32 First Responders Share The Cases That Stuck With Them

I do Search and Rescue work.

Got a call to respond to a missing lady in her 60s, gone overnight. Police had been searching for hours with no luck, so by the time I got there she had been missing for over 16 hours.

This was my K9s first search ever, so I was super nervous but also proud that we could help. The police kept trying to hold me to a small 10 acres set of woods but my gut said trust my dog, she wasn't there.

The police officer got angry with me and decided to go back to the 10 acres while I continued with my K9 into a new area. 5 mins later my dog gives an alert and I watch which way she went. I climbed over a huge tree to find the lady standing there in shock. She went passed out as soon as I said who I was and asked her what her name was.

After years of being told I was wasting my time, my dog was s**t, and if I wanted to do SAR I should get a real dog, it was the most amazing feeling in the world. My K9 is almost retired, has multiple finds and a recovery under her paws now, and she is just simply amazing.

Edited for dog tax! Peanut

I_am_so_lost_again , Юлия Здобнова Report

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Harley motorcycle tipped over and the clutch lever went into a 4 year old's eye. Parent was on the line asking what to do. Suddenly, she said, "They're going lift the motorcycle." I emphatically told her to tell them to stop and wait for rescue and EMS. Rescue ended up cutting off the clutch lever and transporting the kid to hospital. She underwent surgery. That was 1982. Just last year, I met the lead rescue officer and the girl herself, now fully grown. They wanted to meet the 911 operator that saved her vision.

shadow_carlson , User Report

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Firefighter emt recent call actually still fresh in memory only 2 days ago fatal accident 16 year old female deceased at the scene low speed (20kmh) accident but airbags deployed shouldve been a simple move the cars get them home but she had her feet on the dashboard and the airbags broke her legs one pierced her heart the other d**n near decapitated her

so if you ever get the idea putting your feet up on the dash is a good idea...dont.

spartan-moose245 , Ljupche Vasilev Report

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This isn't mine, but a friend of mine fielded this call. An elderly gentleman called 911 to notify them that his wife had passed in her sleep. Only it was like 7 o'clock at night. Apparently he just couldn't deal with it emotionally, so he got her dressed, took her out to the car, and drove around doing his errands for the day. Watched some TV together. And then after 12 or so hours he finally sort of accepted that she was gone and called 911.

Hysterymystery , Ivan Samkov Report

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I'm not a first responder but in 2007 my 4 friends and i were driving home at 2am one night on the highway (no we were not drinking that night) and up ahead in the distance i could faintly see something in the middle of the road (it was pitch dark) and i slowed down and kept saying "uh [why?] is that?" over and over again..well we slowed down and realized it was a black car with NO headlights on just sitting in the middle of the road **demolished**..i pulled over and me and all my friends sprinted to the car and checked it to see if anyone was inside, there was a woman in driver's seat who definitely didn't survive the initial crash, face just completely embedded into the windshield (i can still see this image til this day) and we were looking as fast as we could because we were in the middle of i95 and thankfully no other cars had come by..we heard a child faintly crying and my friend looks in the backseat and sees there is a child in a car seat who didn't look injured, so we tried to open the door and it wouldn't fully open due to the damage to the car, so we all had to pull at this door to get it open and let me tell ya, as easy as it sounds that was no easy task for four 18 year old kids, but eventually we got it open just enough to get in there and pull the child out, we get to the side of the road and in the blink of an eye a semi comes full speed and pulverizes the car and drags it about 100 feet before coming to a complete stop..we called the state police and they came 15 minutes later and we waited with the child until they came and questioned us...we were called heroes by all the officers. later investigations revealed that she came around the turn too fast and hit the guardrail and died on impact.

on the way home nobody made a f*****g sound.

neverleavingthewagon , Johannes Blenke Report

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I responded POV to a motorcycle crash as a volunteer EMT in a small mountain town. A lady was coming down a rocky canyon when (her husband believes) she likely feel asleep (medically related drowsiness in her history). She launched "Dukes of Hazard" style off the road edge about 50ft with a 30ft drop into a mat of bushes. Her body hit and snapped a 4-5" diameter fir tree. There were civilians all over and down in the ditch helping her already. No LE on scene yet, volunteer FD just arriving, and Air Med in route, too.

