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If you’re a true crime fanatic, there’s a good chance that you’ve learned to always trust your gut. Whether you feel like you’re being followed in a dark parking lot or you start having second thoughts about going home with your Tinder date, you should never ignore that little voice inside of you that notices danger. It might even save your life some day.

Redditors have been recalling times that following their instincts helped them narrowly escape dangerous situations, so we’ve gathered some of their eeriest stories below. Enjoy reading about these situations where people were incredibly lucky to survive, and be sure to upvote the ones that give you chills.

#1

“No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them I went to my urologist with epididymitis. He found the smallest amount of detectable blood in my urine. On a whim, he sent me to have an IVP (They put dye in your blood and radiologist has a look) He saw a mass on my left kidney. 20 minutes later I knew I had cancer when I saw the blood supply to the mass. That was on Thursday. Tests Friday. Monday he took out my kidney with a grapefruit size stage 3 tumor. There was no margin. Many years later my wife told me the doctor told her that I had a 50/50 chance of living 6 months. That was 1992. Lucky me.

Mojak66 , freepik Report

Bi.Felicia
Community Member
Premium
4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Way to kick cancer's àss. My mom is having her last chemo treatment this upcoming week and scheduled for a lumpectomy in around mid August. 🤞🏼🙏🏼🫶🏼

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    #2

    Person standing by a car on a foggy road at night, illustrating gut feeling moments that saved lives. I was out late one night , my car had broken down in the middle of an interchange that was so deserted there was no one there for miles , I did what any other person would do and called a towing number and when I finally got through it was almost 1am , I decided to go take a p**s down at some bushes when suddenly I heard some bikes approaching the car , I wanted to head out immediately to stop them for help when my legs froze and I thought twice , from behind the bush I was , I basically saw them try to ransack the car and apparently they were all armed,
    Thank goodness I remained still because these guys meant business they fired multiple shots into the windscreen and door ,it was an old Toyota hilux so there was nothing in there , they busted all four wheels with bullets before getting back on their bikes and zooming off, I believe they were all h**h af which was why they didn't bother to check around or maybe they thought I just deserted that area
    Long story short I walked a bit further into an open field and sat on the thick branches of a three where I could see approaching objects , the towing truck didn't get there until past 4am in the morning and I can tell y'all that was the longest night of my life, I made it home in one piece.

    poetic-Carnage , Donny Jiang Report

    Bi.Felicia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Glad that you made it home safely and that something made you stop and think twice. Also hope that your car was covered by insurance.

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    #3

    “No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them In high school at a graduation party, I had a really bad feeling about the guy me and my friends had gotten a ride there with, I'll call him H. I didn't know him well, but I saw him drinking and wasn't sure how much. He was supposed to be our ride home when the party was over. My one friend said she trusted him and not to worry.

    Well, I couldn't tell myself not to worry like she could. I said again to her that I didn't think it was safe to drive home with him. She insisted it was fine.

    Meanwhile I had made a new friend that night, the first time I saw him I felt like I should talk to him. Turns out he drove there alone and was staying sober to drive home. By 5 am everyone was talking about grabbing an after party coffee and some snacks. People were piling into cars. I told my friend one last time I wouldn't drive with H. I got in the car with my new friend, knowing he was 100% sober. We pulled out onto the country road, as it snaked through the trees. H came speeding out and passed us way too quickly. As we drove around the next corner we went through a cloud of dust and debris.

    H's car was wrapped around a telephone pole. 2 of the 4 passengers were dead, including the kid who got in the seat I would have been in. My friend was alive but has permanent injuries to this day.

    Edit: I appreciate everyone listening to my story, please don't drink and drive, please help your friends realize how much damage it can cause.

    OverRipe-Cucumber , freepik Report

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    #4

    “No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them About ten years ago, my mom and I stopped at Taco Bell for lunch. I was driving and she was the passenger. I parked my pickup truck with my front end facing the street, in front of an electrical post.

    I thought we were eating in, but my mom said no, let's order to go. She told me what she wanted and said she'd wait for me in the truck.

    For some reason, i just did not want to leave her there. I was insistent that she come in with me. "What if i get the order wrong?" I said. "Come on, just come in with me." Mind you, i was like 20-21 at the time, plenty old enough to go in a restaurant order on my own. But something just told me she had to come too.

    She relented and came in with me. I had just barely finished placing the order when i heard a strange sound outside behind me. The cashier taking my order looked outside right after returning my debit card and says "wow, that crash looks bad!"

    I turned around and it turns out that a drunk driver (at 2PM on a Wednesday) zoomed down the wrong side of the road and slammed into the post i was parked in front of. The driver died on impact. The post collapsed and crushed the cab of my truck on the passenger side.

    Needless to say, i lost the pickup truck but kept my mom.

    demons_soulmate , Andrew Valdivia Report

    Mel in Georgia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Wow, that is an excellent trade-off! So glad you convinced her!

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    #5

    Boy sitting outdoors with head in hands, reflecting a gut feeling that potentially saved him from danger. When I was 14 my cousin and I found my uncle's gun stash in his closet. My cousin grabbed a pistol and pointed it at my head with is finger on the trigger.

    I quickly told him to stop and that's not funny.

    He glared at me and told me it's not loaded while he pointed it at the floor and pulled the trigger. Gun was loaded and blew a big hole in the floor.

    I think about this a lot. I brought it up once to my cousin and he started to cry. That experience cut us both deep.

    apachewarrior23 , freepik Report

    Bi.Felicia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This experience taught you both to treat every weapon as if it is loaded as well as other MUST follow rules of weapon safety. Fortunately nobody was physically hurt but a life long lesson learned.

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    #6

    Doctor checking time on smartwatch while holding clipboard in hospital, representing moments when gut feeling saved lives My mom.

    I was almost 15. I had put on a lot of water weight and she was worried about it. Finally I was in pain and she realized it was literally just water weight so took me to the hospital.

    First ER was like “oh yeah it’s just thyroid, take this and follow up with your doctor.”

    Mom waited a few hours but felt uncomfortable. So she drove me to another ER who told her if she hadn’t gotten me in when she did, I would have died before the follow up. My kidneys had failed.

    I’m better now.

    AlexTraner , RDNE Stock project Report

    Chihuahua Mama
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm wondering how the first ER came to the conclusion about the thyroid. In triage, both hyperthyroidism and kidney failure would present with a high blood pressure, but upon any bloodwork, they would run electrolytes WAY more often than checking thyroid hormone levels. Electrolytes would be out of whack with kidney failure...

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    #7

    Boy with a focused expression riding a bike outdoors, illustrating moments when a gut feeling saved someone. I was riding my bike to school as normal when I was about 12 and I stopped at a crossing. All the cars stopped but I felt that something was off and waited a little longer. As soon as I started to cross, there was a flash of green as a range rover speeded past me barely a hair from the front wheel of my bike. If I had started to cross sooner then I would have been hit head on and most likely not have survived as the car was going that fast. I was so shakey that I turned round and headed home explaining to my mum what happened. As I was still shaking, she believed me and made me a hot chocolate.

    YorkshireGal1212 , Valentyn Ihnatov Report

    ILoveMySon
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hot chocolate always heals whatever boo boo a little one suffers.

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    #8

    Woman lying in bed, checking her phone with a focused expression, illustrating gut feeling and survival instinct. I was travelling in the Philippines in Northern Luzon (that's the part always hit hard by typhoons). It was just the beginning of rainy season.

    I was in Banaue and was planning to go up north to Sagada the next day, Saturday. The lonely planet writes about this route as "The scariest road in the world", it's solid mountain on one side, and deep deep deep on the other. There was a Jeepney scheduled in the morning and one in the afternoon.

    Everyone who knows me knows, that I'm not a morning person and if there is a later option, I'm definitely taking this one. On a whim the night before I decided to leave earlier and take the 8am Jeep. Super out of character for me and I'm still not sure why I did it.

    A few days later, on another bus, I chatted with this nice lady and she asked me what places in the Philippines I've been to so far. And she says **OMG have you heard about the Jeepney accident on Saturday afternoon on the road from Banaue to Sagada??**

    So apparently the Jeepney I planned to take came upon a mountain slide lost control and went down the side of the mountain. 10 people died, no one survived.

