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Having a brush with death causes a profound change in a person. It gives them an entirely new outlook on life, for better or worse. For those who lived to tell the tale, you can guarantee that their stories are nothing short of gripping, which may also make you ponder on your own mortality.
These responses to a Reddit question are excellent examples. Someone posted a short yet loaded query: “How have you cheated death?” Replies came flooding in with personal accounts about early cancer detections, car accidents, and narrowly escaping septic shock.
We’ve collected some of the best stories for you. Make sure you have enough time to kill because you’ll likely be here for a while.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Don’t know if I can say I cheated death as much as had an amazing medical team that knew what they were doing. But when I was 19, I was diagnosed with stage 3 lymphoma. It was on my stomach in ulcers that equaled up to 5 pounds worth of tumors. Was told on Tuesday when they were trying to figure out what specific type I had so they could know how to treat it, that if I didn’t start a treatment plan by Friday it would be too far gone to save me. Cut to Friday morning and they basically flipped a coin and went with Burkett’s Lymphoma. Luckily they were right because it has been nearly 20 years since my last round of chemo and I’m still cancer free. Had they been wrong, I wouldn’t be here typing this.
Steve Nelson 1 year ago
My doctor told me that he had good news and bad news. The news was that I had lymphoma. The good news was that I had lymphoma. Small B cell. Twenty years ago also.
Jack McHue 1 year ago
Because of a seizure med side-effect, my sodium level had dropped 14 points below normal. My only indication of a problem was having three of my complex partial seizures within 4 hours early in bed one morning. If you look up what can happen if your sodium level drops so low, it shows very severe effects can happen. Yet, I drove myself to the ER, where they found the problem. I have no explanation other than God protecting me. (Cue the atheists to start mocking me for that.)
RELATED:
#2
We were holidaying in the Lake District, I was only very young. I was on the top of a grassy hill and thought it’d be great to run down it really fast! My dumb a*s didn’t understand momentum and I could not stop I was running and running and running. I saw a little wire fence with old wooden posts and BOOM some guy leaped on me and bear hugged me and we stopped. My parents utterly panicked caught up and came rushing to me. My parents lost their s**t and I was just in like shock, came very very close to tumbling over a high cliff and turning into strawberry jam.
Thank you stranger whoever and wherever the hell you are ❤️.
UKGrandad 1 year ago
That brought back an old memory. 30+ years ago I was walking by a lake at the foot of a grassy hill when I heard a woman shouting from behind me. I looked around and saw a boy aged about ten, with both legs in plaster casts coming down the hill like an out of control robot with his mum racing after him. I ran across and grabbed him just before he would have splashed down. His mum told me that he he'd had an op on his legs a couple of weeks before (something about the tendons), they'd been walking to exercise his legs and he'd lost control of his speed on the way down, dropping his crutches as he went.
Socks Thecate 1 year ago (edited)
Oh yikes! I did that with Cliffords Tower in York. Started running and didn't realize I couldn't stop. Fell into a queue of ladies at a bus stop, luckily no huge cliff. Glad that guy leaped on you!
Bored Trash Panda 1 year ago
I lost my footing running down a hill when I was like 11 and couldn't stop. Ran full force into a hammock that was at the bottom and knocked my a*s on the ground. Luckily the pillows and blankets were under it so I didn't hit the ground full on, still hurt like hell though.
Beth Wheeler 1 year ago
OMG. That guy definitely saved you that day, God put him there for you.
#3
My mums cat saved my life. Was sleeping on my mums couch after a break up. The cat got sick and the vet determined it was carbon monoxide poisoning from the frontroom gas fireplace.
Bec 1 year ago
My cousin kept getting headaches after she got home from work. If a neighbor's hadn't had an issue in her apartment, they wouldn't have realized it was a CO leak.
Toothless Feline 1 year ago
Always have a functional carbon monoxide detector in your home. It’s potentially more important than even a smoke detector, because humans cannot innately detect carbon monoxide.
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Mark Howell 1 year ago
A friend of mine went to see if his brother and his kids needed anything getting from the shops, as his SIL was in hospital. Got to the house, car on drive, curtains closed; being only 8:45 so nothing unusual. My friend got chatting to a neighbour who was asking about his SIL and mentioned he hadn't seen the kids out since the day before. Alarm bells rang in my friends head, he and the neighbour put a ladder up and he checked through a gap in the curtains; his brother was laid on the floor apparently asleep. He called the police/ambulance, when they got inside his brother and both kids were dead from CO poisoning. The reason leaves had got into the flue of the boiler due to a loose screw on the cover. He campaigned after that to have gas checks to include a simple check to see if the cover was secure and clear.
Zaach 1 year ago
I had a party with a bunch of friends - we did a lot of acid;it was in a basement apt in the middle of winter in Montana - I decided to heat the place by turning on the gas stove. I woke up and lit a cigarette, it went out - I couldn't get it to stay lit; I was in the sweet spot where there was still oxygen between the carbon monoxide at the ceiling and Carbon dioxide on the floor. I realized what was wrong and woke everyone up.
Anna Ekberg 1 year ago (edited)
Why do people insist on using and cooking with gas? Do you know wich country most of that gas comes from?
#4
When I was still a fetus, my mother suffered a heavy injury to her stomach, causing the death of my twin, but I survived somehow.
The doctors basically told her she must stay bedridden for the rest of the pregnancy or else she would lose me too. So my grandma got her a SNES, and she just played video games all day. I still have that SNES.
Traveling Lady Railfan 1 year ago
Just out of curiosity, what games did she play? I loved sim city
Michelle C 1 year ago (edited)
I’m glad you’re alive and sorry to read of the loss of your twin, OP.
#5
My bio father punched my mom in the stomach 9 weeks before I was due. A few days later she was feeling just “a little” off and called her doctor who told her to go to the hospital. It turns out the placenta had ruptured and the surgeon said we both would’ve died that day had she just decided to sleep it off instead. One very emergency C section later and we both made it, if not a little undercooked.
Nimitz 1 year ago
In my experience, those guys never get justice. My dad strangled us like Homer Simpson and much, much worse. The only punishment he got was supervised visits for 1 year after my mom finally divorced him.
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Pheebs 1 year ago
My uncle decided it would be brilliant to kick my mom’s feet out from under her when she was just about 8 months with me. I don’t know, I guess he was joking about how soft my grandparents new carpet was? Anyway, that’s why I was born 5 weeks early.
Debbie 1 year ago
Omg, how can you do that? I mean even to a non pregnant woman, you don't do this to any person. What happened to your uncle? (Did he apologize, arrested for abuse, found out he has a mental disability, or was it just a brain fart and was he horrified himself about what he had done? was he very young?
Load More Replies... #6
I was hit by a drunk driver while I was riding my bike at 13. If I hadn't been wearing my helmet, I would've died. The helmet was cracked all the way through on the back. Safety equipment has never been a joke to me since, and all any of my nieces or nephews need to do is call me saying they need a new helmet and they'll have one.
Matthew Currie 1 year ago
I was 64 and the driver was sober, but yes. Broken bones healed. Can still walk and talk. Thanks, helmet!