I get down to her and she is on a good samaritan's backboard. After a quick assessment and some ABCs mitigation I decide it's best to get her to the road - we can hardly stand in the brambles and taking vitals is a nightmare. With the help of civilians and the local type 4 forest service fire engine we got her up to the road.

(The extent of her injuries were later relayed to us by the Air Med service) She had rapid and irregular breathing but absent breath sounds (both lungs were collapsed) on both sides, weak/thready radial pulses, blown pupil, broken collarbone, broken tib/fib, broken lumbar, broken ribs, a lacerated liver, her vitals were not good and she would only make pain noises, sometimes the words were audible about her back pain. Convening with the flight medics, her outlook did not look great and I helped load her up into the bird thinking she would be lucky if she made it to the hospital.

Fast forward a year(ish) later, she WALKED into the Forest Service I worked at looking for me to say thank you. I was in the field that day, so I was not able to meet with her, but it was a great reminder as to why I got my EMT in the first place. I was astonished and so thankful to hear of her recovery.

Edit: Thank you so much for the awards! There are a lot of stories on both sides of the spectrum in this field and often the awful ones stick around for a while. I'm glad when I read this prompt that a heartwarming story came to mind. Thank you reddit community! I'm so glad she made it and I hope to run into her at that trauma conference someday.

crounds0419 , User Report

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Man called to report a male was breaking into his neighbors vehicle across the street. A few minutes into the call the man came and started to break into the callers vehicle. A few minutes later the man spotted my caller and broke into his house from the window. Spent 10 minutes listening to physical fight when I finally heard the police enter the house and say “there’s blood everywhere.” Both intruder and caller died. Oh, and another 911 dispatcher had my callers wife and kids on another line who were hiding upstairs and heard everything.

I talked a lot of people who were shot/stabbed/beaten in the final moments of their lives but you usually get them after the situation occurred. This caller was just trying to look out for his neighbor and I spent a good 15-20 minutes bantering while waiting for officers to arrive and get the auto thief. Getting to joke around and get to know someone’s personality before they violently die hit a lot different than taking a call after violence had occurred.

meshellella , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

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Got a call for a s******l male. Went to the house, and we could see through the glass someone holding a big knife, but it looked to be a female (it was some type of stained glass stuff). So we ask what's going on and if Brian (names have been changed) was home. She yelled "Brian isn't here anymore!" Which you know, isn't great to hear from someone holding a knife. So we make entry into the house, and after much confusion, figure out that the lady we saw through the window was actually Brian, and was transitioning (or had transitioned) to Brianna. She was in her 50s, and had been struggling for a long time because she'd worked at a place with the same coworkers for 20 years, and after starting her transition she was made fun of and left out of conversations. Her family wasn't supportive, and apparently when she went online to seek help from groups, she was too old and wasn't accepted by them either. So she wanted to k**l herself because of how alone she felt.

I was able to chat with her for a while, and convinced her to go to the hospital with me (she was going to go regardless, but there's less stress/danger for everyone if they come voluntarily). When we arrived at the hospital, she said she was too scared to get out of the car. My shift had ended like 30 minutes earlier. I asked her if holding my hand would help. She said yes. So I get out of the car, and hold her hand walking into the hospital. I'm 5'6", and she's at LEAST 6'2" and outweighs me by 100+ pounds. So I'm holding her hand, and my hand is like at eye level for me, lol. We go in, and I tell the nurse at the ER that this is Brianna and she's having a bad night (code for wanting to k**l herself). The nurse gets her a room, which is where we part ways. I say something to her about getting help and happier days ahead, and she quietly asks for a hug before I go. I say sure and give her a hug.