    JustMeLurkingAround- , Ketut Subiyanto Report

    SkyBlueandBlack
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My friend told me about jeepneys. I can't believe anyone would ride one willingly!

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    #9

    Surgical team in sterile blue gowns and masks performing a critical operation highlighting gut feeling saving lives. Had a weird feeling something was seriously wrong with me when I stood up and almost passed out at a big football game. We left the stadium and went to the ER. Turns out my appendix was ruptured and I needed surgery ASAP. I had been having stomach pain prior to this but brushed it off as digestion problems. Good thing I went!

    Edit. We were watching the Cotton Bowl in Texas my wife got me tickets for Christmas as the college we went was playing that year. we are from Michigan so we had quite the drive to get to Texas. my appendix ruptured in the third quarter and I ended up finishing the game in the hospital. we stayed a few extra days but I had to get back to college so my wife drove 17 hours straight and we had to get out of the car every 45 minutes to an hour so I could walk around to avoid blood clotting. She was my fiancé at the time and this trip really made us stronger and I knew we would have a happy marriage.

    Thanks for all the well wishes!

    Podricc , Getty Images Report

    Alexia
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Reminds me of a friend who had almost passed away - almost - because of a heart attack with very few symptoms. He later told us that he didn't feel any pain, just a mild nausea, and a feeling that something was very wrong. Took a taxi to the hospital, walked in by himself and collapsed in front of the ER room. Spent several weeks in ICU and made a full recovery. Had he waited a few minutes more, he would have been history.

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    #10

    Close-up of a woman drinking water from a glass bottle outdoors, illustrating gut feeling moments that saved lives. I was drinking and felt something stick in the back of my throat. I almost forced it down because it was really far back and awkward to cough up, but I decided to spit it out anyways.

    It was a shard of glass from the bottle I was drinking out of. It still creeps me out to think about even years later because I REALLY was just going to swallow it.

    scalder- , Arnie Watkins Report

    ABC NrTen FCK CENSORISM
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Just last week at a barbeque with some friends, my beer suddenly tasted a bit lumpy. I could hear the cogwheels click in my somewhat smooth brain for a second before frantically spitting out whatever was in my mouth - it was a yellowjacket wasp. Swallowing her would most probably not have been a good idea. Plus, the wasp survived - the most drunk and hungover she'll ever be, I reckon.

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    #11

    “No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them Few years back, my ex boyfriend and I were coming home from work. I had to stop at a gas station to fill up to make it home.

    It was super late and boyfriend goes “it’s like 2am. I’m hungry. There’s a Waffle House down the street. Wanna go? I don’t wanna cook when we get home.” I didn’t want to cook either, so I agreed. I sent my parents a text saying “hey, we’re getting food,” and gave them the address, which is something I don’t normally do (being that they lived across the country) but I felt the need to let them know where we were.

    We pull up to the Waffle House and I immediately didn’t feel comfortable. I told my boyfriend I didn’t like the vibes and he agreed that he didn’t want waffles anymore, so he just wanted to go home.

    Next morning, I wake up to both our phones ringing. At least 30 missed calls. Texts from my cousins. Missed FaceTime calls from friends. I called my mother back and could barely make out her words because she’s hysterically crying, but she finally yelled “MY BABY IS ALIVE” to my dad.

    Confused as hell and half asleep, I asked her what was going on. She told me to turn on the tv. I turn on the news and see the Waffle House we were going to stop at with the headline “Nashville Waffle House Shooting.”

    I haven’t stopped at a Waffle House since.

    _spare-parts_ , Simon Daoudi Report

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    #12

    “No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them My mom had a date with a guy she met on a dating site when I was in middle school. I was sick that day so she cancelled on him to take care of me. A few weeks later she saw him on the news, being arrested for murdering a lady he met on a dating site and throwing her body in the dumpster outside the restaurant my mom was supposed to meet him at. I guess I might’ve saved her life?

    blah_shelby , Getty Images Report

    Mari
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Lucky mom. I would never date again in my life...

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    #13

    Silhouette of a person riding a motorcycle at sunset, illustrating a gut feeling that saved them from danger. Former professional motorcycle instructor here.

    I was riding a motorcycle at night on Highway 17 in Northern California—an infamously dangerous and twisty mountain pass with low-visibility around most corners. Each direction of the highway has 2 lanes.

    For no particular reason, I decided to change lanes. Around the next corner, there was a washing machine in my original lane that was only visible after it would have been too late to avoid. At highway speeds, a collision like that would have sent me to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

    That one still messes with my head.

    jaytsuk , Trosh Bias Report

    Bi.Felicia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I really hope that no one else ended up hitting that washing machine, especially at highway speeds.

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    #14

    “No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them I was running down escalators to catch a train during winter and happened to slip on some ice on the platform. I slid quite fast on my b*m, and I ended up getting stuck in the middle of a train and the plantform, thigh high. I couldn't get myself out because of the awkward position, and called for help. The platform was full of people who just stared.

    I was pulled out by a drunk person JUST before the train started moving. Had a pulled hamstring and cuts and bruises in my arms and hands.

    Still get quite angry thinking about the bystanders not doing anything but gape.

    hulttus , Nic Y-C Report

    #15

    Police car with flashing red and blue lights at night, highlighting moments when gut feeling saved lives. Mid-1990s. Traveled to northern New Jersey with a friend from college. It was his hometown. We had plans to visit New York city and see a former roommate who graduated the year before (friend 2).

    Well, apprently Friend 2 dabbled in low-level organized crime since his last years in college. We had some knowledge of this but were not involved. He invited us to a an associate’s house with plans to go out afterward. We declined. Not our scene. In fact, both of us had applied to law school. I planned to pursue a career in federal law enforcement thereafter. We both wanted distance from that nonsense.

    We tried the following day to reach our friend 2 for a low-key lunch before heading out of town. No answer. Well, local police found his body two days later, along with 2 other bodies, at the house to which he invited us. He was m******d at the meeting / social situation. Could have been us too.

    I knew that was bad news.

    BluedGuns , daniel-007 Report

    Bi.Felicia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm sure they have excelled in their law career, with their great instincts.

    Al Padilla
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have some issue about lawyers with "great instincts." Reality for most of us, is what actually happened. For lawyers, reality is whatever they can convince a jury to believe, regardless of what actually happened.

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    ABC NrTen FCK CENSORISM
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    mսrdered. Fսck your censorism bullshіt, BP.

    Sara Frazer
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you "wanted distance from that nonsense" why did you go to visit said criminal friend in the first place..?? 🤔

    Crystalwitch60
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well there is that , me I’m not sure I’d have even bothered n made an excuse , but thank god they decided not to go to the house tho

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    #16

    “No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them Idk if it was a gut decision so much as just being knowledgeable and acting, but still I think it is a pretty wild instance of a near-death experience.

    My family and I were on holiday in Thailand over the Christmas period years ago and were staying in a hotel close to the beach in Phuket. I was only 7 and my two brothers were even younger. We had been bugging my parents to go Jet-skiing for days on end, much to my parents annoyance, but on boxing day they finally relented.

    After breakfast we went down to the beach to have a look around for somewhere to find a jetski rental but before any of that could happen my Dad (a surfer of many years) saw the tide receding in a way that was completely unnatural and recognized the coming tsunami. We thought he was full of it but he was deadly serious so we raced back to the hotel where we considered running for the hills but on the consultation of another couple that recognized the impending disaster, decided to sit tight in our building (which was relatively short and stout, plus we were on the top floor).

    Sure enough the tsunami came and bulldozed Phuket, although it only destroyed the lobby of our building - we were safe. I have no doubt we all would have died if my Dad hadn't known the early signs of a Tsunami. (We were also on Phi Phi Island a couple days before that and if we had been there on Boxing Day instead we might well have died too). Just an all round crazy experience that I'm lucky to have made it out of.