Stannous Flouride 1 year ago
About 2003 or 2004 I was flying down a recently paved street on my bike heading home from a minor check-up at the VA hospital I saw a car in a parking space on the other side of the road and I could see the back of the driver's head. My last thought as she cut across 3 lanes to make a turn into the cross street was. "This is gonna hurt." Fortunately I was wearing a helmet (one of those foam ones with a cloth cover) because I cleared her car and got knocked out. I woke up as they were putting me into the ambulance (but I imagine it was worse for the poor woman who saw me laying there unmoving for what must have seemed an eternity). Not only did the helmet save my life, because of the accident I was given a CT scan and it was discovered that I'd had several ministrokes that I had no idea about. I was put on blood thinners and began treatment for my high blood pressure, something I hadn't paid much attention to. So my helmet led to me being alive more than 20 years later.
Mad McQueen 1 year ago
Late 1970s sis an friends an I stop at a candy store on our bikes. Decide to go to a playground and enjoy our bounty. I was taught to stop at driveways an look if I could not see into them. So I am last in the line. They all just went past. I stopped and looked. Well the car must have backed out just as I turned to pedal on an it flew out of the lot and across the sidewalk. My front and back tires were under the passenger front and rear tires of the car. I was still seated and holding the handles. Somehow she pinned me down. She got out an was frantic she hit a kid. My friends heard an turned back. They had almost reached the turn into the playground an would never had known. I somehow managed to get my trapped legs out a stand off as she rolled the car back and got my house phone number an my moms name etc. I rode off to be with friends and carry on. Later we got home an my grandmother who was watching us was frantic an scanned me up and down. It was an interesting day.
#7
Remembered to put on my seat belt.
Got into a bad car wreck. Survived with bumps and bruises.
Seat belts save lives.
Bettye McKee 1 year ago
As do airbags. We had a bad wreck, air bags inflated and we walked away. I had a broken sternum and bruises, my husband had bruises from the seat belt.
Toothless Feline 1 year ago
Airbags and seatbelts both save lives, and they do it best together.
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Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
My father says that seat belts should be called "life belts." Maybe if they were, more people would use them.
Julia Mckinney 1 year ago
Also crumple zones. My husband's car had a very deep dent in the drivers side, right next the back of the drivers seat. He could stand in the dent and I could run my hand from one side to the other without touching him. The other car hit right in the middle of the drivers door but the crumple zone slid the impact down to the frame between the 2 drivers side doors. He was perfectly fine, I got a bruise from my seatbelt.
Papa 1 year ago
Yep. Some people complain about high repair bills after a minor accident, but they don't understand that the alternative is high hospital bills.
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Raphapablap 1 year ago
It amazes me still that "remembering" is a thing. It is second nature to me to always put it on.
Don Adams 1 year ago
Drove a delivery truck. One night, I fell asleep, went through the guardrail and the truck fell on the passenger side. Came to dangling from the seatbelt. Cut myself loose with my pocketknife and crawled up through the driver side window. Wound up with a bump on the head and a few small cuts, along with a very some ribcage. Seatbelts save lives - I wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't true. Literally.
Skid Marks 1 year ago
It is really sad how many young drivers around here do not see the benefit. Many feel that they are restrictive. They are.... For a reason.
#8
My high school school resource officers (SRO) stopped a school shooting with literally less than seconds to spare. I was walking past the kid as he was at his locker pulling the gun. I saw the student get tackled. If the SRO had not stopped the student I would likely have been first since we were the only students in that hallway.
𝖊𝖜𝖔𝛋 1 year ago (edited)
It’s frightening not just the easy access to guns, but that there must be a mental health crisis which is driving teenagers to commit these atrocities. Bullying is a hard thing to tackle, but clearly schools need to be doing more to support students and look after their welfare. My own school cared more about grades and league tables than anything else (one of my friends attempted suicide, thankfully wasn’t successful but missed a maths test and wasn’t given the opportunity to retake it, no consideration for how she was feeling and was back at school a few days later) but it must be so much worse in America for it to be this much of a problem ):
Linda Riebel 1 year ago
Aaaaannnd another euphemism to protect gun manufacturers. "Resource" ? Don't make me puke.
#9
I got in an accident with a drunk driver. Everyone that saw the car afterwards said the same thing, "how are you alive?".
The roof where I was sitting was damn near touching the seat. I couldn't have fit back in there if I tried.
I got pretty f****d up, for sure... but thankfully I didn't die.
Paul Brown 1 year ago
Same here. I was in a bad car accident too. I wasn't driving though. Passenger in front seat and another person next to me. They both died. They had to cut me out of the car. I was wedged between the dashboard and the roof of the car. We hit a stopped tractor trailer and bounced back 75 ft. I was out of it for several days. Face tore open, jaw shattered. Surgery to piece together my jaw. Driver walked away
#10
Getting my bloods done regularly and the doctor says come back in 3 months PSA is high. I do as I’m told and it’s gone higher, biopsy shows that I have an aggressive form of cancer and I’m told if it’s not removed I’ll be dead within 5 years. That’s 9 years ago. No symptoms, nothing out of the ordinary. Get your bloods checked on a regular basis.
StrangeOne 1 year ago
You basically need a reason here in Manitoba. I tried calling clinics for a hantavirus test. I was told unless I'm already sick I can't get a hantavirus test.
highwaycrossingfrog 1 year ago
Simply not a thing that you can ask to get in my country. Blood tests are only done if you visit a doctor and they say you need one for diagnosis. I had never heard the term "blood work" until the Eastwood film came out
Beth Wheeler 1 year ago
Men should also be getting a prostate exam starting at age 45 I think. It's been about 15 years since I worked in Urology so I can't remember the exact age but it might have changed since then.
H Wiley 1 year ago
Serious question.Does anyone know if you just ask your doctor " to do bloodwork" and they know? Or is it a specific test?
Papa 1 year ago
Mine does it routinely when I go in for my checkup. It was yearly until I was about 60, and twice a year now.
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#11
Congenital heart heart defect (WPW) completely unknown until 35 years old. I was playing board games with a small group- vision narrowed until I came to looking up at EMT's. They had taken turns doing CPR for 14 minutes until medical arrived and shocked me 3x to bring me back. One surgery and defib install later and everything is pretty much normal with a cheap med. Had I been driving or at home alone that would have been it. Those 4 guys dont pay for beers ever when we go out. edit - ~~Grammer~~* Grammar, and now spelling.
Upstaged75 1 year ago
I have that arrythmia too. Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. Luckily it doesn't ever bother me and I haven't had to get it fixed. It affects everyone differently.
wordsupfool 1 year ago
Hey! I have WPW! 5 heart surgeries throughout my youth- and still kicking.
#12
I was in a brutal car accident, my son was 5 at the time in the back seat.
Our vehicle was hit 3 times like a ping pong ball during rush hour, pushed over 3 lanes into oncoming traffic. When we finally stopped, we had narrowly evaded being sandwiched between two transport trucks.
My right arm was crushed and is now all titanium, but otherwise we made it out alive; my son without a scratch thanks to a properly installed car seat.
Hours later I went into another portal hopped up on a cocktail of ketamine, morphine, etc. I am convinced I entered the edge of life/death as it was a surreal experience.