Sometimes I wonder if she found a support group, and if not, if she's still around. I hope so.

anon , cottonbro studio Report

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I once had a call from a 11 year old girl who was just stabbed by her stepfather, she kick him in the b***s and went to hide and call 911. She was scared and I stayed on the line until her stepfather found her. The last thing I heard was her yelling no please don't do it again. Then I heard an angry yell then gurgling. Turns out he stabbed her in the neck one minute before the police got there. I quit the next day.

nonsensicalsymbiosis , Meruyert Gonullu Report

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Someone called stating they had seen a man on a small island on the lake hours ago but now the man was gone and his boat is still out there.
An older woman called in a half hour later stating her husband had gone missing, he was last seen taking his boat out on the lake sometime overnight. The increasing tension in her voice as she noticed sheriff's deputies were already dredging the lake was something else. She was calm but clearly actively dealing with the fact her husband was likely passed away. They found his body not long after I hung up with her.
Sometimes it's the people screaming that get to you, sometimes its the quiet acceptance of a horrible truth that stays with you longer.

GameDrain , User Report

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My father used to be a 911 dispatcher; was also an EMT for 5 years and a fire fighter for over 30 years.

Worst call he ever took was a women who called that her house was on fire. She was trapped in the burning house and could not get out. First responders did not make it in time. He had to stay on the line with and listened to her as she was there.

He also witnessed, while responding to a s*****e call, one of his friends shoot himself in the face with a shotgun. He was still alive after the shotgun blast. They saved his life.

He also responded to an ATV rollover of one his friends kids. ATV landed on the kids face. Shattered his skull. His jaw was not longer attached. My dad had to hold his face together while they transported the kid to the hospital. An over 45 minute drive. Kid survived.

There are countless other calls that I could tell, my dad has witnessed a lot. Nicest man you will ever meet.

iElim , Yan Krukau Report

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I remember odd things people say under stress...

A girl’s arm was ripped to shreds in a dog mauling, she kept using the word “meat”. “There’s shredded meat everywhere!” And she continued to say it as she found pieces of her arm on the ground. “Is that a piece of my meat?!” and “Huhuhu, omg it’s my meat!!”

Some others...

“I brought you the asparagus. The asparagus!!” -guy who came back from the market to find his partner passed.

“C’mon buddy! Don’t do this. It’s Valentine’s Day!” -homeless passerby who started CPR on a distraught woman’s husband who collapsed at a gas pump.

evel333 , RDNE Stock project Report

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My dads a firefighter and for most of my younger childhood he didn’t expose much of what he’s seen/gone through in his career. As I’ve gotten older, he’s shared a bit more and one day shared a perspective with me that opened my eyes to the full scope of what he does for the community. My brother and I were discussing my brothers military deployment and how some guys from his unit were struggling with PTSD and my dad said that something that isn’t talked about often is how many people walking the street who do what he does often have the same thing happening to them but for an entire career/lifetime. I asked him what he meant and he shared with me that it only took him about 3 years on the job before he couldn’t truly celebrate any holiday anymore. Obviously this was met with some confusion on my end but he said that every holiday/event in the yearly calendar is marred in his memory by some earth shattering event he was called to for work. 4th of July for him is a child having drowned in a pool while parents were occupied with entertaining guests. Thanksgiving is car wreck in which the drunk driver walked away while their sober brother was in the passenger seat having their skull crushed by the frame of the vehicle he was driving. He has an entire calendar year of these and that was the part that really stunned me. Gave me a whole new respect for the guy.

anon , User Report

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911 dispatcher here. There's many that stick with me, but the absolute hardest one was a mother finding her child after the child had committed s*****e by hanging.

She was absolutely destroyed, but I could clearly hear her fighting to keep control as I walked her through getting the child down and attempting CPR. I knew that child was gone, but the mother refused to give up. I stayed with her on the phone and counted compressions with her while we waited for pd and the ambo to arrive, listened to her alternate between counting and begging her child to come back. When the EMTs showed up and took over, she finally let it go... That scream broke me, and I can still hear it to this day.

