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Most of the time, thankfully, we aren’t really thinking too deeply about our mortality. That is, until something happens that briefly reminds us that we are still made of rather fragile flesh and bones.
Someone asked people online to share the moments where they almost lost their lives and what happened to them. Be warned, some stories may get a bit dark. So get comfortable, don’t get too paranoid and if you’ve had a similar experience, be sure to share it in the comments section down below.
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#1
When the lift doors in a 40 story building opened and the lift just wasn’t there.
Mrs Irish Mom 3 minutes ago
If they had of been looking at the mobile phone instead of paying attention they would of hit the 40 story floor hard and dìed
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#2
I actually died seven years ago. You can look through my post history for details because it’d be way too long for a comment on a post, but the condensed version:
I suffered an unknown cardiac event while I was jogging on a treadmill, fell, hit my head so hard that it immediately knocked me unconscious, and sent me into sudden cardiac arrest/cardiac encephalopathy.
Was in a coma for six days. Spent 23 days in ICU and another month in the hospital for a traumatic brain injury. Spent two years rehabbing the brain injury, but since then, I’ve finished college and earned my degree. Somehow didn’t suffer any brain damage either, even though my brain was deprived of oxygen for several hours.
#3
Was at a red light that turned green. I was in the right lane, there was a car on the left lane next to me. The car to my left took right off from the light and got Tboned. Woulda hit me if I didn’t wait to go.
#4
Low sodium, I didn't know that was a thing. I strongly needed to sleep and was seeing fireworks. My daughter kept shaking me and talking to me until paramedics arrived. It seems I was trying to go into a coma. That was my only ambulance ride with full sirens and lights.
#5
Oh I've had lots of these.
At 2 I was given penicillin and when into anaphylactic shock.
At 3 the car my family was in got hung up on the railroad tracks; we barely made it off in time.
At 4 the apartment we lived in caught fire and we couldn't get out.
At 5 I nearly drowned in Lake Lanier. If I hadn't floundered my way to a spot that my feet could touch I wouldn't have lived.
At 19 I had my first heart attack.
At 22 my appendix went necrotic and I went into septic shock. My heart also stopped on the OR table.
At 24 I had my second heart attack.
At 29 I developed a severe allergy to bee stings, and went into anaphylactic shock again.
At 38 I was almost crushed between a warehouse and a semi while I was changing the seal on a trailer. Part of my safety vest did get pinned between them.
At 40 I hit a puddle in my car while it was raining, spun out, and stopped within 6 inches of going off a cliff.
#6
I was walking up the driveway with a friend in the middle of the night. For absolutely no reason he just stopped abruptly, like to make a gesture or fidget with something, I don’t know. And all the sudden a huge, huge chunk of ice slammed down from the roof, right in front of us. It hit the ground so hard, the breeze pushed leaves and trash down the driveway. It for sure would have landed right on us if we hadn’t stopped, and I’m pretty god d**n sure it would have k****d us both instantly. We couldn’t even push it with our feet when we were checking it out after.
#7
I was pronounced d**d when I overdosed on h****n and Xanax. I ended up in a coma for 8 days, had 7 strokes and was pronounced clinically brain d**d never to walk or talk again. My mom came to say goodbye and I woke up. Nothing seriously wrong. 1 in 10 billion chance. Before that I had overdosed a few other times and nearly d**d as well.
I'm now 8 years clean and try to help others struggling cause I know how it is.
#8
One time I hiked up a mountain, went to look off the ledge and nearly fell, thankfully one of the guys I was hiking with pulled me back.
#9
When I was a kid, I was swimming in the deep end of the pool. Another, bigger kid, who couldn’t swim, got pushed in on top of me. I had a little skirt on my swimsuit, and she kept pulling on it and in the process kept pulling me underwater. I vividly remember being able to see above and below the water at the same time and thinking I was going to drown. Luckily my mom was nearby and jumped in to save us. I never wore that swimsuit again.
#10
Heart surgery on my 19th bday.
0/10 would not recommend.
#11
Had a virus which attacked my system (not covid related) and walked into the hospital ER with blood oxygen in the 70’s, was in ICU within 15 minutes
They could not believe I was still conscious let alone walking.
#12
Very *very* drunk after a wedding. Came home, walked the stairs up to my 4th floor apartment.
These were concrete stairs - and as I tried to unlock my door, I tripped and fell backward, tumbling a handful of steps down.
I got away with three broken ribs, so thankful I didn't hit my head.
