How many times have you almost died?

[Dion]

Great topic!

This past summer I was vacationing in Minnesota. I was driving up to my brothers lake house north of Minneapolis. About half way there I was passing a semi on the on the outside lane. The driver decides to change into my lane without doing a shoulder check. We were approaching a bridge and for me to go onto the shoulder would have meant trip into the river below. My only choice was to slam on the brakes and hope I don't end up under his back wheels. Got lucky as the back end of the trailer just missed my front end by inches. Complicating the problem was the fact that another semi was following behind me. I could hear his horn and the squeal of brakes as he tried to stop. I managed to slip behind the semi that cut me off before I got rear ended.

[Wookie]

MY buddy hit a deer on the highway coming back from Edmonton at going 120.







He was on a motorcycle, the thing exploded (deer), he went flying, slid along the highway, disintegrated a bunch of his attire, got up, had a fractured thumb



Me, hmm.. going about 120 down 12th ave sw, probably around 12th or 10th st with a buddy doing the same beside me. We were 17 (10 years ago), lady turns left from the middle lane across my lane and the one to the left of me. Bad turn, but with the speed I'm going it's all going to be my fault, I can't blame her had I died.

So I correct to the left, start seriously sliding, hurtling towards whatever shop is on the corner and a restaurant, I'm going into either if I don't change something, ease off brakes, correct to right, start heading for a light post, ease off brakes correct to left the perfect amount, slide between light-post and phone booth on sidewalk.. start driving down sidewalk for about half a block, probably have only managed to slow to about 60, I see an opening, go between two parking meters, back onto 12th ave SW... Look to my right my buddy who swerved the other way is driving beside me jaw open in disbelief, two friends with me "HOLY ****" buddy in other car gives me thumbs up.. We continue on our way.

Few hours later I'm feeling really sick.. really really sick. Weird feeling. I know I saved myself and my friends with some lucky and skilled recovery, but I put everyone in that position and whoever else was on the road.

14 years old. About to start grade 10. Go camping with brother and sisters friends, down about 14 beers, start to slide down some steep cliff into a swirling section of the bow river, brothers friend reaches down and one arms me off the edge of the cliff. Buddy saved my life and probably has no memory of it.

That's about it.

Appendicitis, was huge and near rupture..

[Ford Prefect]

Four times ... all vehicle related. Twice as a passenger and twice as a driver.

The first was a near head-on collision with a driver who must have been playing chicken. I was about 12 at the time, and my dad was driving.

The second was also as a passenger with dad driving. A two-ton grain truck came in from a side road and T-boned us. The vehicle rolled several times, during which I was ejected and sustained head injuries.

The third was during a howling blizzard, driving alone. I hit a white-out, lost the road, but found the ditch. I had to walk about a mile into the teeth of blizzard. It was about -30 degrees, but I don't have a clue what the wind chill was It was so cold I had to walk backwards because I couldn't breathe facing into the icey wind. I was saved by the fact I had a survival kit that included snow boots and a snowmobile suit. I did suffer some frostbite.

The fourth was the closest. I was driving alone, it was late at night, and I fell asleep. The car cartwheeled several times, end for end. I was ejected at some point, and sustained three spinal fractures, including one to a bone at top of the spine which joins the spine to the brain stem. It's called the hangman's bone in layman' terms because it's the bone that is supposed to break in a well-executed hanging, and it normally stops all heart and lung function. For some reason that didn't happen to me. It wasn't my time I guess, as the saying goes. Working in my favour with these injuries was the fact they were all clean, stable fractures, and I was in pretty good shape so my muscle tone would have helped to keep the fractures in alignment, rather than shifting and pinching my spinal cord.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Hey, sweet topic!

1. Parents went away on vacation and left me home alone when I was around 13 years old. Took the car out with my friend, and for whatever idiotic reason, decided to "warm up" my driving skills on a gravel road thinking there'd be no other cars around, so I wouldn't have to worry about actually hitting another car. So I'm driving down this gravel road, and well, my tires start to slip and next thing you know, I'm doing a 360 in the car with my friend beside me. I wasn't wearing a seat belt, and we were going pretty fast and I was thrown into the windshield before the car finally fell into the ditch. The impact of my head against the windshield actually cracked the windshield, and I when I fell back, I ended up motionless on my friend's lap for about 15-20 seconds he said. No bruises, no cuts.