Feathered Dinosaur 1 year ago
Parents of children under 25kg, please use Reboarder car seats (rear-facing), they are much safer for the little ones than front facing car seats
Kayleigh Johnson 5 months ago
Reading this and seeing what I saw today makes me sick... a lady was a passenger in a car with her baby in one of those slings you have on your front... so baby was not in a car seat!!!
#13
I had a screening for something else and my Doctor found very early stage cancer at age 34. It was removed painlessly and completely in an afternoon. It’s a cancer that usually affects people over 60 and doesn’t have symptoms until it’s too late. If I didn’t have this other screening, I likely would have died a painful death from it in 10ish years. When the doctor first called to give me the results he said it was divine intervention, and never gave me the results of the test I came in for.
#14
In 2019, I had an ex boyfriend hire a hitman to kill me. He emptied his entire clip out on me and I was shot once behind my back & it punctured my lung. I was rushed to the ER, I was set on a table while the nurses and doctors tried to revive me. I remember at one point everything stopped hurting and I was just feeling really at peace & slowly drifting off. They kept putting warm blankets on me because my body was getting cold, but I wasn’t cold, my body was simply shutting down! When they realized that one of the doctors stabbed me with a giant needle and that s**t hurt so much. I started feeling all the pain from the shooting again. A couple more minutes and I would have been completely gone.
#15
Congenital heart failure -- I was a competitive swimmer growing up and misdiagnosed by many doctors for many years. I was 2 months away from my mitral valve completely closing and suffering from complete heart failure by age 9. Luckily, a cardiologist found it after a 'last ditch' effort to try to figure out what was going on and passing out in my last pool. Scheduled for a rush surgery, had mitral valve replaced, am alive. Thankful for cardiologists, get your heart checked!
#16
Had a friend who hit a puddle going 80 and lost control. He rolled his car 4 times. He crawled out of the car and called 911. Fire rescue arrived and pulled out the jaws of life. They didn't believe that he had survived and escaped. He only had one visible bruise of his arm from it, so he declined treatment.
A few months later he started exhibiting signs of schizophrenia. Within a year he was completely dissociated from reality. About 7 years later they did an MRI and found very old brain trauma. They suspect that the car accident caused a TBI, which triggered/created his schizophrenia.
talliloo 1 year ago
valentine's day 1997: my 18 yr old son totaled his toyota pick-up. hit the tree so hard that the engine block was between him and the passenger. he and the passenger had their seat belts on but the force of the impact caused his head to hit the steering wheel hard enough to break it. the impact on his face flattened his nose as well as deep cut on forehead. after that accident he had a change in temperment. drs think his frontal lobe was damaged. he's now 46 and is still tempermental but is much better at being aware and controlling it. he is lucky to be married to a wonderful woman who understands this and doesn't put up with his irrational moments which, strangely, makes him calm right down. anytime a person gets a head injury there is always a chance of things coming out later as a result of undetected brain damage.
Meaghan Stewart 1 year ago
My ex-husband went through this from an undiagnosed TBI from playing football in HS. Didn’t realize until we started dating a decade later and he would go absolutely batshit crazy and jealous on me along with having seizures when he got too worked up. Broke up with him, he had a huge seizure, his friend rushed him to the hospital (he’d been avoiding it because ‘Murica), where they performed emergency surgery on his frontal lobe. TBIs can mess you up so SO much.
#17
Went in for bloody stool in my mid-20s. Turns out, it was just blood in the bowl from popping a hemorrhoid during pooping. Doc suggested a colonoscopy just to play it safe. Found a pre-cancerous polyp that would have 100% turned into cancer within the next few years. No way I would have gotten a colonoscopy in ever the next 10 years had that hemorrhoid not popped. I get a colonoscopy every three years now and will continue to do so for life. Saved my life. Could save yours. Get your colonoscopies, people.
Bec 1 year ago
There isn't really a way to know it would 100% have become cancererous. They remove polyps and test them. Hopefully as other forms of screening get better, colonoscopies will be less necessary.
𝖊𝖜𝖔𝛋 1 year ago
I had two moles removed which they said were pre-cancerous. I still don’t really understand it, but whatever it means I’m grateful they’re gone!
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Beth Wheeler 1 year ago
Lots of colon cancer in my family. Had to start doing them earlier than normal because of it. Now they start at 45 instead of 50.
Stephanie Barr 1 year ago
Mine is similar. Had a bleeding ulcer come from nowhere (black stools) and, at 49, when they did the followup laproscopy, suggested I go ahead and get a colonoscopy. Found many polyps including a larger one with a layer of cancer cells on the side not attached to me. My father died of colon cancer.
margaret carradus 1 year ago
Colonoscopies are fine. It's the bowel empty liquid you have first that is ghastly!
#18
I was riding a motorbike at 60mph (national speed limit road). An oncoming car overtook a car on a blind bend and forced me off the road. The moment my bike hit the grass, I decided to jump off it as I was heading for a stone wall and knew that I would never be able to get control of the bike once it was off a tarmac road. The bike pummeled into the wall, and I hit the floor with force. My leathers and helmet saved me from a much worse fate but I think if I'd have hit the oncoming car or the wall, I'd have been dead instantly. I was on my way to stay with friends and my aerosol deodorant exploded in my rucksack, and my visor completely detached from my helmet.
Yayheterogeneity 1 year ago
That's why I will never ride a motorcycle. I know it's dead fun, yeah. But the dead does it for me.
MaryHadaLittleLamb 1 year ago
And the riders who say, "but I'm a really good driver"... Yes, but what about the others sharing the road with you? Do you trust them all with your life?
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Learner Panda 1 year ago
Yet some countries do not require helmets and safety wear. Can't they imagine skin versus tarmac at 60 mph?
wordsupfool 1 year ago
In the great state of NH (motto: Live Free or Die), helmets are not required.
Load More Replies... Nimitz 1 year ago (edited)
When I was about 8 we got word my uncle died. He was riding his motorcycle in school zone. He turned to wave at a kid that was waving at him and he didn't see a patch of sand/gravel left over from the winter ice management. He lost control while wearing jeans and a t-shirt and died of his injuries. He was an organ donor, but the only usable part of him was his eyes, because the rest of his organs were contaminated by the sand/gravel. Never found out what happened to the kid, but I hope he wasn't traumatized
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
I’ve watched motorcyclists weave through traffic at high speeds and wondered how the hell they aren’t dead yet! You couldn’t pay me enough to get on one of those things
Learner Panda 2 months ago (edited)
Some years ago I was riding a motorbike, delivering it home after I had bought it for my son. 30mph road, approaching a mini-roundabout. A woman pulled out in front of me and I was going slowly enough to have a choice between hitting her car or slicing myself open on some road signs. I chose the car, sailed over the bonnet and landed on my back in the middle of the road. No serious injuries, although I have some knee and back pain. The worst of it was, she had been drinking and left the scene. She just got a telling off, because by the time she reported to the Police, she was sober.
#19
Was supposed to be the passenger in my mom’s little car when it was t-boned &that side flattened.
Ran directly off a cliff in the night in a snowstorm, flipped in the air while falling and land 25 ft below in deep soft snow, face up, head point downslope, not knowing what happened.