    KaiHenderson_ , Matt Paul Catalano Report

    PunnyPanda
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Same- I had arrived in BKK xmas eve. Was planning to head to Krabi first, maybe Phi Phi. On my way to buy a bus ticket, stopped for tea and wound up chatting with another solo traveler. She advised me to go north first, saying once I got to the beaches, I wouldn't be motivated to see the rest of the country (totally true). So I bought a ticket to Chaing Mai instead. Woke up on the 26th in Pai because my bed was shaking. Everyone thought is was a minor quake in Burma or something that day. Didn't find out what had happened until I hopped on aol im at an internet shop and started getting frantic messages from an ex bf who happened to be online despite the 12 hour time difference. Crazy. Wound up doing volunteer relief work for much of the rest of my trip.

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    #17

    Person sitting on a toilet with pink checkered underwear down and a roll of toilet paper nearby showing gut feeling to do something. Gut decision eh? I had a change in my bowel movements, went to the doctor, got screened for colon polyps, and had a huge one removed. It would've eventually turned into cancer. Scopes aren't fun, but they save lives.

    cdnball , gpointstudio Report

    sfgothgirl
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The scope is the easy part, plus you get the good d***s and don't even remember. The prep? The prep is pretty terrible. But, gotta get em done!

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    #18

    Mountain lion hidden in dense green foliage, illustrating the instinct and gut feeling to survive in the wild. I was 22 years old, backpacking through the patagonia for six months camping wherever I could. One day I was fishing by the lake with my camp already set down for the night save for starting the fire. I kept hearing rustling some 30m behind me in the tree line so I stared for a while hoping to see a deer or something. Next thing I know I'm staring down a puma right in the eyes. I started to get up ready to take a sprint but right as I was standing up I remembered I was warned against this so instead I grabbed some rocks from the ground and started throwing rocks and shouting and throwing my arms up in the air until it left me alone. That night I stayed up late next to the fire and then went to (try to) sleep scared as f**k. That was my only encounter with wildlife in the whole trip (save for birds and stuff).

    nebbulae , Getty Images Report

    SkyBlueandBlack
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Perfect. Yes, shout and throw things. Jump, wave your arms. NEVER RUN FROM A PREDATOR, especially a cat.

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    #19

    “No One Survived”: 50 Times People Had A Gut Feeling To Do Something And It Actually Saved Them One time working at a grocery store at night, I had cart duty, and had to collect all the carts from the parking lot and bring them in to the store. It was dark out and I had my headphones in, and I was looking at the ground and pushing a chain of carts, when suddenly it got darker. I stopped for a split second to wonder how it could get darker when it was already night and BAM! One of the huge 30 + feet high parking lot lights smashed onto the ground right in front of me. Hit the carts and missed me by 2 feet. The metal had rusted out and it snapped at the base. If I hadn't stopped to wonder how it got darker I would've definitely died.

    PickleyRickley , EyeEm Report

    #20

    In 2016 my wife and I were in Berlin to explore and visit the Christmas markets. The plan for that evening was to go out to eat and then get the train back to stop into the markets at Breitscheidplatz as it was close to our hotel, this had been the plan for the entire trip as it was the last night.
    We had finished our meal and were headed to the train station. Just as we were about to board the train, my wife decided that she didn't want to go the the markets at Breitscheidplatz and would prefer to double back to a smaller one we had passed on the walk from the restaurant to the station. I, being a stubborn p***k, didn't want to change the plans but she got her way and we headed back, staying at the smaller market for about 30 minutes.
    After finally getting the train back, we got off and walked towards our hotel. After a minute or so there appeared a seemingly never ending stream of emergency vehicles. Not knowing what was going on, but obviously something serious, we speeded up and locked ourselves in the hotel room. We had the English language 24 news channel on and after about an hour, reports started to come through about a terrorist attack. A man had driven a truck into a crowd at the Breitscheidplatz market. Obviously I'll never know if we would have been in the exact spot, but we definately would have been there at the same time, and I am never allowed to complain about my wife changing her mind, ever again.

    Tinny_Dancer Report

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    #21

    Had been bleeding and in pain for a month and every time I went to the doctor they brushed me off and said I was having a miscarriage.

    Finally one night I got super dizzy all of a sudden and was in even more pain. My boyfriend at the time kept telling me I was fine and to go to sleep. Finally at one 1 in the morning I drove myself to the ER. I had a tubal pregnancy and my fallopian tube had ruptured and I was bleeding internally. Now I trust my gut feelings and tell everyone else to screw off.

    maddies_mom Report

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    #22

    I decided to change hospitals the last month of my pregnancy. Lucky me, the first hospital took on dozens of patients from a wreck the night I went into labor. They would have been too busy to catch my heart attack. The hospital I went to was basically empty and a nurse was sitting with me the whole time cause I was scared. She caught the signs so quick and put me in OR for a c section. I changed hospitals cause the wallpaper color in the first one made me nauseous.

    bigwuts Report

    Sara Frazer
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I really want to know what that wallpaper looked like

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    #23

    In labour with my daughter. I only have the one child, so it was my first labour and I had no idea what to expect really.

    All was fine, I was progressing slowly but surely, minimal pain relief needed... Then there was shift change.

    My new midwife just wanted it over with. She was clearly bored and kept offering to break my waters. I said no several times.

    My ex went to update the waiting grandparents and while he was gone she decided to check how things were going. She asked to break my waters, I said no. She kept her hand inside my while I was having a contraction and kept asking me. I've no idea if I said yes or not, I just remember blinding pain, so possibly I said yes to make her stop whatever she was doing.

    After that things went FAST. I was in so much pain and couldn't figure out what my body was doing. It just didn't feel right at all. I kept asking her to check on me and check on the baby, she wouldn't.

    By this point my ex had come back, and he was asking her to check and she just said it wasn't time to yet.

    I screamed my head off. I screamed and screamed for help until another midwife popped her head around the door to ask if everything was OK.

    My midwife said yes, but I shouted "NO!!! PLEASE CHECK ON MY BABY!"

    New midwife hesitated slightly, as she'd be disrespecting a colleague but ultimately decided to check me. She did a 30 second check and looked at my ex and said "press the red button. Now".

    With that the surgeon came in and I was rushed off for a c-section.

    As I was being stitched up, it was explained what the emergency was. My body was trying to push, I was, without knowing it, fighting the urge to push. I was only 3cm dilated. My daughter was in distress. There was no oxygen in the cord blood.

    My instincts, plus the new midwifes instinct to listen to me instead of her colleague, saved both mine and my daughters life.

    I am forever thankful to her.

    JippityB Report

    Bi.Felicia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I hope that awful midwife got fired and lost her license.

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    #24

    Was driving at the speed limit of 70mph on a highway that I drove daily to go home from work. This particular day, there was an event downtown that had the traffic completely stopped for miles. There was an S bend in the road though, so you couldn't tell until you were nearly on top of it.

    I tried to brake, but nothing happened. My brain broke and I kept slamming on the brake pedal, but nothing was happening, and I was in the left lane of a four lane highway with very little time to spare before I nearly hit the wall of cars in front of me. Left shoulder of the road was barely wide enough for a bike, and cars were coming up the on-ramp on the right side.

    I noticed a small gap in between the cars on the on-ramp, but it was in front of me, so I actually sped up to sneak through that gap and onto the grass beside the highway. At one point, I was over 85mph knowing I had no brakes in order to get through that gap. I barely made it, and eventually slowed to a stop on the grass. I called my friends to come help, and when they showed up 45 minutes later, I was still clutching the steering wheel with white knuckles and staring straight ahead. It's a miracle that I walked away without a scratch.

    OmnomOrNah Report

    BrownEyedPanda
    Community Member
    4 months ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The Highway Patrol would have had to pry my fingers off the steering wheel, while I broke the sound barrier with my screams.

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    #25

    I was driving on the highway one morning, fog was super dense. I had the headlights on and was probably going about 50-60 mph. There was a red Honda behind me that wasn't quite riding my a*s, but was maybe a little closer than I would have preferred him to be given the weather.

    Suddenly, my hands are moving on their own and abruptly jerking the steering wheel into the lane to my left. No brakes. No mirror or blind spot check. I remember thinking to myself, "Why the hell did I do that?" As I look back over to my right in time to see the Honda that was previously directly behind me slam at full speed into a 3, maybe 4 car pileup that I didn't even realize was in front of me. I missed it by maybe half a second.