Gwinblayd , RDNE Stock project Report

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This isn't mine, but my dad went on a call in 1988 where a man had attempted s*****e by cutting his wrists. He and his partner each grabbed a wrist and stopped the bleeding, saved the guys life.

But it wasn't until a week later when they found out why he was trying to die. His wife had left him because of various reasons I'm sure, but these reasons included the fact that he had full blown AIDS. So my dad and his friend had to get tested since they had been covered in this dude's blood. This was before all the protocols surrounding blood and pathogens had been implemented.

My dad was negative, but his friend wasn't so lucky. The blood had gotten in his eye. I was 2 years old at the time. He quit doing calls soon after. His friend died 7 years ago of AIDS related things.

verus_es_tu , Inzmam Khan Report

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Was an EMT before I became a nurse. Call came in for an MVC (motor vehicle collision) with two trapped. On arrival, cops said 2 young woman, early 20s, drinking and going too fast and flipped their car. Driver ejected. Then, we hear passenger screaming....”she’s pregnant! Be careful, she’s pregnant!” Jaws hit the floor as the smell of alcohol on both them and their car was overwhelming. We wanted to airlift the driver, but medic on scene said no. She had fractured literally, almost every bone in her body. Open, compound fracture of tibia/fibula (two bones lower leg and fractured femurs. Normal protocol didn’t work because we can’t pull traction on femur for the open fracture and can’t MAST pants because she has massive pelvic trauma/fractures with obvious internal bleeding signs and symptoms. Picking up her leg was like picking up jello. Had no substance to it. Was shattered beyond belief. We transported both of them together and not sure how we kept driver alive. She obviously lost the baby. Miscarriage started in back of ambulance. Rushed her in for emergency surgery. If I remember, she broke both legs, pelvis, arms, clavicles, ribs, facial breaks, skull fractures, brain bleeds, spleen ruptured, bowel damaged, lost uterus and ovaries and I don’t even remember what else. First bad accident scene as an EMT. Will never forget that feeling of holding a leg with no bone left to hold it together.

User , Dominika Kwiatkowska Report

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My friend is a first responder. He once got a call about a man that had fallen in the shower. He gets there and the guy is over 400 pounds and out cold on the bathroom floor. My friend, his partner and the guys roommate try everything they can think of to get the guy on the stretcher, but the bathroom is tiny and they can’t even roll him over. Eventually they call two more ambulances and finally get the guy out of the bathroom.

They get to the elevator and it’s too small to fit the guy on the stretcher. So six paramedics have to carry the guy down five flights of stairs.

My friend called in sick for the rest of the week cause he was so sore and stiff, he couldn’t move.

idontdigdinosaurs , Mikhail Nilov Report

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Volunteer Firefighter in Europe. Some summers ago we were called as first responders to a motorcycle accident. When we arrived the cyclist was obviously badly hurt after crashing in a car. But he was orientated and seemed okay, ambulance and helicopter were on their way already, so we just had to stabilize him. Not a minute later he started deteriorating, another minute later we started CPR.

One of the arriving bystanders was a trauma surgeon and started helping immediately, shortly after the doctor on the helicopter arrived. It was obvious that there was massive internal bleeding, they first tried to relieve pressure by puncturing and then pretty soon decided that the only chance was to open him up. So they managed a clamshell thoractomy in the middle of the street, and one started to give the heart direct compressions. The bleeding was massive and they discovered that there was a aortic rupture.

The blood loss was too extreme and he died there. Still to this day I have to drive slowly when I pass by that stretch of road.

Cyrond , Valentin Sarte Report

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Car wreck, late night heavily forested mountain road. Drunk woman flying down the highway, lost control and flipped the car multiple times. We arrive and shes unconscious, boarded and shipped. After about 45 minutes, we're gearing up to leave is when we find the empty baby car seat.