The forgotten timer set on my phone, for a COVID test, went off in my pocket as I was about to make a turn….the sound so startled me that I slammed on the brakes, just as a large truck ran the light and cut thru my lane where it would have hit me head on.
Multa Nocte 1 year ago
Or perhaps this person was a cat in their former life and is working on his/her nine lives.
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Midoribird Aoi 1 year ago
A few weeks ago I was taking a cab and we nearly got t-boned. For a while after that, I kept clutching at my Mom's sleeve (I am not a kid) and telling her to watch for this person or that car. She said, "What is wrong with you?!" And I had to tell her. I The impulse has faded, but I was pretty twitchy for a while.
#20
In 1977 while I was rushing to catch a bus a man stopped me for change of a dollar to use a pay phone. I gave him change, missed my bus and minutes later it was in a horrible highway accident.
Ok_Giraffe_6396: Similar thing happened to me. I was babysat by my grandma a lot when I was a young kid and she was going to pick up McDonald’s with me, but as we were leaving, my dad pulled up and I wanted to stay with him instead of going to McDs. A few minutes later, she was hit by an 18-wheeler who ran a red light and smashed into her passenger side. My grandma survived, but it broke her back and both legs. I was 4 or 5 at the time; who’s to say I wouldn’t have been strapped in the back passenger side?
rorschach-penguin 1 year ago (edited)
The thing is... Grandma probably wouldn't have actually been in the accident had OP gone with her, because she would have had to take another minute or two to strap the kid in, and thus wouldn't have been at that intersection at that EXACT time. And being even a couple seconds earlier or later would have prevented her from being in the exact path of that truck. The point is, you can't look back at life as "if I'd done this this would have happened, or this wouldn't have happened."
Angie M 1 year ago
There was no “strapping the kids in” at age 4 or 5 in the 1970’s…
Load More Replies... #21
I got pushed into the other side of the highway by a 18 wheeler that suddenly merged into my lane. I still have nightmares seeing the oncoming cars.
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
Always remember. If you can’t see the driver in his/her mirror, THEY CAN’T SEE YOU!!!
Jonathan Setter 5 months ago
As i was overtaking a semi in the fast lane, he started pulling over on me. I was in a SMART car. It was either stomp on the brakes or be crushed into the concrete barrier. "Oh he didn't see your little car" I hear you say. EXCEPT... He was hanging out his open window giving me the finger as he attempted to take my life.
Pavla Thurnvaldova 5 months ago
Happened to me by a bus. I was driving in left lane, the bus next to me in right lane. Suddenly I saw blinking lights to the left and he was pulling on me. I had small weak car too, so I hit brakes hard. There was no other option, I wouldn't be able to accelerate enough to escape it. I knew no one was driving behind me, I'm watching all space, but this saved me, because I didn't have any other option. Now, even I don't have any fancy or expensive cars, they must be able to accelerate enough.
Load More Replies... #22
Not sure if this counts but..
Many years ago I was riding home from our local dirt jumps on my BMX. Behind my house is a quarry which has a really rocky bridleway running down the hill. This is the route I would usually take to get home from the jumps.
Anyway, I was heading home while the sun was setting and was absolutely blasting it down this rocky path. I jumped off of one of the rocks and while I was in the air, I watched my front wheel drop out from my forks and before I knew it, they had pummelled stright into the ground sending me straight over the handlebars. I flew a good 20-30ft and landed on a big rock, right on my spine. I wasn't wearing a helmet at the time but fortunately I was wearing my backpack which cushioned my landing.
I walked away in shock but completely unscathed apart from a small graze on my knuckles. I have never felt so lucky to be wearing a backpack in my life, without it I'd certainly have been paralysed or worse..
Heather Menard 1 year ago
I was wearing a camel pack when I went flying over my handlebars. Landed on my back the pack burst but my back was fine
#23
I (unkowlingly) had a UTI, never really had one before but I was always told the symptoms were things like dark urine, pissing blood, being itchy, I had NONE of them. I was trying to "tough guy" it out but I had pain in my stomach for at least 5 days and I decided to go to Urgent Care because I couldn't eat or walk anymore. They thought my appendix had f*****g blown so they sent me to the ER but it was a UTI abt ~24 hrs away from going septic and infecting other organs. I felt pretty f****n stupid but at the same time I had no symptoms other than pain. Shits scary.
Bec 1 year ago
I had a UTI and was too busy to get in to the doctor, tried doing home remedies and drinking lots of water. Then I had a sudden pain in my kidney and couldn't get off the couch. Go get antibiotics, you can fight off some infections without them, but in general, the home remedies don't work.
Papa 1 year ago
Those are nothing to play around with. They can cause confusion and hallucinations, especially in older people.
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
My 81 year old mother had a complete change of personality about a year ago. Turns out it was caused by a UTI
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Sinnsyk Jakte 1 year ago
I had a kidney infection that really started givin' me guff at work. Due to the physically taxing nature of my job, I thought it was my back just hurting way more than usual. Then I got light headed, dizzy, nauseated, confused. One of my managers had medical training and personal experience with kidney infections, so she said, 'Hey, let me try something--' and gave my a li'l tap on my lower back. I went down. She nodded and said, 'I'm driving you to the emergency room now.'
rumple slunkskin 1 year ago
One Easter my ex husband adi were hiding eggs for my very small at the time kids. All the sudden I felt terrible and went pale, thought my appendix was exploding. He said i was fine and could wait until morning to see a Dr. I ended up driving myself to the ER about 3 a.m. finding out I had a kidney and bladder infection that was hours away from sepsis and if it waited until the morning I may have died. One of the many reasons he's ex husband now. I had no symptoms of illness whatsoever until then though.
Emma London 1 year ago
If you have a UTI and it seems to go away with home remedies, and then a week or two later you'll get a high fewer without cold symptoms, get to a doctor, stat. You have a kidney infection and you need antibiotics.
BrunoVI 1 year ago
I learned from my Dad's experience that UTI make people insane when they are older. One day he was just sitting at the computer investing in a restaurant in Vietnam because them commies need to know what a good hamburger tastes like. He'd never been to Vietnam, never knew someone in Vietnam. Didn't know a word of the language. Just sat down on his computer one morning and within a few hours, he was terrifyingly close to having set up a business. Don't ask me how he did it. But the doctors claimed it was a UTI.
rorschach-penguin 1 year ago (edited)
Any time you have unexplained pain, go to the doctor. People don't just randomly have stomach pain.
Beth Wheeler 1 year ago
You can have back or abdominal pain with a UTI along with burning when you pee, hematuria or bad smell.
Maim 1 year ago
My husband ignored his symptoms of UTI and we go to Mexico. Needless to say, he's shivering, feverish, in pain so we had to go to the doc and get meds, etc. Spent the rest of his vacation on antibiotics unable to drink (so they would work) ALL because the man would not make time from work to GO PEE. Go pee, people. Don't hold it in.
Ru Bee 1 year ago
I had one.... Once . I was fine in the morning, couldn't pee at work but despate to pee. Went to the Gum clinic. Literally left work at about midday. My pee was dark, dark brown was told if I'd left it much longer it would have been a lifetime catheter. Don't f**k around with ths stuff!
