How close have you come to dying?

1. 59

   Daffy Duckposted 12 years ago

   When I was 2 yrs old I fell into a swimming pool and almost drowned.  When I was 6 or 7 my brother shot me with a bebe gun.  It came within 1 inch of piercing my heart.  Since then I've been alright mostly.  What about you?

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      Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When I was in my 20s, I had severe dehydration from illness and was barely conscious & doctor ordered for me to have sodium and potassium IV immediately.  They said that with my salts so low, I could have suffered cardiac arrest anytime soon.
      
      I've had a few near head-on collisions with vehicles coming too fast in wrong lane

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   2. 0

      CollBposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've nearly fainted in a crowded train a few times as it's normally packed like a tin of sardines but I've managed somehow - I'm as fine as can be considering the events that are happening of late.

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   3. 0

      kimberlyslyricsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      4 years ago on life support for 3 days, remember dieing, yes sounds ridiculous, but true.  Very peaceful feeling

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   4. 61

      nightwork4posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      i was hit by a car and spent 3 months in the hospital when i was 7. i suffered from methane gas poisoning 2 years ago and i was about 30 minutes from passing out where i would have died. other then that, i have only had 2 or 3 other close calls.

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2. 81

   schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years ago

   I'm ok, I haven't come close but interesting topic!

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3. 75

   Cagsilposted 12 years ago

   The closest I've come to death is during my younger years. I was 18 years old, working a job, when family could get a discount because a member worked on site. I remember that I specifically pointed it out to the person who rang up my mother's bill. However, later found that in fact she didn't give my mother my discount.
   
   So, I headed back to work on my motorcycle and not in a very good mood, I might add, considering I was doing 45 miles per hour on my bike on average city roads, where the speed limit was 30 miles per hour.
   
   I ended up hitting the side of a car that was driven by a 14 year old boy(I found out later). My bike slammed into the side of the car at full speed, because I had no time to break. My body went through the 3 foot shield I had on my bike, my head(covered by full face helmet) slammed at an angle to the side of the car....witnesses said in the police report that my body flew up some 15 feet in the air and 15 feet past the car I hit.
   
   When police arrived on scene, no one could tell whether or not I was breathing. And, no one approached me to find out until the paramedics arrived on scene. I did wake up in the Emergency room, to a doctor leaning over my face.
   
   That's the closest I've physically come to death.

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   1. 81

      schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      w.o.w.

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4. 83

   earnestshubposted 12 years ago

   With a life as a petrol head, I have come very close many times. Racing motorcycles got me up close and personal with potential death every time I raced, test road bikes.
   I got a lot closer in the late 90's with a usually fatal cancer. I was told flat out by my doctor that I wasn't gonna make it, and got a private room to die in. I fought like a tiger for my life, and beat all the odds. They did the impossible and filled a hole the size of a dinner plate in my back by removing my lateral dorsal muscle and stuffing it in the hole.
   As a smoker, I could not oxygenate the wound and the graft was dying. I asked if exercise would help and was told it couldn't hurt, so I put all my drips and feeds into a pillowcase so I could run up and down the hospital stairs without being strapped to a bed.
   It took 4 days and nights, but I got the oxygen count high enough to save the graft.
   When I left the hospital I had more than 150 stitches in two wounds and staples right down my left side. I went and played cricket in the park and popped all the staples! Luckily the park was opposite the hospital, so I went and got sown up again.
   6 weeks later I could do pull-ups with just one lateral dorsal working and recovered completely. If you met me now you would never guess I had been ill apart from the scars which are barely visible.

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   1. 59

      Daffy Duckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I feel incredibly lucky compared to you.  All I did was almost drown and get shot.  Damn man.

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      1. 83

         earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I feel incredibly lucky to be here at all! As the son of a logging contractor who worked alongside my dad in the bush, I could not count the number of close shaves I had as a little tacker as well. Some of us are lucky I guess, I certainly feel lucky!