Took another 45 minutes to find the body.

User , Rodrigo Vidal Report

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Not a first responder but I work in the ED. One of our physician’s friends is a first responder and got a call for s*****e. It was his own house. His daughter hanged herself.

anon , Ketut Subiyanto Report

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Instead of bringing up a f****d up call I'll bring up a funny one. We went for a call to meet the police for an a*****t, we get there the guy had been attacked with a frozen turkey. Whacked over the head with it. Big lump already formed. Guy had gotten into an argument with his old lady and she bopped him upside the head with the bird. He ended up fighting the cops and his wife and mother tried to jump in so I'm holding them back as the cops are wrestling with him. Cops ended up transporting him so we cleared and went back in service. Turns out the same guy had gotten whacked in the head by a 2x4 the week prior too.

the_falconator , Curated Lifestyle Report

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Not to me directly but happened in our Firehouse years before (horror story from the 70's.)
It's shared with everyone to stress the importance of hazardous chemical exposure.


There was a chemical leak (I don't know what chemical exactly) and a subsequent fire.
The team responded and one of the firefighter's turnouts ended up getting pretty heavily soaked in the chemical bath. Upon returning to the firehouse, his young daughter was there waiting; she gave him a hug and got the chemical all over herself. The substance was extremely toxic and she got ill and eventually passed a couple days later. The firefighter went through extreme depression afterwards and ended up committing s*****e.


Never forget that safety protocols and regulations are written in blood.

ambermage , Getty Images Report

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Little 4 year old girl got ran over by her grandmother with a lawnmower that was on. It was not the gore or the blood that got me, it was the utter panic of the family, and the way they broke down when the helicopter took off with her inside.

LoanSurvivor19 , Vanda Bakó Report

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I'm not a first responder anymore but one of my first arson cases was an absolutely hilarious disaster. This husband and wife hated each other but didn't want to get divorced. What they did want was a new house.

So they poured kerosene on approximately 60 rags and stuffed them under the end table next to the couch. Then placed an *empty* kerosene lamp on the end table.

Then they took a 5 gallon gas can full of gas, took the spout off, and placed it in their master bedroom closet. Their completely devoid of all clothing master bedroom closet except for two jackets with tassels with the price tags still on them. Then they opened all their safes and left them empty and open in the middle of the bedroom.

Then they took all the pictures out of the house and replaced them with random photos they printed off the internet.

Then they removed the televisions and replaced them with old tvs. They put the flat screen televisions in their barn.

Then they poured a clear trail of gasoline down the hallway.

Their alibi was that on the day of the fire, they were trying to sell their canoe. They finally got a buyer, but the only time they could meet the buyer was at 3 am that night. So they drove 2 hours away to sell a canoe at 3 am the very same night. They then tried to claim the unlit, non electric kerosene lamp must have exploded. Then they claimed that their c*******d neighbors were trying to frame them for arson. Then the husband claimed that his wife was trying to frame him for arson because she's quote "A Blackfoot Indian and they are notorious for not wanting to work". Then he claimed that Sears was trying to frame him for arson because they were tired of paying his settlement after being injured at work 25 years prior.

It was a good time.

User , RDNE Stock project Report

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My first cardiac arrest call.


An old lady had woken up to her husband not breathing. He'd passed at some point during the night it seems, but all I was given at the start of the call was that he wasn't breathing, so I launched into CPR instructions.
They lived out of town, so it took the ambulance crew about 25 minutes to get out to them.
There was nothing crazy about the call and I've dealt with way more traumatic calls in the 2 years since, but at some point during the call, she realised he was gone and you could hear it in her voice.
That shift in tone is what sticks with me.

juzzzyb , Kampus Production Report

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Obligatory “I’m not a first responder, but...”, I always wonder about the 911 operator that was on the phone with me when I found my (21F at the time) brother (24M) after he hung himself. It’s a bit blurry but I remember I was “calm” (in shock) and I think he started to ask if I needed fire, police, or ambulance and as soon as he spoke I said “my brother killed himself”. I think he asked if I could get him down and try CPR, but as soon as I said “his feet are blue” he knew he had passed and instructed me to go wait outside on my steps and to stay on the phone til the police got there. I kept saying things like “this is so f****d up, I’m sorry for swearing” and he said it’s okay. Later I found out that I found my brother about 14 hours after it happened. My poor parents were out of town on vacation too... I called them first before I even called 911. :( I always hope it didn’t make the operator sad.