#24
My cousin and I were sitting on the back of a houseboat when we were little. All the adults were inside, as adults were in the 80’s. After a while we stumbled inside instead of falling asleep at the back of the boat. We had carbon monoxide poisoning. Had to be rushed to the hospital. Grandpa bought a new boat motor the next day.
Bartlet for World Domination 1 year ago
They got CO poisoning *outside*? From a running *house boat* motor? I don't get it.
Jesha 1 year ago
It was probably an older boat in the 80s, and stuff really did run that rich back then. It was dire. I came close a few times in lines of cars waiting to get into great america.
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#25
5 years ago I went tendum skydiving. After about 30 seconds the dude pulled the parachute but it wasn't opening. After pulling on the ropes a bit he got his knife and cut the chute, then pulled the second one. By the time the second one was fully inflated we were almost on the ground and landed somewhere in a field instead of the small airport we were supposed to land. They had to pick us up by car. Save to say I'm never going skydiving again.
Norm Gilmore 1 year ago (edited)
Why the heck people want to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft is beyond me. Aubrey Plaza could say "I'll be your girlfriend but only if you go skydiving" And I'm "Welp, I'm dying alone then"....
BrunoVI 1 year ago
I wouldn't trust Aubrey Plaza in such circumstance.LOL!
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UKGrandad 1 year ago
This didn't happen. If the main parachute has failed for any reason and the reserve 'chute is needed, the first thing that the parachutist does is pull a handle on the right of the rig which completely disconnects and ejects the main canopy, cords and all, so it is no longer attached to the rig at all. This discarding of the main 'chute is called the cutaway. Then the reserve 'chute is deployed. There is never a need to use a knife to cut the cords of a failed main 'chute.
Beth Wheeler 1 year ago
I wouldn't have gone to begin with, that is something I have never wanted to do. Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane unless you're in the military?
#26
Messed up when I tried to overdose, by not taking enough pills. I was 15. Genuinely, I’m so happy that that I made that ‘mistake’. I got help, found so much love and support from family and friends, and have managed to help others. My life is so great nowadays, I just can’t express the gratitude I have for being alive.
Paul Brown 1 year ago
I remember reading an article about a guy who jumped off the Golden Gate bridge and he survived the jump. He said as soon as he jumped he had wished he didn't. Sue a side is a permanent solution for a temporary problem. There was a time in my life where I contemplated sue a cide every day. Finally got the help I needed and so grateful I didn't go thru with it. People, please talk to someone, tell someone how you are feeling. There is help out there.
Anthony hawk 1 year ago
I tried overdosing a few months ago and had to stay in the ICU for 7 days. I almost died but somehow pulled through. It was intense waking up after 6 days unconscious. I lost the mobility of my left leg but regained it months later but my leg never has been the same.
Foxglove🇮🇪 1 year ago
A young woman in my community survived an overdose when she was about 15, this was nearly 16 years ago now. Unfortunately while she was found in time to be resuscitated, the damage had been done and she is permanently catastrophically disabled.
#27
I was a C-17 Loadmaster and back in 2003 we flew a mission out of Baghdad and our plane got hit by an SA-14 at about 1200 feet. I just happened to be sitting behind the pilot in the Left ACM seat and I got to stare at a giant blow torch erupting out of the top of our number 2 engine and flowing over the wing, where the fuel tanks were full. I fully expected the wing to explode any second until we were on the ground and the fire trucks were spraying us down.
nottheactualphoto 1 year ago
ACM means Association for Computing Machinery, case anyone was wondering.
#28
I was born into a life with every reason, incentive, and all the motivation to kill myself.
Yet I didn’t.
And on top of that, I survived all the countless absurd stuff that should have killed me.
setsuriseikou 1 year ago
That's not cheating, that's spitting in the death's face while flipping it off! Well done, you!
Cindy Brick 1 year ago
Good for you... and the millions of other people who face this, and live.
#29
No S*** there I was, Afghanistan. 15 minutes till midnight. Me and another guy were standing outside on guard duty. Every 2 hours you're supposed to get in the humvee and run the engine so the battery didn't die due to the onboard computer that was always on. 2 minutes after we get in, are doing the radio checks etc and BOOM, rpg hits exactly where we were standing (Im sure they were aiming for the humvee). Oh what a night....
Sinnsyk Jakte 1 year ago
I imagined this whole scene, but then, at the end, as they're staring, dumbfounded, at the burning crater that would have been their doom, 'What A Night' is playing...
#30
During 2002, on the day my mother went into labor and went to the nearest govt medical College. Now govt medical college means free treatment but it also means the worst patient care there is. Dirty lobbies, dirty beds, inhuman toilets, nurses treat you like animals etc etc.
Anyway, my mom went into labor and she was admitted shortly afterwards. She had her checkup and ultrasound. There was another woman in her ward who also went into labor that day and that woman's child didn't make it. She gave birth to a deceased baby.
Anyway, the stupid f*****g nurses(and I know you all have huge respect for nurses but I can't help it) then told my family that my mom has a dead baby inside her and they need to remove it. My dad was asked to buy an injection required for the process. That injection would've killed me. When my grandma arrives at the hospital, and she got told that I died, she lost it! She started screaming and saying how even the last night when she was applying oil on my mom's belly, I was kicking and was healthy.
Mind you this is a woman who has given birth to 8 kids of whom only 3 are alive. She knows what she is talking about. Even then those nurses were physically fighting her and won't let her into the ward, she fought her way in and went to my mom(who was oblivious to all this and could still feel me kicking) and demanded that the doctor comes and sees her immediately.
After that I was born, at the exact stroke of midnight(not making this up, I was literally born at exactly, 12 am).
This is the gist of how I cheated death. Ofc there's more to this tale of hell, like mom bleeding for hours after I was born and not even being given some water to drink etc.
Isabella K 1 year ago (edited)
Just shut up. Take your propaganda and leave. That incident has nothing to do with spcialized medicine in most modern countries. Nowherw there you will find what is described here: dirty everything and nurses who are in charge of ordering injections.
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#31
When I was around 5yo I shoved a nail into an electric socket and the breaker didn't activate. I kept being hit by a steady current until my body eventually vibrated out of the socket.
Sinnsyk Jakte 1 year ago
My da' was late for work one morning 'cause his alarm clock didn't go off. Why didn't it go off? The cord was cut. Why was it cut? My brother wanted to test a pair of scissors that were advertised as being able to cut through anything. We found the scissors under the bed where he had thrust them after. They had a big scorched notch in them. Apparently, after the initial jolt, he was fine enough to have more panic about being caught than the fact that he couldn't feel his hand and he tasted pennies.
Philly Bob Squires 1 year ago (edited)
A 46 year old Ben Franklin discovered electricity by flying a kite. A 3 year old Philly Bob discovered it by using a simple bobby pin!
#32
Survived a bear attack, survived being lost at sea for 4 days (on a fishing boat, ra out of gas, no land in sight), walked away from falling out of a two story window when I was like 4 or 5, walked away from crashing my motorcycle into a guardrail, walked away from my friends 300zx TT crashing though trees and splitting in half....think that's about it.
Bettye McKee 1 year ago
Does your guardian angel have a drinking problem or seeing a therapist?
