recording is. To date, only three such recordings exist, with two other cases confirming the results reported by Dr. Zemmar’s team. 

When asked what these findings meant for society, he said they could be categorized in three different realms: Scientific, philosophic, and spiritual. “Scientifically, we only have such few cases, but they are replicated and supported by more than 14,000 descriptions of near-death survivors who don’t tell you 14,000 different things, but remarkably, they consistently report life recall. On the philosophical side, we are not bound by scientific laws. We can freely interpret the data and let our minds be creative. On the spiritual side, I think it is somewhat calming. Today, death appears like a scary black space; we don’t know what to imagine and everyone dreads death. It’s hard to lose a loved one, no matter what. But I think if we can tell their families that they’re not in a bad place, they’re not suffering, they’re replaying some of the memorable events of their life, it builds a feeling of warmth and gives their loved ones something to hold on to. The beauty of our world is that we have a variety of spiritual beliefs. This research provides a foundation for the final moments of life that are melted with the spiritual beliefs to provide calm during the very difficult process of dying 

What have the findings of the last moments of life taught him? Zemmar believes that a greater understanding of death should make people want to live more presently. “We have 4000 weeks to live on average, of which we sleep 1500, and we work 1500. Take out the weeks we drive to work, do chores, watch TV, spend time on social media, etc., then there is not much time left to create memories. When you know one day the movie of your life plays in your head, why not be the director of your life movie? The question is, how do you want to live life each day to create the movie you want to play when you leave?” he said. “I think that’s a beautiful turnaround to live more holistically, present in the moment, and allow time for those memories because you know one day it’s going to end.” 

Today, the wheels are turning to create Ajmal Zemmar’s life movie. Antonio Pantoja, a filmmaker and photographer who has won over 200 awards, alongside Dorian Washington, named the 2023 and 2024 Music Executive of the Year with more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry, is currently filming the unique life story. 

In explaining how he and Washington decided to produce the story, Pantoja said that Washington met Zemmar and knew right away it would be a perfect fit. “It was too good to pass up,” Pantoja said. “Ajmal’s story outside of his medical research breakthrough is quite amazing. And getting to know him, his heart, and his kindness made me want to put the spotlight on him even further. He’s one of the most genuine people you could ever meet.” 

The little boy who escaped death by a slim margin in war-torn Afghanistan has become a world-renowned brain surgeon to gift the world the first-ever recording of the dying human brain and unravel the age-old mystery of what happens in the brain when we die. The word impossible only exists in the dictionary of fools. Chapeau to Napoleon Bonaparte and a special Grandfather.