He went through a life-and-death surgery and came back.
Tips
history
Cao Zhi's Three-Kingdoms-era 《辩道论》 records a fangshi (occultist) Dong Zhongjun who feigned death in prison for days, his eyes sunken and infested, then 'died and came back.'
usage
Used both literally (medical resuscitation, mythology) and figuratively (companies, relationships, movements that recover from apparent end).