#33
Went into a coma from pneumonia that turned my blood septic and woke up 2 days later. The doctors didn't think I would wake up.
I was hung with a rope and ripped my ear off to get out(when they execute you they use a hangmans noose for a reason).
Put in a cd at a stoplight and the stereo kept spitting it back out. In my focus to get it to work I didn't see the light turn green. Just as the guy behind me honked a car ran the red light at full speed and hit the cars that went beside me when the light turned green. The guy behind me didn't move, even when the traffic cleared.
Thrill.Seeker 1 year ago
From the OP's reply on Reddit: "When I was around 8 or 9 my mom's boyfriend beat the snot out of me and apparently wasn't satisfied so he put a rope around my neck, threw one end over a rafter in the shed, lifted me till I had to stand on my tiptoes, and beat me with a piece of cedar that was close by(I can rememberthe smell). You see, you have to make a choice, protect your ribs and stomach, face, or try to hold the rope because every time your legs give out or you grab yourself in pain you choke. At some point, I lost consciousness but regained it as I was choking, and in my panick to breathe, I thrashed and was able to get out of the rope(I think the blood provided some lube). I was also able to pull at the rope with the one arm that worked. Thankfully, he stopped when I stopped moving and walked away. Otherwise, I would have probably died. The toll:broken jaw, eye socket, ribs, arm, hands and fingers, some other stuff I can't remember, and a ton of stitches...
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#34
I know a gentleman that had colon cancer found like this.
At his semestral check-up he says to his doctor that his stool hasn't been "the same" for a couple days. His dad and his grandad both had gastrointestinal problems, so his doctor decides to do further testing.
It's colon cancer, but it's found so so early that they got it out with a small surgery and that was it.
Bettye McKee 1 year ago
Tell your doctor everything and never ever lie to your doctor. They can't help you if they don't have all of the facts.
#35
One morning my GF convinced me it was worth being late to work. *Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink, Know-whot-I-mean-Guvna?*
An hour later when I got to my bus stop, the bus stop and the light pole behind it had been totalled by a car. The lady who had been there had been taken to hospital with multiple broken bones.
#36
I had a tumor removed *before* it progressed to colon cancer, which it likely would have done if I hadn't gone to the doctor.
#37
I passed out while drunk/high after going to the bathroom and broke a toilet with the back of my head. Woke up in a pool of blood and ended up with ~30 staples in the back of my head. I showed a doctor a picture of the bathroom scene once and he looked visibly shook.
#38
I was on a mountain trail in South Dakota. I’m not sure if we took a wrong turn or the trail just ended, but along a mountainside the rope just ended, and the next bit was very sloped and covered in fine gravel.
12-year-old me clambered across but barely, and my parents asked me to come back.
Only later did I realize that the drop was many tens of feet, and a slip was very likely.
This is not a climactic or crazy story, but the slow, creeping reality of death haunts me whenever I think of it.
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
Must have been somewhere in the Black Hills, as most of the rest of SD is primarily, not necessarily flat, but certainly not very mountainous. (Source: I live in the black hills! lol)
#39
6 yo and I drowned, was pulled out of the pool and resuscitated. I firmly believe I experienced NDE similar to that of people who have described psychedelic experiences but it was so long ago it's hard to know for sure. In any case with those types of experiences I think it's each to their own.
Julia Mckinney 1 year ago
I drowned too but all I remember was watching the kid coming off the diving board right at me and then waking up on the side of the pool in a circle of people and with my mom actually looking concerned above me. (I know that she probably was concerned, I just wasn't used to seeing it from her- mom was a nurse, dad was a doctor, they rarely got concerned about any medical stuff that happened to us girls).
Foxglove🇮🇪 1 year ago
About 14 years ago 2 toddlers in my community drowned in the garden. One was the child of the family, the other a child they were minding. One parent went immediately to each child. The minded child made a full recovery; the family's own child survived, but is permanently catastrophically disabled and will require full time care for the rest of his life. The parents split up a few years later.
#40
Managed to get back into my hometown as it was on fire and managed to rescue two dogs. The entirety of the journey throw town was navigated by GPS and feeling the road as it was a total brown out. I did rear end someone but there was no scratch since it was low speed. I also almost was in a head-on collision with a fire truck screaming down the road in said total brownout. You would think I have smoke damage to my lungs because I was walking around outside too trying to recover things. I did lose my house and almost got killed by a falling tree I couldn’t see, missed me by a couple feet because it fell onto where I was standing 3 seconds prior. I managed to get out unscathed with 2 dogs. Sadly I could make it out with my 4 cats as they perished in the fire and their charred bones were found by me and ex fiance the next day. Was sad but I’m thankful I became a hero for the dogs as one is still with me today and loves me a lot. Eastland Complex Fire 2022 if you’re all curious.
Papa 1 year ago (edited)
What's all that about a brown out? Does OP's car not have headlights?
Tostones 1 year ago
In this context, the brown is smoke so thick headlights won’t penetrate it.
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#41
Dont know if this is cheating, but I was born dead umblical cord twice around my neck and have tried suicide 3 times. Still here.
rorschach-penguin 1 year ago
Only about 4% of suicide attempts are actually fatal (although that number changes when someone has attempted suicide before and is trying again).
Jessica Shookhoff 1 year ago
Oh, I'm so sorry! I hope you're getting help & I'm glad you're still here
#42
A bullet was an inch from my face.
Kikikaboom 1 year ago
I got shot with a BB when I 8, (stupid 15 year old shooting at grammar school kids). It was 1/2in from my ear and about 2in from my temple. Didn't fully realize until now, I could have been brain damaged or worse.
#43
Horrible car accident. Car flipped a ton of times. No seat belt, flew out the window. Walked away.
Thee8thsense 1 year ago
In high school, a friend flipped three cars. Twice side to side, and once front to back. He ended up needing facial reconstruction surgery after the last one. He was from a wealthy family, so always received a new car after each accident. At one point, following these three accidents, he showed up at our hangout and asked me if I wanted to go for a ride in his new car! I declined, probably needless to say.
Pheebs 1 year ago
My mom got ejected from a car as a young teen due to no seat belt, and for some reason didn’t become a seatbelt person until I was 8 and broke the dash with my face after someone ran a stop sign and hit us. Though I suspect she became a seatbelt person because I started insisting on it.
#44
I was at a stop sign and saw a car swerve to miss another car and head straight for me. Seatbelt laws weren’t a thing yet and I jumped across the center console and grabbed the passenger door handle just as he hit my car’s driver side door. I flew back across the car and into the drivers side door which had been pushed in halfway across the drivers seat.