#13
The ex-wife pointed a loaded pistol at me, finger on the trigger, because a long-term friend of mine, who happened to be female, texted me a pic of her 80ish year old dad holding their rescue cat, which, according to the ex, means that my friend wanted me in her p***y...
#14
When I was two, a media console + tv fell over and I cracked my head open. I knew it happened, but I only recently learned the severity of it in my 20’s from my mother. Apparently my entire face & body had turned purple, the EMT’s thought they were picking up a d**d body. I was airlifted to the hospital and my mom was able to talk her way into riding with me on the helicopter, something that’s almost never allowed. She stayed incredibly calm and told the pilot and EMT’s that if these were my last few moments on earth, she wanted to be by my side to make it as peaceful as possible. When we got to the hospital she said a chaplain was already there to greet her and started preaching about dealing with the d***h of a child. I don’t have the exact medical report (I am curious though!), but I was then in a coma for about 48 hours.
Obviously I fully recovered though :) I remember opening my eyes for a split second in the helicopter & hearing the loud sound of it. And then once more in the hospital room staring up at the bright light - the literal ceiling light btw not figuratively speaking. I have glimpses of this weird dream sequence in the hospital, but I kind of think that’s just my brain playing tricks on me/filling in the blank because I don’t remember much the following year or two while recovering from it.
#15
Idk if it counts… Appendicitis that made the appendix rip which eventually caused peritonitis. Normally you’re in the hospital for a few days to get your appendix out. But it took me a few months, because the abdomen had to get fully drained from rotting substance. It somehow also caused kidney damage, luckily only minor permanent damage.
#16
Being mock e**cuted. They had me in the dirt and a g*n to my head and were saying they were going to k**l me and I couldn’t do anything. Then they pulled the trigger but just hit the ground next to my head on purpose. They were trying to scare people into
compliance but apparently chickened out.
#17
There's been a few but the wildest one was during my party years, found myself locked in my boyfriend's flat while he was comatose from booze, couldn't find the key and had a whole night left to party hearty.
Decided to climb out of the top part of the window, onto the outside ledge, hanging by my forearms, planning to shimmy down the drainpipe. There was no drainpipe. I was hanging off a 6th floor window ledge. Didn't have the upper body strength to pull myself up, couldn't drop down cos I'd d*e or be paralysed. I was there for 3 hours until his brother came home, I was tearing my shins and knees trying to climb up, but the fear kept me awake. Absolute IDIOT.
#18
When I was a kid, I’d hike with my family sometimes on this incredibly steep slope with s****y wooden planks embedded in the ground as stairs. One day when I was trudging behind my mom, I slipped on a plank and fell backwards. Not sure how she knew, but my mom whipped around at lightning speed and grabbed me.
#19
Whacked my head on the side entrance to my van hard enough to see stars and feel woozy the rest of the afternoon.
For the next year I had visual artifacts and massive migraines. But I have fibromyalgia and a few other things. I'm extremely accustomed to pain and s**t. So I didn't see a doctor about it for months.
When I finally saw my Dr about it, he sent me off for MRI scans with and without contrast. That night he called me at bed time and told me to pack a bag for a week and to go straight to the ER and to not drive myself.
It turned out that I have a subarachnoid hemorrhage. (A blood leak between the layers that envelope the brain) Most people go straight to the hospital because the headache will be the worst pain of their lives. Almost half don't live long enough to get treatment. The majority of those that survive get various issues caused by the brain damage.
I'd been walking and driving around with that for a year. The whole time, a big coughing fit, too much straining in the toilet or lifting heavy objects might have ripped the leak open further, k*****g me instantly.
It's been three years now and the leak is still there. I'm now waiting on a referral to get a second opinion from the neurosurgeons in the big city. In the meantime I feel like I have a time b**b in my head.
#20
Back in the 1980s I was in Chinatown in Manhattan. Me and my friends crossed a street and commented on the strong smell of burnt insulation. We went into a restaurant and soon after there was a loud boom. We went outside and the intersection we had just crossed was a deep hole. Apparently an underground transformer had caught fire and exploded.
#21
My dads g*n jamming when I attempted at 16 or 17. I'm not religious, but at the ripe ol age of 26- i consider it to be a severe stroke of luck, one of my 9 lives being used up. And 10 years later- im happy it jammed.
#22
Nearly got hit by a street car in new orleans. Didnt knew that they were a thing and was my first time in the states. I heard people yelling while i was walking over the street, but didnt knew they were yelling at me and tried to warn me.
It was mad close....