    Still don't know what it was that kicked my reflexes off but I'd probably be either dead or crippled for life if they hadn't.

    anon Report

    Smeghead Tribble Down Under
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sometimes your brain registers things your eyes don't.

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    #26

    Mine wasn’t a gut feeling, rather it was a dream. I grew up in the country on several acres of woods and creeks. I loved any and all animals - I was obsessed. I would bring all manner of critters home and put them in an aquarium to observe before releasing them back where I found them the next day.

    One day I found a water snake near the creek, so of course I brought it home and put it in the aquarium. That night I had a dream. I was reading our local newspaper and the headline said a young girl had died after a venomous snake had escaped an enclosure and bitten her. Except it was my name printed in the paper along with that day’s date! I jolted awake in a cold sweat and immediately took the entire aquarium outside and put it by the tree line before flipping the lid open and booking it back inside.

    The next day at school during Library I looked up a book about snakes (pre-internet days) and there was a picture of the snake I had brought home - not the harmless water snake I had thought, but a water moccasin, aka cottonmouth. A snake that could have very easily killed a young child.

    So yeah, looking back I realize how utterly stupid I had been and how easily it could have gone terribly wrong. Or maybe nothing would have happened and I’m just making a big deal of a scary dream. I don’t know, but I like to think something was watching out for me that night.

    Kr_Treefrog2 Report

    Mel in Georgia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's essential to teach your kids early on not to mess with snakes. I'm not afraid of them and can identify the venomous ones, but I have a healthy respect for them. We even had our dog trained to be snake averse! It's a really good idea if your dog ever goes off-leash in outdoor settings.

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    #27

    Damaged house exterior showing fire and smoke damage after a narrow escape from disaster due to gut feeling. Few years ago went on a trip to Cuba and Mexico. Last minute decided to stay longer in Havana despite mess that hurricane Irma has left behind (few days without electricity was actually oddly amazing). We were supposed to be flying to Mexico City. Our Mexico City airbnb building collapsed during earthquake. There was no logical reason behind our decision about staying. I just proposed it and my partner agreed. Crazy.

    anon , ungvar Report

    #28

    My mother made me meatloaf and I was super hungry. She insisted that she could reheat it for me and that she would make me some sides and brew some tea for me. Like really sounded like a great situation!

    But it felt weird to me so I declined and said that I wasn’t in a meatloaf mood.

    Her response, “oh well perhaps that’s for the best, I did use a lot of Worcestershire sauce when I made this.”

    Worcestershire sauce is made with anchovy. And I’m allergic to fish.

    ShiftingStar Report

    The Majestic Opossum
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And this person's mom didn't remember this? Were they trying to k**l them? I'm very confused...

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    #29

    Early on in my alcoholism I didnt know that withdrawals were a thing, or that they could k**l you. At one point I was drinking 2 fifths of vodka a day. Considering that my life was falling apart I decided one day to not drink. Big mistake. At first I thought I was just having a bad hangover. My heart was racing even though I wasnt moving around. I was shaking, hallucinating, going numb all over, and began wondering if I should go to the hospital. By the time I got there my heart was beating about 170 per minute while at rest. The doctors acted very quickly and I just remember being surrounded by people, them stripping me, shoving an IV in my neck, and yelling "he's gonna seize!" After the first seizure I was so messed up they kept hitting me with ativan over and over because it wasnt working fast enough.

    Later on, in the ICU, the docs told me I shouldn't be alive and that they gave me enough ativan to put down an elephant. When I think about what would have happened had I not gone to the hospital, it makes me sad that I wasnt more educated on the dangers of quitting drinking cold turkey.

    ChaseDonovan Report

    Chihuahua Mama
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Any depressant withdrawal can have this effect! Your body gets used to having a depressant (e.g alcohol, benzos, barbiturates) that it compensates by trying to counter the depressant's effects, basically raising everything in your body. When you suddenly remove the depressant, your body is still used to countering the d**g, and everything goes through the roof, including neurological activity, leading to seizures. Always seek professional help when trying to quit addictions, or at the very least, cut back on the amount gradually!

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    #30

    Spouse and I came back home to our apartment late after traveling. We were both exhausted but made the somewhat weird decision on the way back to stop at the grocery store and get steaks to make dinner. There was an alarm going off in the house but we couldn't find it and decided to just eat (warning sign/bad decision #1). In the time that it took us to cook and eat the steaks, we both started to feel very odd and would see a kaleidoscope every time we closed our eyes. By this point we were both realizing that it was carbon monoxide, but instead of leaving the house we opened all the windows and laid down on the couch to go to sleep.


    I remember lying there, all snuggled up, and thinking "this isn't such a bad way to die, really." That thought shot me out of it and I immediately got up and forced my partner out of the house... and by "immediately" I mean I got up and forced them up, and then we both sort of weirdly puttered around for another half hour because carbon monoxide makes you forget how to behave. I packed a bag for us that was like, half of our clothes because I couldn't think straight. Sat in the car together and realized we had to call a cab because he couldn't read any of the road names (in our own neighborhood.) Had a horrible headache, nausea, dizziness and chest pain for the next two days.


    Moral of the story is: get a carbon monoxide detector for every room in your house-- especially bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. Carbon monoxide is really scary, silent, and will k**l you in your sleep.

    anon Report

    Mel in Georgia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You are incredibly lucky to have made it out of that house alive.

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    #31

    I'm not sure we would have died but it wouldn't have been pretty. We had a fire going in the backyard at a friend's house. My friend's dad decided to burn some junk from the garage. Mostly old boxes and papers and stuff. So we're helping feed that stuff into the fire. I grab the next small box to throw in and I can tell there's something in this one. There had been stuff in most of them but it was always just pamphlets and little bits of packaging so we had stopped really checking and were just throwing them in. Well, I'm standing there with the box over the fire about to drop it when I decide to check this one. It was full of live mortar shell fireworks. My friend's dad decided we had burned enough garage junk at that point.

    Give_All_Vol Report

    Bi.Felicia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If they were fireworks, it likely would have been pretty.

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    #32

    I had sprained my ankle in the beginning of November and was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the end of November. Those two things (along with taking an oral contraceptive) led to massive blood clots forming in my leg and breaking off and traveling to my lungs.

    Before I knew about the blood clots I was experiencing major pain in my leg and had told my parents, but they both insisted it was just my sprained ankle that was causing the pain. My gut told me something more was wrong, so I ended up going to the ER. It was there that the blood clots were found, and I was treated in the hospital for three days.

    I’m so thankful I listened to my gut, because the consequences of the blood clots in my leg+lungs could’ve been much, much worse.

    SnapsforthisGinger13 Report

    Borg
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm sure the parents were red faced as a result

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    #33

    Fishing boat on calm water near shore with houses in the background, illustrating moments when a gut feeling saved lives. While fishing on a large lake in Canada, we were a little more than halfway across when the wind really started picking up and a storm started rolling in. I had the choice to turn back, or head to an island with a bay.

    I decided to head for the bay and just as we reached the calmer water we looked behind us and the storm had gotten worse. We were in an aluminum boat, and if we had chosen to head back, 3 of us would have drowned, no doubt in my mind. We were already taking on water and were completely drenched when we beached on the island.

    Once the storm abated, we made the journey back and it still took 4 hours in h**h wind for a normally half hour boat trip. Warming up in the truck was the best feeling in the world after that.

    trystanel , Brian Yurasits Report

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    #34

    In 1976, I was on vacation with my parents in Colorado and we drive through Big Thompson Canyon. My mom, brother and I all wanted to stay at one of the little hotels within the canyon, but my dad said no, and we continued on our way home to Illinois. After we got home, we saw on the news that the canyon flooded, killing over 100 people. Had we stayed there, we would have probably been killed too.

    korkidog Report

    #35

    A few years ago, I had a cold that just was not getting better over the course of a week. I was exhausted all the time, taking time off work because the incessant coughing made me puke a couple times, and just overall feeling worse than I had in years.

