Why are you alive?

[biostud]

Which near death experiences or accidents that could have gone horribly wrong have you experienced?

When I was two years old, I choked on a plum stone and was rushed with an ambulance to the hospital.

When I was around ten, I catapulted a paving stone up in the air. As I couldn't see it, I just ran around in the playground, and it hit me on top of my head. Luckily without cracking my skull or any severe head trauma.

 

[Geven]

I almost drowned when I was around 12 years old. Since then I cannot swim because this fear of having nothing under my feet is so overwhelming and powerful. I think it got deeply into my mind. It's some of those experiences you just cannot forget because it was so terribly real.

 

[mikeymikec]

What's a near-death experience that could have gone horribly wrong? Is surviving the horribly wrong bit?

Surely a near-death experience is the thing that went horribly wrong? Or is this a "wrong...er" situation?

Seriously though, closest I've been afaik:
Once upon a time I was driving on the motorway (UK), so three lanes of traffic on level terrain going straight forward. People were merging into the fast (right-most) lane to overtake for reasons I don't remember, presumably two slow-ass lorries bunging up the first two lanes, and because it was level terrain going straight ahead was difficult to see what's coming beyond the car in front of you. Well, suddenly the traffic in the fast lane ground to a halt very quickly, probably my attention was averted for a moment and I had to emergency-swerve into the slower lane and eventually braked to a halt several cars ahead of where I was previously.

These days I try to leave a good ten car lengths between me and the car in front in most situations, then fall victim to idiots who decide they can merge in front of me, causing me to slow down to create the distance again, rinse and repeat. At some point I overtake all the idiots, find a new spot, then the overall process starts over.

 

[biostud]

What's a near-death experience that could have gone horribly wrong? Is surviving the horribly wrong bit?

Surely a near-death experience is the thing that went horribly wrong? Or is this a "wrong...er" situation?

When I was around ten, I catapulted a paving stone up in the air. As I couldn't see it, I just ran around in the playground, and it hit me on top of my head. Luckily without cracking my skull or any severe head trauma.

Maybe I'm not awere....

 

[lxskllr]

Running across the road I cleared two lanes of traffic, but neglected to note the third lane and ran into the side of a car.
Slipped off a bridge form and caught myself on the ground a couple inches short of having rebar go through my neck.
Had ⅝" cable dropped on my head when I was 12' down in a hole.
Walking along the interstate, I had a tractortrailer slide by me in a cloud of smoke.
Had a runaway truck pass about 6' from me. It went on to take out a 10" pump and land in the creek.

There's other stuff, but those are the highlights.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Wasn't a near death experience but I thought I was going to die when my house got hit by a tornado when I was maybe 10 or 12. It was at night so couldn't see it but the tornado warning sirens I had never heard before were blaring in my neighborhood, my parents, brother and I, and our dog were huddled up in the hallway with all the doors closed, all of a sudden hear a big rain of hail blast through my parents' bedroom window sounding like a machine gun and then feel all of the air getting sucked out of every room under the doors and through the hallway we were in up into the attic and thought well guess I'm dying here. And a few seconds later it was over. Pulled a bunch of roof shingles off, pulled the electric meter off the back of the house, took down a bunch of branches, but no major damage. But the house across the alley from me had a tree thrown into it and was in pretty bad shape.

 

[nOOky]

I never asked my parents to bring me into this godforsaken world. So there.

 

[allisolm]

Two different times I was in a building as it was hit by a tornado.
I stayed home for Hurricane Michael in 2019 and that was really scary.
Once I was flying back to college after summer break and I looked out the window to see the engines on my side on fire. I looked around and no one else seemed to have noticed. A few minutes later the pilot announced that we were returning due to a "mechanical malfunction." I couldn't help but think ''mechanical malfunction my a**. IT'S FIRE! We landed on a foamed runway and went down the slide.

 

[nakedfrog]

Friend and I were playing near a drainage ditch, close to where the concrete tube goes into the ground. I fell into the rushing water, bobbed up because of the buoyancy of my jacket, my friend grabbed my hand and pulled me out. Very nearly got run over by a large truck when crossing a 7 lane road. This one is less close, but missed my ride for a train, and the train I would have been on had a collision with another train, eight people died.

I never asked my parents to bring me into this godforsaken world. So there.

You and Lost in the HTTP should have a party.

 

[akenbennu]

Extreme premature birth, weighed under 2 lbs. Managed to make it out of the NICU. (This was in the early 70s, when the neonatal care wasn't nearly as good as it is now.)

 

[Dr. Detroit]

I had a anchor on my rappel line come undone - ended up on a massive rope swing which ended in me slamming hip, shoulder, then head into a cliff. Hiked a 1/4 mile out, buddy drove me to the nearest hospital ~45-minutes away and got 8-staples in my noggin.

Of course there are the countless other times that one step off a hiking trail meant a plunge down a ravine or cliff.

Daily rides on BART to Oakland or the Mission in SF...

 

[Zeze]

I was on a fam vacation somewhere. I was 8 yo. I was just walking around trying to check out the creek. I realized I was suddenly at the ledge to a 30' cliff with the roaring water underneath.

I realized if I fell, my parents wouldn't have a slightest idea until they found a body later.