#23
I work in sales and outside my ground floor office window I was watching a truck attempting to back in to a loading dock. Several attempts were made by the driver and then I heard him hit the building. No big deal. It’s not like the building was going to collapse or anything. A few minutes go by and the driver of the truck comes into the sales office and beckons me to come outside. I try to waive him off saying I’m not the guy to sign for any delivery. The guy was very insistent but didn’t speak English. Through gestures I get the hint and go to follow him outside. As I head outside towards the loading dock I turn the corner and see the buildings gas meter under the tire of his trailer and hear a whoosh sound like something out Final Destination I am hit in the face with the smell of flowing natural gas coming out of a huge pipe that was ruptured. There was a guy smoking 50ft away as I scrambled in to evacuate the building. I now work remote.
#24
Choking on steak. Heimlich wasn't working for a solid 60+ sec, thought I was going into a dream state while panicking like f*****g crazy. Wasnt sure if it was real life for a moment, then realized I need to start trying to force it out as much as I could along with the Heimlich my dad was doing. Very close to going unconscious and definitely started to think it was the end. The whole event is hard to put into words really, scariest s**t ever.
#25
I got hit by a drunk driver while walking my dog at 7am on a Saturday morning while on the sidewalk.
I was walking south on a busy-ish road, but not super busy for dawn on a weekend. Anyways I’m barely awake, just taking the dog for his morning business, when all of the sudden there is a terribly loud noise RIGHT behind me and then immediately pain in my back and right leg. I remember thinking “well f**k I guess this is it”, but in an eerily calm manner.
It’s a road with a slight curve in it, and I guess the drunk driver did not adjust for the curve, crossed two lanes of road going to opposite direction, hopped the curb and was heading directly for me and my dog from behind. I never heard him coming, considering it’s a main road for my area. The cops estimate he was going around 40mph when he hit the curb, based on how far he continued to travel.
Fortunately for me (I got a tattoo from this), there were two small Palm trees between the road and the sidewalk. Those two trees slowed the car just enough that when he hit me, he had lost most of his momentum. Another fortunate detail is that my dog likes to pull on his leash, so he was a good 5 feet/2 meters in front of me. He was unhurt, but was traumatized by the noise and my injuries.
I went to the hospital but was discharged within 24 hours. Bruising all over my back and right leg, the ugly ones that stick around for a month. F**k did that hurt. But fortunately no broken bones or internal bleeding.
If my dog had taken just 1 more second to sniff a bush or pee on one additional piece of grass, I’d be d**d. If I had started the walk 3 seconds later than I did, I’d be d**d. Those two palm trees saved me and my dogs life. It sounds silly, but I thank their stumps every time I walk by that spot on the road, which is about a 2 min walk from where I live. The debris from the wreck is still littered in the grass and mulch beds by the sidewalk, almost a year later.
#26
Almost drowned in wave pool. It was in the 80s before they set maximum swimmers. I got pushed under but the fight or flight reflex kicked in I went berserk made like 5 other people almost drown.
#27
Pretty sure I did d*e once briefly when I was a teenager in the mid 90s. Then about five years ago I had what seemed like a long slow o******e. I was sure I was gone, then I woke up in an ambulance. Turns out that the combination of prescriptions I was on caused serotonin toxicity. I had too much serotonin being produced and the uptake was reduced. I didn't even know that was possible.
#28
Had my blood sugar crash to 39 one time. I could barely talk to the 911 dispatcher because my tongue just wouldn’t work and my entire body was going stiff. I had to crawl on the floor to open the door for the paramedics. Before they arrived I was sure I was going to d*e.
#29
Unconscious with three broken vertebrae, a broken neck, and a dislocated C1-C2 joint after flying over a car and landing on my head.
As my neurosurgeon said, I was “5mm from paralysis or d***h”.
#30
When I was born the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck. I was purple and not breathing. My Apgar score was 1/10 because I had a faint pulse with low bpm -all other measures were a zero.
I obviously would have no memory of that, but I'm glad I survived!
#31
I had a heart attack in my 20s at work, I woke up literally with EMT's over me calling the hospital informing me they had a d**d body and to prepare to handle me accordingly. He was mid sentence and ended it with a jesus f*****g christ. And declared me alive. I am now in my 30s, no incidents since then.
#32
I was in a lot of psych wards as a kid and a common comment in the records I've read say "she repeatedly attempted s*****e while making it look like an accident" and I only remember attempting s*****e once by the time those records were coming out (I think I was 10ish). So supposedly I repeatedly almost died as a kid and only found out recently.
#33
Slipped in a marsh while collecting fiddler crabs for bait, and landed in an oyster bed and sliced my wrist open. It was worse than how it sounds lol.