    One night, I realized I was having pain in my chest while breathing. Generally that’s a “seek medical help immediately” thing, but it was already getting late and I would have had to drive myself to the hospital (I’m the only one with a license in my house). I decided to wait til the next morning. I didn’t want to make a huge fuss or have people worry about me, and I thought going to the ER for “just a cold” would waste hospital resources and my own money.

    But as I laid in bed trying to sleep, I suddenly started getting extremely anxious about my condition. It shouldn’t hurt that much just to breathe. I told my partner I was going to the hospital just to be safe, and we both hopped in the car.

    Double pneumonia.

    I was only in the hospital a couple of days after that, but it could have killed me if it went untreated. I don’t wanna think about what would’ve happened if I went to bed that night.

    Basically the lesson I got from it was hospital bills and possibly bothering people are better than risking death. I’ve been far more adamant with myself and others seeking care after this experience.

    Tamaguts Report

    Uncle Schmickle
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had relatively mild pneumonia a few years ago whilst in Europe. Jeez, I felt so terrible. First stop upon arriving home was a visit to the Dr. Ordered x - rays and diagnosed pneumonia. Heavy duty antibiotics for a while. My Dad said it was just as well it wasn't " old monia " ! Goodonya Dad.

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    #36

    Group of people jumping off a dock into a lake, capturing a moment of a gut feeling that led to a life-saving experience. When I was 18 I left for some missions group thing for my gap year, this took place on an island in central America. Earlier that night, everyone had been swimming off the dock, but I didn't want to because of all the jellyfish. As this a group of guys fresh out of h**h school, this decision earned me the title of "huge p***y".

    Later that night, I go back down to the docks, just thinking about stuff. Because I want to be alone, obviously I creeped out of the house without telling anyone. I see the water and think "While no one is around to judge me, I should get over my fear, quit being a p***y, and jump in the water." But for some reason I hesitate, and shine my flashlight on the spot I want to jump to.

    There's this weird, clear, worm looking thing I've never seen before. It's not exactly swimming, it's like twitching erratically and gently moving with the water. I'm wondering what the h**l it is, when I look around more and see a box jelly with a missing tentacle, and the tentacles look exactly like the "worm".

    The box jellies there weren't like the kinds in Australia where you get hit and you're dead, but these were apparently bad enough to send you into shock with the pain, and if I had been in water, with no one else around to find me, there's a very good chance I would've drowned if I just jumped in without checking.

    EDIT: Feel like I should clarify that when the other guys were swimming, there were NOT box jellies around, just a normal kind that mildly stung you and didn't do much else.

    W1ndchill1836 , Michael McKay Report

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    #37

    Hit by a car while riding a motorcycle. Old lady who could barely see in Palm Beach ran a light and hit me. August in S. Florida and for some reason that day I put on a leather jacket and full face helmet. Helmet and leathers destroyed, I walked away.

    Definitely had the feeling that a power greater than myself made that decision for me.

    KingTuttOfTheNorth Report

    HeavyMetalHeart
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why wouldn’t you ALWAYS wear those?!

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    #38

    I was backpacking in New Mexico and was about to take a step when I had a weird feeling and threw my arm out to stop my buddy from going, and directly in front of us was a coiled rattlesnake that began rattling like crazy. Was kinda cool because it was so outside of my conscious mind, it just felt like my body was like "don't f*****g go there man".

    cheesemmmK Report

    DennyS (denzoren)
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That sixth sense vibe we get sometimes. I think I read somewhere it's an old instinct from an evolutionary predecessor.

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    #39

    Close-up of a car's damaged front headlight and hood after a crash, highlighting gut feeling that saved lives. A s******l kid tried to k**l himself by crashing into my car head on. At the last second I veered right (US) and jumped the curb. He was still able to adjust and smack me pretty good, but nothing like a head on collision.

    connolnp , Clark Van Der Beken Report

    Courtney Christelle
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    S*****e is terrible but if you’re going to do it at least don’t be selfish and try to take out an innocent person with you. Almost every story I’ve heard about someone trying to k*ll themselves by crashing their car into someone else, that person lives but all the others don’t make it.

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    #40

    Afghanistan 2009, was a driver always cut corners one day my gut said f**k it lets take er wide, so i did. Next vehicle behind me cut the corner and hit an IED.

    Outdoorsmen_87 Report

    #41

    Not my gut, my mother's, decided to drive to the ambulance/fire station instead of the hospital. Difference of ~10 minutes. Almost bled out from severed arteries.

    Dad wouldn't let her call an ambulance (America $$$) but couldn't stop the paramedics taking me once she got me to them.

    DankDungeonDelver Report

    Mel in Georgia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO MAKE DECISIONS LIKE THIS! Gah, I hate healthcare in America.

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    #42

    Was standing in line outside of the club Mohawk during SXSW 2014 to see Tyler the Creator. At the last minute decided I'd rather go back to Stubbs and catch Damon Albarn's set. As I headed back up the street a drunk driver trying to escape the police smashed the barrier, missed me by inches and killed 4 people I was standing next to.

    delatao Report

    #43

    I'm not used to going to the doctor or hospital when I feel sick. 4 years ago, I had a very very bad stomach ache, no matter what position I'm in, it hurts like hell, I throw up even a gulp of water. Couldn't sleep all night. Thought it was a food poisoning or something and kept recalling what I ate.

    Called my brother early in the morning to ask him what he thinks? Does he know if there's any tea or medicine that can calm my pain? He's no doctor and knows nothing about medical stuff, yet he's my big brother, I always assume he knows it all x)

    He insisted that I go to the ER immediately !! As such pain isn't normal and shouldn't last that long (also thought it was food poisoning) ! And I listened to him ! Turns out it was appendicitis!! I had the surgery and all went well. But had I waited more, things might've turned out really bad.

    Moral of the story: something wrong? Check a doctor!

    No-Mathematician678 Report

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    #44

    I was 14 and on holiday in Greece with family, I got ill with either sun stroke or food poisoning (same symptoms) and I spent 4 days not being able to hold down any food or water whilst being very sick, even a tea spoon of water would result in me throwing up 10x that amount but of bile.

    And that morning my parents said they wanted to take me hospital but I felt fine, just couldn't hold down food/water and really didn't want to go so I said if I'm still sick tomorrow i would go then.

    So they left for the beach and I stayed behind at the apartment, but as my dad got to the bottom of the stairs to our apartment he had a "strange" feeling that things didn't feel right so he came back up with my mum and they took me to hospital which I was angry about.

    We waited roughly a hour in the waiting room then got seen, we explained the situation and the nurses checked my veins then asked me if I had any pains/aching coming from my organs, which I did. After this they started rushing round really quick to get me on a IV drip. It took 12 attempts to get the IV in and after i was hooked up for a hour and they knew I was safe they explained that my veins had collapsed (why it took 12 attempts to get iv in) and that the aching feeling from my organs was them starting to shut down and if I had arrived hospital a couple hours later I would have died.

    So basically if my dad didn't get this "strange" feeling when he left i would have died in that apartment.

    There's a Through The Wormhole episode which has a explanation about what happened to me i believe. If you want to watch it for yourself the episode is 'Is there a sixth sense' is season 3 or 4 i think.

    anon Report

    AlithenewMC
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not being able to keep water down for even a few hours (especially if you had already lost a lot from being sick) means you should go to the hospital for fluids. I can't imagine waiting 4 days for something like that. My son threw up 9 times over 4 hours one morning (norovirus) and I took him to urgent care. I can't imagine letting him go longer than that- in fact I would have gone earlier but my husband was away and I was waiting for my parents to come to watch my other son. But my country has free healthcare, so I don't wait things out, because it doesn't cost me to go to the hospital. I'm guessing these people are American, because they do tend to try to avoid it even when they shouldn't.

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    #45

    I almost choked and died on a hot dog.

    I had a few ways I could've responded: Freak out and make it worse, try swallowing really really hard only to fail, OR stay calm to preserve enough oxygen and think.

    I kept calm as my husband was about ready to pull me out of the car to give me the heimlich. I took in as deep a breath (it wasn't blocking completely), and coughed it out.