2. Can't even remember how old I was... probably around 8? 9, maybe? I used to watch TV in my parents' room and jump on my parents' bed during commercials 'cause I'd be bored . I tried jumping straight up and landing on my back once for the first time once and it was awesome!! Except one time, when I jumped, I was a little too close to the headboard and the back of my head smacked the headboard HARD right before I landed! Damn that hurt! I remember squirming around on the bed for a good 5 minutes in agony, but I didn't tell my parents 'cause I didn't wanna get in trouble!

[Reggie Dunlop]

Four years old. Being the bold L'il gaffer, I wanted to swim with the big kids at the Happy Valley swimming pool. Sunk like a rock to the bottom. Came too and some lady was kissing me. I started crying.

Other time, I was 27 and getting emergency midnight surgery after a whole bunch of organs started shutting down. Chrohn's Disease had turned parts of my intestine gangerous. Appendix, gall bladder and about 18 inches of upper intestine removed. Liver became infected. I was a real mess. Would've croaked within hours.

[Jiggy_12]

Almost nailed by a car while crossing the street a few years ago. A cab actually, came so close I felt could feel the car actually touch my pants.

Cracked my head open pretty good when fooling around as a kid, if I landed a bit differently it could have been much more serious.

[PsYcNeT]

1. Almost choked to death on partially chewed piece of broccolli when I was about 11. Got heimliched.

2. Had crazy carpet ripped (painfully) out of my hands while walking to a ski hill (in a crosswalk no less) and talking to my babysitter at 9. Minivan missed by about 4 inches. Strangely enough, the guy driving got out and procceeded to ream out my babysitter for not watching where we were going (keep in mind we were on a residential street and about 2/3 of the way through the crosswalk, and he was inbound from a school/playground zone).

3. Slipped on New Years at 16 while drunkenly attempting to scale the pointy steel gate at Canyon Meadows Country Club (from inside, after wandering through from Woodbine) and somehow missed impaling myself on a protruding 10x3/4x3/4 inch spike by a fraction of an inch, instead tearing up my back and my shirt right off. The next guy over slipped and fell on his back from 10 feet up. We were smart people

4. Almost flew off the highway travelling from Sycamoose to Mara Lake with my crazy buddy tearing it up in his Dodge Avenger, took an S-turn at 125 at 2 AM, saw the barrier and left a 50 foot skidmark leading right up to guardrail and a 40 foot drop into the lake

[RougeUnderoos]

I got hit by a car when I was riding my bike when I was just a little gaffer, about 22 or so. I was going full-flight when with about 10 feet of notice this car turned right in front of me. I hit the brakes but that didn't help. My front wheel hit his front right wheel/fender and over the top I went. My ass hit his windshield and I landed on the other side of the car on my feet about 3 feet from his window. He rolled the window down and, wide-eyed, said "are you alright"? I said yes and he watched me, from his seat, pick up my bike. The whole thing took about 3 seconds but I distinctly remember thinking "I wish my helmet was on my head instead of hanging off the door handle of the storage room in my apartment" as I flew over his car.

It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to be scared. A minute or two later as I was continuing on my way (the bike was mostly unscathed, just a slightly bent rim) I started shaking something fierce and had to slow down and put my foot on the curb.

Not close to death at all, but I thought so for a second.

[Vulcan]

Looking back over my life, I guess i've faced death a few times, just about all self inflicted [well not on purpose] but I've lived on the edge a bit. One time I don't mind talking about I was working on a office tower in Calgary, probably on about the 16th floor. I had hung a guy line which is a steel cable used to plumb the building during construction. I walked out on an 8" beam [ pretty common for my line of work] to tighten the turnbuckle on the guy line. I tightened it up as far as it would go but the foreman wanted one more turn. OK, the guy line broke taking a chunk out of my knee. I was kind of expecting something bad to happen so I was half ready and managed to grab the beam before going down. Man I've been lucky and have gotten a lot of chances in this life.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Azure

Anyone on here who has actually been dead(heart has stopped) only to have the best group of people in the world(EMTs) bring you back to life again?