#34
I had a massive pulmonary embolism in 2011 due to multiple factors. I've been on blood thinners ever since.
#35
I was 18... Back in 1993...
It was a toga party and it had just rained... One of the guys with a truck decided we needed to go to the store, so a bunch of us drunk kids got in the back - probably 8 or so.....
The driver was speeding through a residential area - probably doing around 100+km/h through a residential area....
He hit a puddle and started to hydroplane, smashing his truck into the curb (it broke his axle) - but I started to fly out of the box... A girl grabbed my legs and she started coming with me, and someone grabbed onto her as well.... We stopped all of a sudden and shy of a leg scrape everyone was safe.
#36
When I found out I had Type 1 Diabetes. I saw a doctor on a Friday who thought I had pneumonia because I couldn’t breathe. Gave me antibiotics and told me to get a blood test on Monday. I decided to be cautious and get the blood test that day instead.
Blood sugar of 40 (720), unreadably high ketones (>8) and potassium of 1.8.
The hospital didn’t know how I was conscious, let alone walking. High chance I would have died if I’d gone home and gone to sleep instead of going to get that blood test.
#37
2012. Was sh*t at while walking home with my brother. Heard the bullet and felt the wind around it brush against the right side of my face. Assad is gone. Now I’m healing like millions of his victims.
#38
November 1, 2024 I o****dosed on f**tanyl. My mom walked in to find my lifeless body on the bathroom floor and thankfully was able to use administer Narcan. She only had this Narcan because one of my best friends had given it to her a couple months prior. She was supposed to be at a brunch, but cancelled at the last minute. This also happened to be the ONE TIME that I happened to forget to lock the bathroom door. If any one of these 3 things hadn't happened, I wouldn't be alive right now. God is good!
#39
- OD'd on c*ke like 3 or 4 times.
- Got really bad alcohol poising a few times, and probably should have been hospitalized as I could feel my organs fighting to keep from shutting down.
- Took a literal handful of Xanax and felt my consciousness going in and out and was only saved by being in public at a basketball game and the noise kept me from flatlining
- I used to drive a manual truck; the road was wet and someone suddenly stopped in front of me. I slammed on the breaks and let off the clutch at the same time and my car spun out, went across 3 lanes of traffic and ended up on the complete opposite side of the road in a lane going away from where I had just been. I avoided being t-boned by like 10 cars in the process.
- Crashed a few cars while black out drunk, one of the times was on a road that was on a massive hill and people have died driving off.
Needless to say, I'm sober now and hopefully I'm not already on my 9th life.
#40
Nearly drowned in a lake when I was about 16. Thought I could swim out to a floating dock, panicked as I got tired and started back. I was a really skinny kid and floating on my back didn't work. Someone pulled me out when I was about 15 feet from shore. To this day I don't think my parents have realized how close that was. It's been almost 30 years and I can still replay most of it in my mind clearly.
#41
At 2 months old I was in a car accident while in my mom’s arms. My 8 year old sister died. This was 1967.
Pretty sad story. My family was on the way to the family Christmas at my grandparents on Dec 21st.
#42
I work as a traffic controller, every so often we get freeway and highway work. Long story short I got the all clear by the TMA behind us to step out (essentially a truck that follows/protects the lead car to setup said freeway) anyways as I stepped out I opened the door ever so slightly snd looked in the mirror to check nothing was coming looked all clear and the second I stepped out a car doing easily twice the reduced speed limit flew past and came within half a meter of taking me out as he was switching lanes.
#43
Gallbladder with a lot of gallstones. I was sick multiple times a day, everyday. I barely left the bed, lost a lot of weight. I went to the hospital multiple times till someone finally figured out what's wrong. Gallbladder was removed months ago and I'm still healing.
#44
Boat ride on a lake, storm comes up life jackets don't work and I'm no swimmer. Combine those and well💀.
#45
I was camping during a severe thunderstorm. The next day when i woke up i saw a huge tree limb had fallen sharp side straight down about 3 feet from my tent and had impacted the dirt about a foot deep. The heavy rain put me in a deep sleep so i didn’t even hear it.
#46
Got t-boned by a drunk driver who ran a red light. Hit my truck in the passenger side rear tire so hard it tore the lead springs off the truck, sent me into a spin, I hit a curb in the median and flip two and a half times landing on my roof about 50 yards from where I started.
Had a concussion and a flail fracture on my right side. First thing I remember after the impact was sitting on the side of the road asking a guy to help me find my cell phone, no idea how I got there, when I heard a fireman looking at my truck ask “where the body is”.
