When Daniel Williams had a heart attack in 2007, he saw the light. It was that one people talk about after a close call with death, he said.

Williams flat-lined in the ambulance. Workers on board brought him back.

Friends later told him the experience meant he was alive for a purpose.

“So, I was like, this is great. I'm 60 years old and I've got to start finding a purpose in life,” said Williams, a retired sign language interpreter.

Williams recently took a job working with intellectually challenged adults in Wiscasset, for Mobius in Damariscotta. But it's his off-time pursuits that he feels have most helped him fulfill that added purpose he was seeking.

Williams, who took acting classes in college, created a show about his life. It touches on the severe heart attack and on the bullying he received as a gay teenager.

“Can U Here Me Know” gets across his message for people to accept their true selves, and not be discouraged by people who don't accept them, he said.

Several of the performances have also raised money for causes, including the American Heart Association and gay men's support groups.

He's been performing the show since 2008, months after the heart attack. It combines sign language, dance, speaking and a soundtrack of songs from different eras.

When he's speaking, someone else does the sign language. Doing both would be like trying to speak English and Spanish at the same time, he said. When the songs are playing, Williams interprets them with sign language and dance.

Williams has witnessed audience members' sometimes emotional reactions to the show. They tell them it has touched them, or even stirred a memory they had suppressed.

“I’ve put my heart and soul into this,” he said.

Williams' next performance, to benefit the American Cancer Society, is Saturday, Nov. 9, at Mount Ararat Middle School in Topsham. The show starts at 7 p.m. For ticket information, call 207-512-8531 or 207-649-3278.