Fact or Fiction: Near-death Boy Says He Has Been to Heaven, Where Everyone Has Wings

Todd and Sonja Burpo may have believed an angel was looking over their 4-year-old son, who survived a life-threatening burst appendix.

Colton Burpo, now 11, says it's true.

"A few angels, they came, picked me up and I was looking right at Jesus," Colton, from the small town of Imperial, Neb., tells "Today."

After 17 days in the hospital, the boy started to talk about things he could not have known about, "Today" reports, including a miscarriage suffered by his mother, prayers his father made during Colton's surgery and meeting "Pop," his great-grandfather.

"I was just sitting by the Holy Spirit, and then this guy comes up to me and says, 'are you Todd's son?' I said yes. He says, 'Well, I'm his grandfather," Colton tells "Today." "... Pop, he was very big, huge wings, he had curly hair, big smile and he was really nice."

The experience led Todd Burpo, a pastor, to write the New York Times best-selling nonfiction book "Heaven is for Real."

"He could tell me where I was while he was in surgery," Todd Burpo tells "Today." "The surgeons couldn't tell me that. The nurses couldn't. My wife couldn't tell me where I was praying but he could tell me."

Sonja Burpo says her son told her angels sang to him.

"There's a lot of colors, there are a lot of people and a lot of animals," Colton says, describing Heaven.

He also says everyone in Heaven has wings -- his were a bit smaller than other's, and that no one there is old. (read more)