#47
I was in Tavistock Square in London on 7th July 2005 when the b**b in the bus exploded. I'd walked past BMA House, and was exiting the Square when it happened.
#48
I was 18 a very very depressed undiagnosed at the time troubled girl, o*****sed on h****n I was going to go home that night I was at a friends house if I had of gone home I would of died in my sleep for my mum to find in the morning.
Instead I fell asleep where I was and woke up shivering and terrified with an ambulance lady crouched down in front of me with a cannula in my hand I specifically remember blood going all over my shoes from my hand, the ambulance staff were really lovely which I so needed at the time,took another 3 years of chaotic b******t till 21 but left that life behind many many moons ago.
#49
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Happened at the beginning of covid when all you heard on the news was people were dieing in the hospitals. I was terrified and refused to be admitted. Had a friend drive me back and forth an hour away, for a week to get IV antibiotics and fluids. My liver counts were through the roof and you could actually see the swelling through my shirt. Had another month of oral antibiotics before I started feeling better.
#50
When I ran through a sliding glass door and almost bled out. I had emergency care but they scheduled me for surgery in the morning. Overnight I had a Near D***h Experience. They didn’t realize I was still bleeding as bad as I was. The hospital disposed of the mattress I had been on. Yes I saw the light. I felt the warmth.
#51
The driver of my car fell asleep while we were on the roads high up in the Himalayas in Nepal. The roads didn’t have guard rails and the drops were thousands of feet. He was accelerating downhill towards a 90 degree turn. Everyone in the car was asleep but me and I yelled “HEEEEYYY!” from the backseat. That woke him up and our translator slapped him after she realized what happened. He was Indian and refused to eat Nepalese food and apparently wasn’t sleeping much. Glad I was awake.
#52
When I was a kid, shortly before Christmas we stopped at a mall for last minute shopping and I got a balloon. On the ride home through a wooded area I was playing with the balloon and it fell to the floor and bent down to pick it up just as some stupid hunter sh*t across the highway, directly through where I had been sitting.
#53
I choked on a marble. I had to run through the house to find someone to help and came upon my mom running the vacuum. I had to get her attention and let her know I was choking which took a few seconds longer. When she finally figured it out she grabbed me by one leg, held me upside down and smacked the hell out of my back which caused the marble to fly out of my mouth and across the room.
This was the early 70s. The Heimlich maneuver hadn't even been invented yet or wasn't public knowledge until several years later.
#54
When I was 15 my sister and friend were run over by a car. Dude was high as f**k on pcp and bunch of other s**t. If I hadn't jumped out of the way I don't think I would be here today. Pretty sure with the speed he was going I would have ended up in a tree. My friend and sister both survived though both still deal with issues from the accident which at this point was over 20 years ago.
#55
There was an event friends were going to that I really wanted to go to as well. Unfortunately I was working that night, but I was so close to just calling out to go to the event instead.
The friends I would have been with that night, as they lived just a few blocks away and would have taken the same bus to get there, ended up getting k****d waiting for the bus home by a drunk driver. I would have been right there with them.
Or that time I was having woman issues. The first dr I went to see ignored my concerns and family history of cancer and wanted to treat the symptoms with d***s. Wouldn't even send me for tests. I went for a second opinion from another dr. He was shocked and right away sent me for testing and booked me with a specialist. Within a few weeks I was on a high priority list for surgery. Pre cancerous cells were found. So had I not gone for a second opinion, it is very likely it would have developed into full blown cancer and instead of just a simple surgery to remove stuff, I would have required additional treatment. Or worse.
#56
Caught in a nasty set of waves while surfing. I didn’t have enough strength to keep duck diving and barrel rolling under them. Every time I came up for air I’d get clobbered by another one, until I didn’t know which way was up anymore. I felt like I was in a washing machine. When I finally broke past them, I laid flat on my board for like 30 mins I was so d**n exhausted.
#57
I almost choked to d***h on some raisins a week ago, Saturday. I threw a large handful down the hatch and then sometime later my throat closed up. At first, I thought it was an allergic reaction cause it didn’t feel like something was blocking my airway. The raisins did eventually came down actually before emergency medical services showed up. If I wasn’t able to get the raisin stand on my own, I surely would have had died waiting for the ambulance to show up.
#58
Totaling my car. I was fully unharmed, but if my car was a few more feet forward, and I would have taken serious damage.
#61
Fell asleep behind the wheel with the cruise control set to 75mph, not wearing a seat belt and having h****n withdrawals.
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