#45
One time in high school, I was walking home through an area of the city that was largely populated by another group of young adolescents. As I was walking down the street, I noticed a car at the top of the street. I walked past it without really looking into the car, but I did notice a lot of smoke coming out of it; there may have been three or four people in it. I got maybe five or six car lengths away and had an overwhelming feeling in my stomach that something bad was going to happen. I crossed the street and had a row of parked cars on the left of me, with the car that was parked further up the street behind me on the opposite side. For whatever reason, something in me told me to drop to the ground. At that very moment, I heard tires screeching from behind me, and I threw myself down just as bullets were sprayed over the top of me. Glass from a few cars rained down on top of me. I was near the end of the street. The car turned right at the end of the street, looking down the sidewalk. I looked up at the vehicle and could see that their bullets had been missed. I turned and ran towards the first house, which happened to have the tenant open to see what was going on. I pushed past them, ran through their house, through their back door, hopped their fence, and up their neighbor's fence. I ran to the next street. The car had turned and followed me. I continued running between the neighborhood deeper into this opposing group's territory. I realized I was further and further from my destination and in a very bad predicament, running out of houses to run through. I hid for a bit in the dark, listening to cars driving around, scared that every car was them. I noticed I was on a street with a girl that I had only hung out with maybe once or twice. I came to her house and knocked on the door. She happened to be awake, and she offered me to come inside. I didn't tell her about what had just occurred, just that I was happy to see her and asked if I was welcome to stay the night.
What do you think ?
UKGrandad 1 year ago
I once foolishly told my wife to calm down when she was mad at me and lived to tell the tale. Does that count as cheating death? 😂
Littlemiss 1 year ago (edited)
Almost drowned at 4. I can remember getting my foot stuck in drainage pipe in the creek. Everything went still and calm. Family friend pulled me out and did cpr. Had a large roll of lino fall on me at 8, it toppled out of nowhere at the flooring store as I sat in front of it and landed on my back, took two men to lift it off me. Discovered I'm allergic to morphine after a wisdom tooth surgery, I had seizures. Finally, I went to the hospital with 4 weeks to go in my pregnancy as I was in excruciating pain. Thinking I may have gone into premature labor I decided to go to the ER. Turned out I had eclampsia that was missed, my liver and kidneys were failing and I was fractions away from a stroke. I went into labor on an ambulance ride to the nearest large hospital and began losing conciousness shortly after arriving. My son was born blue, thankfully we both survived.
similarly 1 year ago
I've been close to death, but there's one I'll never understand. When I was about 13, I was sitting on the floor with a gun pointed at my head, thinking about things, as I sometimes did. And I was just about ready to do what I always did: clear the weapon, put it away, live another day. But I guess I zigged when I should have zagged and instead of safetying the weapon, I pulled the trigger instead, and I swear, I felt time slow WAY down. I felt my eyes go wide, and I remember thinking "Oh, s**t! I really went and did it!" and I actually felt relieved it was over. And the hammer hit home ... and nothing. I was like Marvin the Martian: "Where's the kaboom? Where is the Earth-shattering kaboom?" I looked at the weapon, cleared it ... out popped the round. It was chambered. No mistake. I looked at it: not a mark on it. No sign it had been fired. I sometimes sincerely wonder if it actually DID fire, and maybe this is hell.
Trisec Tebeakesse 1 year ago
At age 46, I presented at the ER with appendicitis. (I have a medical background, my doctor was impressed that I correctly self-diagnosed.) In any case, I had an emergency appendectomy, and the following day was told it happened because a large tumor had blocked off my appendix and caused it to flare up. Turned out to be Stage III colon cancer. My ER nurse friend later told me that she had never seen such a case like that in her entire career. Twelve years later, still cancer-free.
Littlemiss 1 year ago
So glad you are still here! May you remain cancer free too.
Load More Replies... Bobert Robertson 1 year ago
I have one! I was asked to help a construction project for a tv show for a weekend. Awesome i thought. Show up and they made me ride in the back of a cube van, not ideal but ok... after working all day. We loaded the materials back in, and my buddy strapped some drywall sheets (maybe 20) to the side wall. Next to it were several boxes of hardwood flooring. I had to ride in the back, with tons of tools strewn about. My back was stiff from working so I lay down on the hardwood flooring which felt amazing. Start driving and make a turn, strap gives out and all the drywall falls over on me, pushing me to the side and pinning me under the drywall. Luckily I had my phone in my hand so I was able to dial my buddy up front and he opened the back. When the light hit I realized there was a thin metal rod pointing directly at my jugular inches away. Any further and it would've gone right through. Not my buddies fault.l, nor was it his truck. It was the main guy from the show
Bobert Robertson 1 year ago
Cont'd: who made me sit there. When they realized they paid me $1000 for two days work, probably so I'd stay quiet. So scary
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Sea Squirrel 1 year ago (edited)
In a park, a rottweiler took a giant leap and went for my throat. I defended myself with my right arm, so he tore the muscles in my elbow instead of my neck. I was operated on, but never regained the strength I needed for my job as camera woman. Loved that job. Hate that dog's owner. It could have been one of the children playing there.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
When I was a very young kitten, still living with my mom and her soft can-openers, I was fascinated by the water in the porcelain litter box. Well, I jumped on the seat to look at it, and fell in. If one of my mom's soft can-openers hadn't found me, I would have drowned.
Multa Nocte 1 year ago
My two kittens are now an entire three and a half months old and I live in fear that my husband will forget to put the toilet lid down. While here in Europe the water level in the toilet is lower than in the US and while my kittens have proven themselves to be escape artists (to date), I still worry about this. Was this Bouche or Audi who almost drowned? Hope that didn't count as one of the nine lives.
Load More Replies...
Dave In MD 1 year ago
Almost died three times. Once while in the Navy I was just aft of a refueling station waiting to take a fuel sample when the span wire parted and the entire fuel probe and hose swung by, this was several hundred pounds of metal and rubber that would have smashed into me and swept me overboard. Second time I was working on a Navy hovercraft in the well deck of a ship as we were onloading Marines and their equipment, I had been up for about 24 hours getting this repair done and started to walk across the deck to my tool box when the loadmaster grabbed the back of my coveralls and yanked me back out of the way of a 5 ton truck, I was so tired and out of it I never saw it. Third time was a failed suicide attempt. It was a very low point in my life and thankfully I couldn't do that right.
ILoveMySon 1 year ago
Holy cow! Iam glad to read that you are still here. Thank you for your service.
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Gerhard “Obi-Wan” van Staden 1 year ago
Was severely overweight and developed a chronic neck problem with no obvious cause. Spent thousands to try to get it fixed. Finally, spoke to a spine specialist who told me the only thing he left that could potentially cause it was my being about 40kg overweight. Started working out and eating much healthier. Lost 20kg and got quite fit. About 18 months later, a week before my thirtieth birthday I started feeling terrible. Got worse from the Wednesday onwards until finally, that Friday I told my boss I have to go see a doctor. Drove myself to the ER and walked inside. Long story short I was having an immense heart attack. The cardiologist couldn't believe it at first but blood showed ridiculous levels of cardiac enzymes present. Turns out I had a genetically enlarged coronary artery that I was unaware of. Afterwards he explained to me how incredibly lucky I was. 9/10 would have dropped dead almost immediately. According to him the weight loss and fitness saved me.
Gavin Johnson 1 year ago
Three for me, first when I was 8 I fell from some monkey bars and cracked the back of my skull on a metal cross bar and then the concrete. Fractured my skull and got rushed to hospital, they relived pressure from behind my skull, had my headteacher waited for the ambulance to get me rather than him driving me to A&E they reckoned I’d have slipped off this mortal coil. Made it through to 14 and got trapped upside down in my kayak on a river whilst competing in a kayak slalom event. I couldn’t hand roll then and had my leg trapped in the boat, just as I was out of air I popped out and made it to the surface. Then at 30 got a battering in my kayak by a river in spate, it was fast and properly challenging, I was at the limit of my skills and strength, I misjudged a drop, got caught in a stopper wave and got properly rinsed by the river, only a well thrown safety rope from one of my fellow paddlers that landed right in my hand and then hauled me out saved my a*s. I’m charmed!
