Actress Danielle Vasinova knows how lucky she is to be alive — considering at one point her heart stopped for three full minutes during a COVID

battle.

“On Dec. 12, 2019, I died for three minutes,” says the 1923 actress, who was also just announced as a cast member on the Yellowstone spinoff The

Madison.

“I thought I was coming down with the flu,’ Vasinova, 42, says of her COVID symptoms. But in the early days of the virus, it was often misdiagnosed.

“I went to urgent care in downtown L.A., and they decided it was strep and sent me home with some antibiotics. But by the next day, I could barely walk. My legs wouldn’t move. It was bizarre.”

By 2 a.m., Vasinova knew something was truly off. “I felt like I was going to die,” she says. Her uncle raced her to the emergency room, dropped her off, and when he returned to her room, it was like a scene out of a movie.

“He said people were running around me, and a tiny girl jumped on top of my chest and began pumping, pumping, pumping. And then he saw my heartbeat on the monitor just go. Flatlined.”

Vasinova’s heart was stopped for three full minutes. She says the ER nurse continued to try and revive her, and eventually, they found a pulse. They transferred her to the ICU and put her into an induced coma.

“I had complete organ failure,” she says. “I went from young and healthy to this infection that completely took over my body all of a sudden. It just came on, and it just rocked my world.”

Vasinova says she doesn’t have any specific memories of being legally dead for three minutes, but she has felt a higher power since pulling through — and senses angels around her.

“I didn’t see the light or a tunnel but they say it can come back to you in flashbacks, she says.

“I did, however, start to see a lot of angel numbers everywhere. I would see sequences like 5555, 7777. It was bizarre, but something was telling me, ‘There’s something more for you. You weren’t meant to go just yet. You’re meant to do something else.’”

She adds, “It’s hard to even describe how I feel, but I’m so much more connected. This felt like the turning point in my life. The death, and the rebirth. I know to take nothing for granted. Life is so precious and it is such a gift. We’re here to do some good in the world, to be of service, and to be forever grateful.”

The best part of the experience? She got a chance to meet the ER nurse who saved her life.

“I found out her name was Ruby, so I went back to the hospital with a bracelet with a tiny ruby in it just to say, ‘Thank you for saving my life,’” she says.

“I didn’t know if she was going to recognize me, but when she opened the door, I started crying, and she just lost it. She told me she never knows who lives or dies after they get transferred. She just gave me the biggest hug. Because I’d been gone for three full minutes. But I came back.”