 

[skyking]

I was doing search and rescue and damn near became a statistic. The guy I was flying with wanted some stick time and he stuck us up a box canyon out of altitude airspeed and ideas. When I looked up from looking for the downed aircraft and realized where we were, I had to take over and I did essentially a spin entry to get out of there.
Pull it up. Keep rolling hard, then let off the back pressure. Stab rudder, half turned spin entry, then rushing down the trees and into the lower canyon below picking up airspeed.
I don't know how close too close is.
That one was close!

 

[Captante]

To many to count .... not inspired to write at the moment but will report back.

 

[BoomerD]

Me...I've lived a charmed, danger free existence.

 

[Braznor]

Life is, but a brief inconvenience between eternal sleep.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I never asked my parents to bring me into this godforsaken world. So there.

TBH, not their fault. Most of us are from a time when the world's future didn't seem so bleak. Everyone was hopeful. If they had known what the world would become, they would have spared us our births.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I have had a few close escapes but I need to remember hard.

One thing I know is that hypoxia is painful coz I suffered some serious blackouts for a good 10 seconds after donating blood. My whole head throbbed hard due to not enough blood cells to carry oxygen to my brain. I had to sit down for a minute or two to recover. The guy before me just dropped to the floor. Funny thing is, I was feeling fine just before I saw him drop.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Once I was flying back to college after summer break and I looked out the window to see the engines on my side on fire. I looked around and no one else seemed to have noticed. A few minutes later the pilot announced that we were returning due to a "mechanical malfunction." I couldn't help but think ''mechanical malfunction my a**. IT'S FIRE! We landed on a foamed runway and went down the slide.

Good on you for not causing a plane wide panic.

I can just imagine a Karen going, "Fire! FiiiiiRRRRREEEEE! Get out of the way! Open the door! FIRE!!!!"

 

[igor_kavinski]

Extreme premature birth, weighed under 2 lbs. Managed to make it out of the NICU. (This was in the early 70s, when the neonatal care wasn't nearly as good as it is now.)

My brother was the same. Born in 1986. They barely saved him and he got the best care in a fancy big hospital. I don't think his brain turned out too well, though. He isn't that good at studying or reading. I have a feeling that his heart is in the right place but thinking just gives him a headache. So he just blurts out whatever comes to his mind. Jobless at the moment coz he went on annual leave during COVID and they replaced him.

 

[igor_kavinski]

To many to count .... not inspired to write at the moment but will report back.

Make sure the report is THOROUGH. You will be graded

 

[igor_kavinski]

Some bastard once ran a red traffic light. I was in the habit of crossing quickly as soon as I saw cars come to a stop. I was almost there when I saw this bastard coming at me with full pedal to the metal. Missed me by a second or two. That bastard. May he rot in hell.

 

[H T C]

Once, i was fishing for navalheiras (it's a specific crab: dunno it's name in English) and octopus in a deserted "rocky beach" and wasn't particularly concerned with the sea because the biggest waves literally only reached my ankles where i was, so i had my back to the ocean often.

However, i happened to glance @ the ocean and "a body of water" was coming in my direction ... fast ... though it was still around 20 or so seconds away from me: i grabbed my gear, stretched my arms wide open holding the gear and flexed my knees a bit for balance ...


The "body of water" hit me ABOVE my waist but i managed NOT to get knocked down ... somehow ...


I'm 100% convinced that, had i been knocked down, i'd have died there because i was standing in a rocky place surrounded by huge rocks and, had i been knocked down and pushed around by the water, it would have been VERY EASY to hit my head in a rock and, with the "beach" being deserted, there would be no one to help if i needed any.


That i recall, that's the biggest scare i had in my life.

 

[DigDog]

NO COMMENT

 

[Charmonium]

To many to count .... not inspired to write at the moment but will report back.

You probably have more pressing and immediate concerns but if you think we're gonna let you slide, then it's time for another 'think.'
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Heeheeheehee
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The worst for me was EEE (Eastern Equine Encephalitis - most likely) when I was 6. You have no idea what a bad hangover is until you've lived with a swollen brain and spinal membrane for a couple of weeks (meningoencephalitis).

That sort of brain damage makes you oohhh so much more likely to do stupid things like wrap some wire around one of the prongs of an A/C plug and then introduce that prong to and A/C outlet. Oh man, I suffered much more via maternal retribution than if I'd died.
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Not sure how old I was. Probably 3 or 4. Dad was burning brush and apparently even at that age I was something of a pyro. So I ran outside and right into the burn-area. But I guess the wind shifted and I was trapped by the flames. Screamed my little toddler head off and dad came to my rescue. It was sorta "fun."
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When I was 16 (roughly 9 years after mom and I had put AL in our rear view) we took a drive to visit our little, unimproved lot on Marathon Key. The FL keys are a wonderful place to visit. You can walk a few hundred yards into the water there and it's still barely above your thighs.

Anyway, on the way back, we drove up the gulf coast and stopped at Sanibel Island. That's another place for your bucket list. The island juts out into the gulf stream and the beaches have a thick layer of seashells - especially after a storm.

No life-guarded beaches at the time but some very strong undertow. I went out maybe 30-50 feet into the gulf and couldn't get back to shore. Fortunately, I'd long ago learned how to float for extended periods on my back. I knew there was a nice, placid cove nearby where there shouldn't be any undertow. It took me a little while to do that floating on my back but I eventually got to it and was able to swim across and back onto land.
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I know there have to be more incidents of note but drawing a blank. Will come back here if any are worth mentioning.