UKGrandad 1 year ago
I once foolishly told my wife to calm down when she was mad at me and lived to tell the tale. Does that count as cheating death? 😂
Littlemiss 1 year ago (edited)
Almost drowned at 4. I can remember getting my foot stuck in drainage pipe in the creek. Everything went still and calm. Family friend pulled me out and did cpr. Had a large roll of lino fall on me at 8, it toppled out of nowhere at the flooring store as I sat in front of it and landed on my back, took two men to lift it off me. Discovered I'm allergic to morphine after a wisdom tooth surgery, I had seizures. Finally, I went to the hospital with 4 weeks to go in my pregnancy as I was in excruciating pain. Thinking I may have gone into premature labor I decided to go to the ER. Turned out I had eclampsia that was missed, my liver and kidneys were failing and I was fractions away from a stroke. I went into labor on an ambulance ride to the nearest large hospital and began losing conciousness shortly after arriving. My son was born blue, thankfully we both survived.
similarly 1 year ago
I've been close to death, but there's one I'll never understand. When I was about 13, I was sitting on the floor with a gun pointed at my head, thinking about things, as I sometimes did. And I was just about ready to do what I always did: clear the weapon, put it away, live another day. But I guess I zigged when I should have zagged and instead of safetying the weapon, I pulled the trigger instead, and I swear, I felt time slow WAY down. I felt my eyes go wide, and I remember thinking "Oh, s**t! I really went and did it!" and I actually felt relieved it was over. And the hammer hit home ... and nothing. I was like Marvin the Martian: "Where's the kaboom? Where is the Earth-shattering kaboom?" I looked at the weapon, cleared it ... out popped the round. It was chambered. No mistake. I looked at it: not a mark on it. No sign it had been fired. I sometimes sincerely wonder if it actually DID fire, and maybe this is hell.
Trisec Tebeakesse 1 year ago
At age 46, I presented at the ER with appendicitis. (I have a medical background, my doctor was impressed that I correctly self-diagnosed.) In any case, I had an emergency appendectomy, and the following day was told it happened because a large tumor had blocked off my appendix and caused it to flare up. Turned out to be Stage III colon cancer. My ER nurse friend later told me that she had never seen such a case like that in her entire career. Twelve years later, still cancer-free.
Littlemiss 1 year ago
So glad you are still here! May you remain cancer free too.
Load More Replies... Bobert Robertson 1 year ago
I have one! I was asked to help a construction project for a tv show for a weekend. Awesome i thought. Show up and they made me ride in the back of a cube van, not ideal but ok... after working all day. We loaded the materials back in, and my buddy strapped some drywall sheets (maybe 20) to the side wall. Next to it were several boxes of hardwood flooring. I had to ride in the back, with tons of tools strewn about. My back was stiff from working so I lay down on the hardwood flooring which felt amazing. Start driving and make a turn, strap gives out and all the drywall falls over on me, pushing me to the side and pinning me under the drywall. Luckily I had my phone in my hand so I was able to dial my buddy up front and he opened the back. When the light hit I realized there was a thin metal rod pointing directly at my jugular inches away. Any further and it would've gone right through. Not my buddies fault.l, nor was it his truck. It was the main guy from the show
Bobert Robertson 1 year ago
Cont'd: who made me sit there. When they realized they paid me $1000 for two days work, probably so I'd stay quiet. So scary
Load More Replies... Sea Squirrel 1 year ago (edited)
In a park, a rottweiler took a giant leap and went for my throat. I defended myself with my right arm, so he tore the muscles in my elbow instead of my neck. I was operated on, but never regained the strength I needed for my job as camera woman. Loved that job. Hate that dog's owner. It could have been one of the children playing there.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
When I was a very young kitten, still living with my mom and her soft can-openers, I was fascinated by the water in the porcelain litter box. Well, I jumped on the seat to look at it, and fell in. If one of my mom's soft can-openers hadn't found me, I would have drowned.
Multa Nocte 1 year ago
My two kittens are now an entire three and a half months old and I live in fear that my husband will forget to put the toilet lid down. While here in Europe the water level in the toilet is lower than in the US and while my kittens have proven themselves to be escape artists (to date), I still worry about this. Was this Bouche or Audi who almost drowned? Hope that didn't count as one of the nine lives.
Load More Replies... Dave In MD 1 year ago
Almost died three times. Once while in the Navy I was just aft of a refueling station waiting to take a fuel sample when the span wire parted and the entire fuel probe and hose swung by, this was several hundred pounds of metal and rubber that would have smashed into me and swept me overboard. Second time I was working on a Navy hovercraft in the well deck of a ship as we were onloading Marines and their equipment, I had been up for about 24 hours getting this repair done and started to walk across the deck to my tool box when the loadmaster grabbed the back of my coveralls and yanked me back out of the way of a 5 ton truck, I was so tired and out of it I never saw it. Third time was a failed suicide attempt. It was a very low point in my life and thankfully I couldn't do that right.
ILoveMySon 1 year ago
Holy cow! Iam glad to read that you are still here. Thank you for your service.
Load More Replies... Gerhard “Obi-Wan” van Staden 1 year ago
Was severely overweight and developed a chronic neck problem with no obvious cause. Spent thousands to try to get it fixed. Finally, spoke to a spine specialist who told me the only thing he left that could potentially cause it was my being about 40kg overweight. Started working out and eating much healthier. Lost 20kg and got quite fit. About 18 months later, a week before my thirtieth birthday I started feeling terrible. Got worse from the Wednesday onwards until finally, that Friday I told my boss I have to go see a doctor. Drove myself to the ER and walked inside. Long story short I was having an immense heart attack. The cardiologist couldn't believe it at first but blood showed ridiculous levels of cardiac enzymes present. Turns out I had a genetically enlarged coronary artery that I was unaware of. Afterwards he explained to me how incredibly lucky I was. 9/10 would have dropped dead almost immediately. According to him the weight loss and fitness saved me.
Gavin Johnson 1 year ago
Three for me, first when I was 8 I fell from some monkey bars and cracked the back of my skull on a metal cross bar and then the concrete. Fractured my skull and got rushed to hospital, they relived pressure from behind my skull, had my headteacher waited for the ambulance to get me rather than him driving me to A&E they reckoned I’d have slipped off this mortal coil. Made it through to 14 and got trapped upside down in my kayak on a river whilst competing in a kayak slalom event. I couldn’t hand roll then and had my leg trapped in the boat, just as I was out of air I popped out and made it to the surface. Then at 30 got a battering in my kayak by a river in spate, it was fast and properly challenging, I was at the limit of my skills and strength, I misjudged a drop, got caught in a stopper wave and got properly rinsed by the river, only a well thrown safety rope from one of my fellow paddlers that landed right in my hand and then hauled me out saved my a*s. I’m charmed!
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