Talk about a life-changing experiance.

Well one night driving home my heart felt a bit funny so I went to the clinic. The doctor said I was fine and it should go away on its own. The next day it still felt funny, so I went to the hospital. They couldn't feel my pulse at all because it was so irregular and they rushed me in immediately. About 10 minutes later my heart didn't beat for a full 10 seconds. I was defibrulated, but because I'm so tall they didn't get the right spot for the contacts. Not realizing this, the answer was to crank up the voltage and do it again. I think it was 3 times in total. I had HUGE burns from that. The next day I woke up and felt like I got the **** beat out of me by a large group of people kicking me in the ribs, ever muscle in my torso ached.

I had passed out at some point during the 10 seconds of no heart beat and as I felt myself losing consciousness and could hear the heart monitor alarming, I was faced with the prospect of dying. Scariest moment of my life. When I came to the first thing I saw was those hideous orange and brown hospital curtains, the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life. I think my mom almost died that day too as she had given me a ride to the hospital and they pulled her out of the ER after I flat lined and 10 doctors and nurses had come rushing in. She had to wait a good 10 minutes before knowing how I was doing or if I was dead.

The same thing happened a month later, but by this point I knew it was actually harmless and it was impossible for me to die so it was a lot less scary.

The next one is copy and pasted from a thread earlier this year
__________________________________________________ _____

Since we are getting into dangerous games we played when we were younger, I'll throw in my favorite bumper shining story. One of our friends had his parents Chevy Lumina minivan (the SpaceVan it was called). The streets had been really snowy but a chinook and a refreeze had turned them into sheer ice on top of the snow. The SpaceVan driver shows up with some rope and a couple of kids sleds and we tie the rope to the hitch, two guys sit in the back with their legs hanging out the van with the tailgate up, one guy goes on the sled and holds on to the rope, and one guy drives.

We're having a great time and it comes up to be my turn. I hop on the sled, grab the rope, and we take off. We went into the back alleys and I'm getting pulled along and the driver gets going pretty quick... probably about 30km/h. I'm barely hanging on and the sled is bouncing all over the place. The driver is laughing so hard looking back at me as he whips around corners that he forgets to look ahead of him. Up ahead the alley intersected with a street. It was a steep down ramp to the street, then the crowned street and a steep up ramp back into the alley. I can't see this because I'm behind the van, the driver can't see it because he's looking backwards... and then BAM.

The hatch on the van closes, so they can no longer see me. I'm barely hanging on, twisted sideways and on my back on the sled and a car goes by right behind me on the street. They freak out because they can just see that a car came right after and have no idea where I am. I hit the ramp back into the alley just as the hatch bounces up. They see me go flying through the air and landing hard on my ass. I'd let go of the rope in the air but somehow the rope got me by the ankle and I was getting dragged by my leg behind the van. Finally my foot comes out and I slide to a stop with no shoe and no sled and a van of people laughing hysterically. The driver felt kind of bad that I was a couple feet from being hit by a car but decided it was funny enough that it was okay.

__________________________________________________ _____

I also had some emergency surgery when I was a baby because my mom thought something was odd in the way I was behaving. My intestines happen to be leaking waste into my abdominal cavity.

Apparently I didn't have long. That one isn't very exciting though.

[STeeLy]

Hmmm... I think I have a couple.

1. When I was about 6 or so, I was riding my bike, trying to cross a busy intersection, I saw the bus, but I thought I could make it across... as I started up, the bus left the stop... it came about 4-5 inches from hitting me, I turned back and took the safer route ever since then. Apparently, my mom saw me attempting this as well as she was driving to the same place.

2. I was walking to the Cineplex Odeon at Sundridge, I was crossing the road with only a pedestrian sign on the side and the crosswalk. Just as I was stepping out, I pick up truck almost hit me, had I got out ONE STEP more... I probably would have been killed at the speed he was going.