User , MART PRODUCTION Report

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I work in a region that covers a lot of forest area. I was patrolling and heading to recertify with my firearms when I passed vehicle tracks leading into the trees where vehicles aren't supposed to be. It wasn't unusual for that spot but I'd never been able to catch anyone up there. Because I was on a timetable, I figured I'd check in it on the way back to the office

After an hour or so, we got a bolo for a potentially s******l male. He was found passed a couple of hours later, in that exact area I was going to check. And now I can't help but wonder if he was alive when I drove by and I could have done something.

Witless_Wonder , Juan Pablo Peluffo Report

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My mum qualified as an ambulance call handler. Once they qualify they go through a period where an experienced call handler sits with them and listens to the calls with them in case they have any trouble. She passed this with flying colours. It all went downhill after that though, here first ever 'solo call' was from a mother whose newish baby (few weeks I think but not really relevant I guess) had fallen out of the car door on an A road and went under the wheels of a lorry following behind her. Safe to say it f****d her up a bit but she carried on the job for years afterwards and now she's a student paramedic. So proud of her it's unbelievable!

User , Daniel Martinez Report

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A lighthearted one - my friend got a call from a very cross sounding old lady that was absolutely furious because her neighbors had stolen her plants. When my friend asked her how she knew it was them, the woman said “because there’s holes in my yard and She planted them in her f*****g garden! I’m going to go take them back, I have a shovel, and you probably wont get here in time to do anything about it!”

Thank goodness it was a slow day because my friend had to stay on the line for at least 15 minutes to convince her to wait for a cop to come by and talk to her neighbors for her.

cashil , Getty Images Report

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Memorial Day, 1989. FF/EMT at the time. Call dispatched as a "car into a telephone pole." When we got there, I couldn't believe the carnage. A HS student had been given a muscle car as a birthday present. The police later estimated he was going over 90mph when he hit the pole head-on.

Patient's right femur was about six inches long, his patella almost touching his pelvis. The entire long bone had compressed like an accordion. He had other multiple injures. Took us two hours to cut him out of the car. The medics were pumping him so full of d***s to maintain his blood pressure they started to openly worry that they might f*** his kidneys up.

We finally got him out of the car (only time I've ever seen a KED used) on a gurney and took off for the hospital. Medic had two large-bore IVs going, and had a BP cuff wrapped around one of the bags to create his own "rapid infuser."

The kid lived. He ended up losing the foot on the leg that was destroyed, and that leg (from what I heard months later) was more metal than flesh.

The irony was that the kid was a NY State indoor track and field state champion runner.

dramboxf , Rex Report

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A mother called because her kid pulled a pot of oil off the stove and it spilled on his face. she said she could see the skin peeling off his face.

Humans_Being_Bros , MART PRODUCTION Report

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I'm not a first responder, but a dentistry student. Dentistry professionals can work in the hospital as trauma surgeons of the face. This facial surgeon showed us a case of a man that didn't pay his d**g dealers, they took hit to an empty field and blew his face off with a shotgun and left. Surprisingly the man survived and woke up half an hour later and called the police, they spent hours trying to pinpoint his exact locating because at this point he was somewhere in the middle of an open field and obviously he didn't had eyes anymore to help them. He was taken to the hospital and his surgery took 18 hours but he did survive.
Edit: today he lives in a rest home with a tube helping him breathe and another helping him eat.

agorafilia , Klara Kulikova Report

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