    That's the story I tell to people about the importance of chewing your food. Especially hot dogs.

    anon Report

    ILoveMySon
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A reminder to cut hot dogs in VERY small pieces if feeding them to small children.

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    #46

    July 7th 2005, London bombings. I was studying at the university of harrow-westminster and a few of us decided to go to Spain. One of the friends was a native Londoner and I'd usually be on at kingscross station to meet them. Thank goodness for the Spain last minute trip...I would have been on the exact train hit. In fact my family believed I was dead for 24 hrs. No calls could make it in or out as well. Absolutely freaky how fast they got back up and running, and the blast zones in the station. Something just made us go on a lastminute trip, everything aligned for us to go too. That 1 decision saved to go out of town that day saved me.

    goddessofwitches Report

    LakotaWolf (she/her)
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You can... take a TRAIN... from London to Spain?! And just decide to go to Spain on a lark? XD

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    #47

    I almost slept through the drs appointment where I was diagnosed with gestational hypertension and brought in for an emergency induction. That appointment saved my daughter's and my life. The gut feeling was my moms. She told me to get up, it was a beautiful day and we needed to check on my baby.

    lilybear032 Report

    Geoffrey Scott
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Niece was feeling tired and bloated. All the usual accessories were in the bathroom trash (monthly cycle). She went to bed one afternoon and was still not up the next day. Step-dad went to check on her...unresponsive. Preeclampsia among other things. Zoe was born and has just graduated high school. Meagan had NO idea she was pregnant.

    #48

    Back when I was about 18, I had been in this phase where I hadn't worn a seat belt for a couple years because it would give me really bad anxiety and make me sick and have to use the restroom.

    It had probably been about 3 years since I had worn one, but this day, I was going to drive to visit from friend at his college and I decided you know what, time to break this mental roadblock, so i put the seat belt on. About 15 minutes into my drive, I hit busy road I always hit on my way to work as it takes me to the interstate.

    I'm in the right lane (In a Mitsubishi galant), aford explorer in left lane, we're both going 60 because that's the speed limit, and this little honda darts in front of the SUV to turn on to the road. The explorer, tries to not hit it and swerves into my lane which causes me to swerve as a knee-jerk reaction. Except I swerve into the grass over a bumpy patch, flip my car 3 times.

    It was bad, I saw blood running down my arm and glass embedded in it, everything hurt, my brain hurt, the whole works. Witnesses told the cops what happened, as did the suv driver, and I concurred with them. My car looked like an empty can someone tried to crush sideways. An ambulance came by I declined and just had my parents take me to the er (yeah another person not wanting to get hit with a huge ambulance bill). They spent 2 hours digging glass out of my arm from it going through the windshield and making a perfect hole, which surprised me because I thought windshields were supposed to pop out or some s**t. No stitches needed, just badly bruised and sore. Parents were pissed at me for totaling the car because they had just taken off gap on it only a couple days prior.

    Needless to say, I think I wouldve been thrown from car and killed had it not been for the seatbelt.

    Edit: someone pointed out that putting gap insurance helped them out, and made me realize I meant to say they took it off.

    will_ww Report

    Smeghead Tribble Down Under
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How can a fkn SEATBELT give you anxiety? Cheese and whiskers, every time I think I've heard it all I hear something that just floors me.

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    #49

    Was surfing while exhausted. My board strap came unvelcroed and my board floated away.

    I am swimming to shore but at one point hit that tired state where the current is stronger than I am swimming and I realize I am not moving towards shore anymore.

    I panic, which doesn't help my swimming any.

    Suddenly, I remember the surf instructor saying there is a reef far out from shore, but whatever you do don't stand on it unless you want really bad coral cuts. I was so panicked, I thought, what the hell, maybe the reef is there.

    So, I kind of just stood up on the middle of the water. My foot hit something (the reef, I assume) and I was able to stand there with my head barely above wave height and rest.

    Once I got my strength back, I swam back to shore and have not gone surfing since.

    Edit: Many kind people are sharing their true near drowning experiences while surfing in nasty waves. They are the true near drowning while surfing survivors! Rather embarassingly, I should say the waves were not very big where I was at. I was very near drowning, but mainly from exhaustion (I had played a 3 day tournament just before and had been surfing for hours) and not knowing how to manage the smallish waves I was in as I had only really swam in pools and rivers before this experience. For me, the near drowning was very much an open water near drowning more than a surfing near drowning.

    DoomGoober Report

    joann fielding
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was heading down a steep hill to a river to fish, holding my infant daughter, when I slipped and fell in the long grass. I started to slide, and figured,"What the hell? Let's have a little fun" Little did I know, the hill ended in a 20 foot drop to the deep, fast flowing river. I managed to grab a hank of grass in one hand and stop myself. TLDR? I almost slid to our deaths, yelling, "WHEEEEEEEE!"

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    #50

    I have Crohn's and colitis so severe gut pains were nothing new. I stood up and felt like I was stabbed in the stomach. I went and told my boss I had to go home. By the time I got home I could barely stand up. My wife insisted I get checked out. She ended up driving and every single pothole was unbearable(we live on a dirt road 40 min away from the hospital). I could hardly walk by the time we got there. Turned out I had a ruptured ulcer through both sides, technically a perforated colon. After a week of IV antibiotics I was released. After a few days at home on antibiotics I woke up one day feeling terrible. Back to the hospital. The perforation had closed but turned into an abscess. They took this 2ft needle and stuffed it in through my side to install a drain in the abscess. Spent another week on IV antibiotics while admitted. I was out for a week and had the drain removed still on antibiotics. A few days later I woke up sick as a dog and went back to the hospital. I had developed a septic infection. Time for a colon resection. They split me from my pelvic bone to my sternum and removed a little over a foot of my colon. 10 days later had a pic line put in for antibiotics and IV nutrients. Another 6 days I was released. I spent 26 days in the hospital and out of work for 4 months. Scar tissue from Crohn's was the cause of the tear. Due to the amount of radiation from all the the scans I've had, cancer is how I go out.... 2 years post op with an ileostomy, I feel great. Other than the bag situation life is good. In short, a literal gut feeling almost killed me.

    user-flynn2 Report

    Mel in Georgia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Oh my goodness, you've been through it! Admire your positive attitude!

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    #51

    I was walking with a friend back to his house and I had that "something don't feel right". I noticed some dudes walking around in Hoodies all with their hands in their pockets. Now I aint an idiot I know what's gonna happen. It took some time trying to subtly convince my friend to walk a different path but we eventually did and got to his house. Literally next morning on the news a massive gang shoot-out happened on the same street we were passing leaving 4 people dead.

    Sanity_King Report

    #52

    Toddler me, in the mid 80s, apparently hated the belt of my car seat one night going home. In order to placate me, my parents made a big show of putting on THEIR seat belts, instead of ignoring me or letting me sit without it. (This is before seat belts were required by law in Alberta.)

    On the highway home, in the dark, another driver suddenly swerved into our lane at top speed. My dad swerved, we hit the ditch, and the car rolled.

    We all survived. I was screaming my head off, and my mom had a dark bruise across her chest from her belt for a while, but we all made it home that night!

    RyukoDragon Report

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    #53

    Just last week, I was driving in my car with my friend. We were at a red light and it turned green, I was going to make a right turn but I hesitated. My friend said “you’ve got a green light..go”. I don’t know why I hesitated but just as I started to go, a big box delivery truck ran right through the light.

    She was like, d**n.. we’re so lucky.

    tlr92 Report

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    #54

    So it’s a low key one but, when I was in high school we were driving to our local grocery store, and as we pulled up to the last stop light before the store. I had this “tingle” and told the driver to slow down instead of running the yellow light. After a very quick argument she slowed down and came to a stop but not before the the car next to us shot through the light and as they did, they were T-Boned and pushed into oncoming traffic which ended up killing the driver and hurting the passengers. I sat in the front seat of that truck in disbelief, and to this day won’t run yellow lights.