3. My mom, dad were in the front seat of the Corolla and me and my brother was in the back. 4th ave and Center (downtown). It was a green light for us and we were going, there was a little bit of traffic on center heading north so we couldn't see the car coming from the north side. We were going through the intersection across center street. A car going south bound on center runs a red, if my mom didn't brake in time, the impact would have probably killed me and left my dad seriously injured. At the time, my friend and his mom were on the corner turning from Center onto 4th. Wouldn't be pretty for them had it happened.

4. Harvest Hills Blvd going onto Beddington Blvd, Ford Windstar, we were rushing to get to Church because I was running late so my dad drove a little faster, we were going on the bend and suddenly my dad losses control and did a 360, luckily the car behind us went pretty slow up the turn.

[the crispy badger]

We were going to NB from Calgary back in 1988..as we passed through Nipegon Ont a semi sideswiped our van and as we found out later..the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel..he came within inchs of hitting us head on (he took off the side mirror and the whole side of our van)but still managed to destroy everything we own...that was a bad week.

I was hit by a bus while on my bike by Franklin mall back when I was 12..luckily it was slowing down and there were only minor injuries..although my family had been coming down the road at that exact moment and it was quite a sight to see my aunt LEAP from the moving van when she recognized it was me laying on the ground with ambulances all around.

[Incinerator]

One quiet morning in a chinook years ago I was doing about 90kph down Crowchild northbound just after 33rd Ave in my old beater Civic, as I hit the bend right after the 17th Ave exit I hit a patch of black ice on the far left lane, doing 3 complete revolutions of 360s before I finally gained control of the car with some panic drifting and kept going down to the Bow Trail exit without missing a beat (car never stopped). There were no cars around me at the time. My heart didn't stop pounding for a good 10 minutes.

[Frank the Tank]

Its kind of scary how many of these are vehicle-related.

I've been hit by lightning. That was freaky. And, for the record, it freaking HURTS! Felt like my ear drums exploded and every muscle in my body just seized.

I was riding my mountain bike down a bike path beside a fairly busy road, probably going 60 km/h as it is a fairly steep downhill. Woman slowly passes by me and proceeds to make a right turn onto the side street right in front of me. I lock up both brakes and my bike turns sideways and I bounce off the back quarter panel and amazingly don't even fall off my bike.

I immediately start screaming obscenities at the woman who has stopped and rolled down her window. She peels out of there like a bat out of hell as I ride towards her swearing like a trucker at the top of my lungs. I guess a 260lb gorilla on a mountain bike is a bit scary.

[ericschand]

Twice when I was a kid.

First time when I was riding my bike and some tool pulled out in
front of me. I hit his car, flew over it, and landed on the other side.
Shoulder, back, and knee were bleeding badly. This is before the whole
"wear a helmet while riding your bike" thing. Guy gets out of his
car and starts screaming at me about the dent in his car. Don't know
what happened after that, as my friends 250lb father came over, and
I passed out.

Another time I was delivering newspapers in -35C snowy weather.
I was crossing the street, at the crosswalk, all bundled up and walked
right into the SIDE of a car driving down the street. One more step,
I was a goner.

Lady got out and started hollering at me for crossing the road, etc, etc.
Note that this crossing had the button you push to start the lights
flashing, and I had pushed it. It was also a playground zone.

One of my customers came out, slammed this lady up against her car and
his wife called the cops, who promptly confiscated her car and put her
in the back in handcuffs. [Not really sure why, what, etc., they didn't
explain their actions to a 13 year old. They didn't even talk to my
parents. They were nice enough to finish the last 5 houses on my
route and give me a ride home though.]

ers

[Lucky boy]

My Dad had a job in Africa for a couple of years when I was younger. I think I was about 8 or 9 years old. The locals over there used to tell my friend and I to never go onto the other side of this huge barbed wire fence. Well curiousty got the better of us and we found a small hole in the fence and got through.