    TheTruestOracle Report

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    #55

    Not my decision, but it still saved my life. I was about 2 years old when it happened. My big sis was 14 at the time, and she was like a second mother to me, always checking after me, taking care of me, etc. One day, while it was nap time, she randomly decided to check in on me. So she silently entered my room and found me in my bed. I wasn't breathing and was blue. Panicked, she took me in her arm and shook me ("never shake a baby"). After a short while, I started breathing again, and I went to the hospital. She acted fast and saved my life, so I could never thank her enough.

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    #56

    When I was like 13 I Got in a Bad skiing accident, I accidentally went down a double black diamond course (the hardest one) and got out of control. There was a small shed about halfway down, right in front of a cliff face that became super steep and I made the decision to slam into the shed instead of continuing down the mountain( I was going about 80 mph so I probably wouldn't have survived if i kept going) When I was about 100 feet from the shed I passed out from fear and I woke up with a broken arm and a lacerated liver. I was in the hospital for two weeks.

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    Mel in Georgia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have gotten onto a double black by mistake before. It's super scary. And inching your way down going back and forth is both exhausting and embarrassing! But pointing downhill without the skills to control your speed is dangerous!

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    #57

    Decades ago i was riding with a mutual acquaintance burning a J. He said he knows a guy that keeps a ~key of coke in his fridge and that the guy wouldn't be home for a few hours. He wanted me to drive the "get away car" while he helps himself to the coke. My gut told me to bale, so i did.

    I don't know exactly how it went down, but his body was found floating 4 days later with 2 holes in his head.

    It was a wake up call, quit my crappy job and moved away from that environment.

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    OneHappyPuppy
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Foe everyone wondering what burning a J means, it's mary-wanna. Intentionally misspelled for Bp censors

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    #58

    When I was 7 or 8 yo, we lived in the "Jungle" area of Franklin Park, IL at the end of the first 747 runway in the late 1960s/early 70s (when the 747s went over blotted out the sun and you couldn't hear anything over the engine roar for a full minute- planes are a LOT quieter these days). It was all apartments and it was well known for pimps and d***s and factories. My brother and his friend and I were playing by a factory that was being build out of cement blocks. My brother and his buddy made a fort out of some blocks and they found a piece of plywood to act as a top. One afternoon a serious storm started to blow in and I knew there were tornado warnings. They wanted to stay in the fort for the storm because it would be really cool but after a VERY LOUD and close lightning strike I left and ran for our apartment. The storm lasted ~45 minutes and the wind and thunder were terrible. My brother never came home so afterward, I went looking for him. One of the walls of the factory that was under construction had collapsed and had fallen on our fort! It was flat as a pancake. I walked around trying to see if they were there, but there didn't seem to be any smashed kids. Then I went home where my brother had just shown up and he said they had gone to his friend's apartment after I left. I took him to see out fort and we just kinda never talked about it again...

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    #59

    When I was younger a friend of mine offered me a ride home on his motorcycle, I declined because I was staying a bit longer. He got hit by a drunken driver and died on impact. I could've been on the back of that motorcycle.

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    #60

    This isn't my story, but actually one of my teachers.

    She visited New York back in 2001. She was going to visit The Twin Towers, but decided to wait a day in favour of visiting a different place in NY. That was the day the planes crashed into the towers.

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    G A
    Community Member
    4 months ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    So not a gut feeling just a change in plans

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    #61

    I was driving on a one lane highway (the kind that has one lane each way). I was behind a very old clunker of a car going 60mph in an 80mph.

    The dude in the car leaned out his arm from the window and waved me on, they actually even veered a bit to the right towards the shoulder as well and slowed down. They gave me every reasonable indication they were going to let me pass. Traffic from the incoming side was clear, we're in a dashed line zone, so I start passing. Out of no where this old clunker starts taking taking a left turn, across the lane I am now passing in.

    I think the arm wave was their stupid-a*s attempt at "signaling" they were going to take a left. I almost hit them at 80mph t-boned. I would have probably died, and they almost certainly would have given the age of the tin can they were in. I hit my breaks as best I could while maintaining control, and then veered to the right. I narrowly missed them. Honestly the reaction was pure "instinct" it happened within a second or so, and I'm still surprised I pulled it off.

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    Sara Frazer
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In driving school you should've been taught how to signal with your arm when intending to go left/right, in the event your turn signal light isn't working. If the driver of the clunker did properly signal and you didn't recognize it, that's on you

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    #62

    I chose to buy a scratch off ticket the night I was planning to potentially k**l myself. After winning, I have done a complete 180 from that night and I sometimes look back thinking how surreal it all unfolded.

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    #63

    Might not have died, but a serious injury was close. Made a wrong manœuvre while landing with my parachute after a skydiving jump. Found myself at low altitude going with the wind instead of against the wind at quite a high speed. Managed to go with side wind still (second wrong manœuvre due to slight panic). Last second just before impact I remembered to put my legs together and slightly bend my knees, a tip I got from a more experienced skydiver after some other student broke his ankle. I fell on my side, my parachute dragged me for a few meters, but besides a dirty suit and a scare I didn't have anything. Others who saw my hurrendous landing had already jumped into the van to come see if I was OK.
    It was my 15th jump, 8th solo jump. Not jumping anymore.

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    #64

    On July 20, 2012 my friends and I were trying to decide if we wanted to go see the midnight premier of the Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, or play outdoor sand volleyball. We decided to play sand volleyball.

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    #65

    South Minneapolis 1986. Middle of summer. My girlfriend and I were new to the city having come from a very small town. We lived in a small apartment building that had no security doors. Thete were only 8 units and we lived on the top floor. Very unsafe. There had been a string of murders in the area at the time as well. We were fast asleep, middle of the night with the fan blasting on high when suddenly there was loud banging on our door. I opened the door to see the police asking if we were ok. Yes why? There had just been a man at our door trying to break in. He fit the description of the m******r in the area. He had a crowbar in his hand wrapped in a towel. The ONLY thing that saved us was blind luck. Since our building had no security doors, the woman who lived across the hall from us (a nurse) would have the lady who lived below us walk up to her apartment with her. One would take the front stairs, the other would take the back stairs. When she got to the foot of the stairs she saw the guy at our door. " What are you doing?" She asks, seeing the crowbar in his hands. "Oh I am here to see the girl who lives here" he says as he steps towards her. At that moment the lady from downstairs came from the other set of stairs and it frightened the guy. He ran away.
    This incident has haunted me for years. It is only luck that we were saved. If that guy would have gotten into our unit, we would have been in big trouble. It is only because the nurse came home at that very moment that nothing happened to me. We moved out shortly thereafter and I am quite sure that I saw that apartment unit on the news a few months later. The lady who lived below us was attacked and I think she died. I can't remember for sure. Sorry for the long story. Glad to finally share it with someone after all these years.

    pulp63 Report

    Kalikima
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't believe this. Why would you have someone walk to your door with you on separate stairs? And if the women were on each stair, where would the bad guy have run to?

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    #66

    I almost stepped on a rattlesnake in the mountains of AZ. It coiled up and we both froze just staring at each other. I didn’t know what to do but made the decision to toss a small stone near it, not at it, to get it to unfreeze and move away. Idk if it was dumb luck but it worked.

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    Roy Broadfield
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you were frozen, wouldn't the act of tossing the stone (and where did you ger the stone in the first place) have been enough to have caused the snake to strike?

    #67

    I was walking my dog around 11:30 PM some months ago. I had studied all day for my midfinals and needed some fresh air. I headed towards our local park and met up with one of my neighbours. We talked for a bit. Mid conversation I spot a man walking into the park, clothes blacked out, no dog with him. At that time, you were only allowed to be out of house to walk your dog or for medical reasons. Strange, I thought.


    When I finished my conversation with the neighbour, I noticed the SAME man, walking the SAME path, heading into the park. A few minutes had passed since I first saw him, so I thought to myself, something is not right here. I decided to take a different route, not in the park.


    After the walk I went home and straight to bed. The next morning I woke up and read the local news. There had been multiple gunshots at that park, about twenty minutes after I had left.