After about a 10 minute stroll around the area (we made sure the fence was still in our sight) we get this erie feeling and decide we should go back. About 10 seconds later, two huge guard dogs show up behind us and start chasing us. They looked like wolves, scariest beasts I have ever seen to this day. I wish I was better with words so I could describe how vicious these dogs looked. We literally barely make it through the fence. I got cuts all over my arms from the barbed wire.

I had nightmares about this for months. I have never been more scared of anything in my entire life. We went and told my friends older brother about it. Turns out that the barbed wire was guarding an army outpost and that that entire area is also a mine field.

I stayed out of trouble for the most part after that experience. I still have a phobia from dogs.

Almost drowned a couple of times. Once went into the hotel pool without telling my parents. The pool was completely empty. I thought I knew how to swim, but I didn't. Don't remember how I got out. I was drowning one minute and a second later, I somehow had my hands wrapped around the swimming pool ledge.

In the ocean once, I got stuck in a current. Everytime I tried to swim out, it sucked me back in. I gave up, and thought I was dead for sure. Then all of a sudden, a wave came out of nowhere and carried right out of the current and back to a spot where I could feel the ground again. I thank God for that one everytime I see the ocean.

Got hit by a car while riding my bike. That was a wierd feeling. I just remember waking up in a hospital. Apparently I was hit hard enough that I flew about 10 feet away from my bike, which got stuck under the car. I should have looked both ways before I crossed the street.

[HOZ]

0

And proud to keep the donut going!

I will never do skydiving again so things look good. What an incredibly stupid thing to do, jumping out of airplanes.

[Superflyer]

1. When I was about 6 or 7 I lived on a farm and I went with my Dad to pick up hay. Well the wagon was full and I was sitting on the wheel well while Dad was driveing like I always do and we hit a bit gopher hole, I fall over and look up just as the wagon is about to run over me. I rolled out of the way just in time. I laughed it off saying I am Indiana Jones.

2. My appendix burst when I was 15. I felt bad really quickly and thought that I was just sick. I had a bath to feel better and it did not help. Very soon it hurt so much that I could not move so my brother took me to the hospital. Since I lived in Creston and the hospital there is useless they ran some tests and got worried to they sent me by ambulance to Cranbrook. When I got there I got x-rays and ultrasounds and they thought either I had a twisted bowel or a ruptured appendix. I went for surgury as they knew if it was the appendix I had to get in there ASAP. They checked it out and found that my appendix had ruptured and they said I was about an hour away from dying. I spent the next week and a half in the hospital with tubes coming out of me draining the black stuff out.

3. I was at a party at a friends when I was about 17 in Creston and we decided to go dirt biking at the track that we made. There were about 8 or 9 of us. After we were done there we decided to go back to my friends place and drink the night away. So to get back we had 3 bikes and 1 truck to I got in the back of the truck. We were going down a dirt road to get back and the driver decided to show off for his girlfriend and start fishtailing. He lost control and went into the ditch. Since I was in the back and had to restraints I hit my head on the side of the box and the back window and then got thrown out. My head missed a large rock by an inch or so and I passed out for a few minutes.

[Ford Prefect]

Reading this threat reinforces what I learned from my own experiences ... the human body is much like those old Timex commercials. It can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. That, and a lot of us have dumb ass luck.

[Bench Warmer]

I think I've had a couple of close ones...

1. I was passenger heading to Saskatoon for a hockey game. Weather and roads are terrible. As we're going around a big wide corner on the highway, car loses controls and slides into the ditch. I'm in the front seat passenger and the seatbelt didn't work. If we would've rolled I would've been in trouble. This really hit me last year as I had two co-workers travelling the same highway and I believe on the same wide corner, they hit a patch of ice, rolled and one of them died. Scary.

2. Walking back to a buddies place after getting absolutely plastered at the bar. There was three of us and to get to my buddies place, we had to cross train tracks. So, my one buddy runs over the train tracks and I am about to start to do the same. At that moment, my other buddy - who's also hammered - puts his arm in front of chest and stops me. This locomotive then goes by just like a ghost train. It didn't have it's lights on or anything. All I remember is this train going by right in front of me and the engineer glaring at us out the of train 'cockpit'. I would've ran right into it. I to this day don't think I realize how close I really was to disaster there.