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    #68

    This was recent but my appendix ruptured a few weeks ago. I have a chronic illness already so my pain tolerance is quite high. I noticed my stomach was hurting a little extra for a few days, then on a Monday it got a little worse. Turns out I walked around and did my normal workday and activities for 3 full days with a ruptured appendix. I wasn’t in a ton of pain or anything but I kept getting this bad feeling, so I finally just decided to go to urgent care to make sure. They sent me to the ER and I was rushed into surgery.

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    #69

    I was supposed to go to a volunteer thing with my brother. At the last second I decided I wanted to stay home. 20 minutes later there were cops at our door. My brother had gotten in to a horrible accident a golf ball had gone clean through the passenger side seat about where the centre of my shoulders sat. My brother was messed up from that accident for years. If I had gone I would 100% not lived.

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    G A
    Community Member
    4 months ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    Was it a nuclear powered golf ball?

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    #70

    Pulled a guy out of a burning car. He was screaming that he needed his phone from his car while he laid on the dirt.

    I looked back thinking about grabbing it quickly. Heart stopped, and I turned around and ran for cover.

    Car blew up. Guy blew up at me for not doing more to save his s**t. I told him that I won't risk my own health for something that isn't mine. I already pulled you out, that's all I needed to do.

    rikashiku Report

    G A
    Community Member
    4 months ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    Not all heroes wear.....nah, you know what? BS o'meter twitching again.

    #71

    My husbands gut feeling, not mine. I was sick in bed with what I thought was the flu, we had 2 small babies at home so I quarantined in our room while my husband kept the babies away. I hate taking meds but I was miserable so I was taking dayquil cold and flu daytime once a day and nyquil cold and flu so I could fall asleep. Around 9 pm I was passed the eff out, my husband put the kids to bed and had a feeling he needed to check on me immediately, I was cold to the touch but had a 104 fever, he called my mom in law over (she didnt live far) picked me up and rushed me to his truck and got me to the ER. I had a kidney infection and my liver was shutting down. Had he not taking me when he did I would have died in my sleep. I was in the ICU for 8 days.I dont remember anything until I woke up the next day, they had given me morphine and I puked it all up (dont remember that) I forever owe my life to him.

    Edit- its nyquil, i am dumb.

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    #72

    I was having breathing problems, gaining weight, and trouble sleeping accompanied by difficulty waking up once I did get to sleep.

    One night, late, while watching tv on the couch, I got up and walked across the apartment to go out on the balcony and smoke a cigarette. I saw stars after doing that. Booked an appointment with a family doctor who suggested I might have anemia because of my pale color, but ordered blood tests.

    Turns out both my kidneys were completely failed and probably had been for weeks or months. Doctors said if I'd waited just a few more weeks I probably would have slipped into a coma and died. I was sent to the ER, placed into ICU, recieved a catheter in my upper chest, and started emergency dialysis the same day the results came back.

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    #73

    I'm pretty sure I've told this before, but when I was 12 I started getting allergy shots. It's a 5 year program where you gradually build up immunity. Supposedly after 5 years your body will no longer attack those allergens. And the way they do it is start with a really tiny dose, and build up over the course of many months, you get to a peak level, and then stay there for a while, and then you start over at a low level and get to a peak level over time, etc. etc.

    Anyway, when I was 16 (so 4 years into the program) I got my shots. And it was at the peak level, which I had been at for a while. You are required to stay 15 minutes in case of a reaction, and then you can go. My dad was with me and after the 15 minutes were up, he said we could go. I felt fine, but had this moment where I suggested we just wait for five more minutes. Within that time, I started having trouble breathing.

    Sidenote, often during the visits, they'd have me blow into a tube hooked up to a computer to check my lung strength or capacity or something. It was synced to a three little pigs animation, and the harder you blew, the more houses would fall down. It was good if you could get the brick house down.

    So we tell the doctor that I'm having a hard time breathing, they take me to the lung test, and I can't even get the first house down. They rush me to a bed, are checking my blood pressure, which is going down fast. They put me on oxygen, and do two shots of epinephrine, an adrenaline type shot that gets your heart pumping. They told my dad to call my mom because they weren't sure if I'd make it.

    Turns out I did make it, and I'm not allowed to get allergy shots anymore, and since I was only 4 of the 5 years, my allergies are still here, and it's annoying as ever.

    That's my story of how I almost died, but survived almost solely because I stayed longer than I needed to even though I had the opportunity to leave the clinic. Had we left, I would have been a couple miles away from the clinic and who knows if there would have been time to get back or know what was wrong.

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    #74

    Nothing spectacular but I worked for 3 weeks in a fishing boat (prawns). We would collect and throw creels which spanned a mile long so you can imagine that there was a lot of rope on board. So I was new to this job and while I am throwing off a big chain (that’s tied to the spoils of rope) I kinda get an off feeling that my foot was in the wrong place. I look down and it’s in between one of the spoils. If I hadn’t of removed my foot it could have dragged me off the boat and pulled me under water.

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    BrownEyedPanda
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Did they mean "spools," instead of "spoils"?

    #75

    Just after I turned 21, my best friend wanted me to go out with him on St Pattys day to bar hop. There is nothing that prevented me from going, I had to work the next day but that never stopped me before. My gut told me no. I declined. A few days later I ran into his ex, and he had an accident, got his cousin to go with him. He ended up off the road, hit a ditch and flipped the car several times, his cousin died and he lived.

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    Sea Squirrel
    Community Member
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't get why nobody told the best friend about this accident?

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    #76

    My appendix ruptured. I drive myself to the hospital, walked in the emergency doors, and told them I was almost certain my appendix had ruptured. They wanted to wait for pregnancy tests (impossible), blood labs, and COVID test before finally doing a CT and rushing me off to surgery. I’m lucky I went in when I did instead of waiting until it got worse, because I couldn’t afford any more time than that. Spent 3 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics, basically having a dissociative episode the whole time.

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    #77

    I was about 7 years old and had just left parents evening, i used to always sprint across the road as fast as i could but one night I decided not to. It was around 8:30 at night and just had a feeling of walking instead of running. I clipped that car’s wing mirror whilst they were going around 70 mph. They didn’t even stop to see if I was alright.

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    Bi.Felicia
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Wondering if they heard or saw the cars lights, if they had any on. Luckily this wasn't a tragedy. It says OP left whatever a parents evening is, where he typically would just sprint across the street, as fast as he could, but chose to walk this time. Not sure if they stopped and looked before crossing or how they know this car was going 70mph? Hopefully OP stopped sprinting across streets.

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    #78

    I was up in the mountains snowboarding with my family, I was at the top of the mountain, my mother at the bottom having already gone down on her skiis and was at the bottom.

    There was a old, broken down fence along the side of the mountain, a very steep drop covered in rocks, ice, and trees on the otherwise.

    People going down around me as I headed down along the fence to the black diamond hill. And there was a child who had tried go around me, clearly much younger on their skiis. The kid had rammed into the back of me, causing me to go off course towards the broken fence.

    I fell over, feeling that of I had more friction on the snow I wouldn't fly over the edge. I've tbe right call, I slammed into the fence while laying on my back as my board hung over the side, as I desperately held onto the wood, and digging my hands into the snow.

    I didnt fall, thankfully.

    anon Report

    Roy Broadfield
    Community Member
    Premium
    4 months ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you were digging into the show with your hands, what were you desperately holding on to the wood with?

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    #79

    When I was 7 yo I had stomach ulcers due to stress and was constantly sick, couldn’t eat and weighed less than 40 lbs. one night I threw up in the middle of the night (which was normal for me) but something just seemed off so I woke my mom up (who I slept next to every night) and asked her to turn on the light and when I looked in the bucket all I saw was blood and chunks of blood and had to go into emergency surgery. If I wouldn’t have asked my mom to turn on I don’t think I’d be here to tell the tale lol.

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    G A
    Community Member
    4 months ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    What is a 7 year old stressed by?

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    #80

    I stopped a bus from rolling down a hill. Long story short, the driver left kids unattended on a hill, with nothing but air brakes holding us in place. Last bus driver showed one of the older girls the noise the air brakes made. She showed us and we started rolling down the hill towards a cinder block building. I ran from the back and applied the brakes. One girl was thrown forward and broke her arm, two got scrapes for jumping from the bus. The rest of us were not injured.

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