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5. 74

   sabrebIadeposted 12 years ago

   I can relate Earnest.
   Had a blockage in 2007 in my intestine (cancer) that was so bad that the Dr. said it could have ruptured and killed me at any moment.
   So I was kinda walking around near death and didn't know it.
   Surgery, six months of chemo and I am still clear.

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   1. 83

      earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That is so good to hear. I have been free of cancer for a long time, and expect to be around for quite a while yet.

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      1. 75

         sofsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Wow, Earnest that is a story of courage, hats off to you.
         and that goes to every one who has written here.

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      2. 81

         schoolgirlforrealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         your one tough mf, earnest!

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         1. 83

            earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Yet gentle with animals and kids. A bit like a German Shepard.

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6. 60

   Matt in Jaxposted 12 years ago

   I have come close a few times which include nearly drowning in a large body of water while trying to swim out to an island and nearly choking to death once. Both were terrible situations where I just kind of felt helpless except for the drowning. It took every ounce of my energy to get back to shore.

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   1. 83

      earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I will gladly wheelstand a motorcycle at 100mph rather than swim out of my depth. We are all afraid of something, and mine is drowning, so I can relate to this real well!

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7. 88

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Not content with getting mown down by a car at the age of 4, I eventually met up with a nutter who tried to kill me. He is now in prison for life for attempted murder, while I am left with a broken back and neck.

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   1. 83

      earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That sucks IzzyM! I feel guilty for having survived my self imposed risks and getting away with it, while you seem to have had some rotten luck!
      My Dad had some rotten luck too. He was blown up by 11 detonators and a stick of jelly he was carrying when he was only 24. He lived well into his 70's though.

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      1. 88

         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         No sh*t! 11 detonators and a stick of jelly??
         
         Wow your dad is so lucky to have survived.
         
         I've survived for a reason.
         
         Still looking for it!

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         1. 83

            earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Not only did he live, he lived real well. A woman saved his life by wrapping her stockings around the stump where his hand got blown off. He was in hospital for 18 months, and had horrific injuries. He went on to run several businesses and learn 2 more trades. Unstoppable!

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   2. 60

      Pandoras Boxposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      And the spirit of an angel. Glad you made it!

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      1. 88

         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for that - will someone please comment on his thread before I hit the send button - if there's one thing I hate is seeing the same name come up time and time again, like mine - I am here alive because God wishes it to be so -hahah yeah right!
         A lucky intervention somewhere, probably from the Guardia Civil who stopped the last guy from killing me.

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8. 88

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Just lucky I guess

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9. 76

   cathylynn99posted 12 years ago

   at two, i fell out of my parent's fishing boat in the middle of a lake. my dad saw one shoe still at the surface, grabbed it and pulled me out. i was afraid of water for years, but eventually overcame the fear and became a lifeguard and competitive swimmer.
   
   at five, i was rescued by my mother as our house burnt. i had chemical pneumonia from smoke inhalation and PTSD, which at that time was poorly treated with phenobarb.
   
   in my twenties, i was escorting a patient on an ambulance plane. it, including the front windshield, became covered with ice. my reaction to knowing the ice could pull the plane out of the sky was to pray, "thank you, god, for my life." I meant i was prepared to die. a peace came over me. i was able to tend to the patient, who never knew the danger we were in, which was a good thing because he was a heart patient. the pilot had to land by instruments. we chipped ice off the wings with a urinal and a credit card before heading home.

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   1. 88

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So you have another six to go? (cat with nine lives)

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      1. 76

         cathylynn99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         if only, izzy. i'm 54. what am i going to do with all those lives?

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         1. 0

            ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Russian Roulette?

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         2. 88

            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            LOL, party!!
            
            Actually, I don't know. this life has been hard enough. Do you think there's more?
            Aww...no I'm away to curl under something and not be noticed.

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   2. 83

      earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wow! I see three amazing hubs in there!
      
      That is truly interesting and typical of life when it happens to you.

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10. 77

    WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

    According to the ambulance man, I was a couple of minutes away from dying and was lucky the ambulance service has a small base on an industrial estate 1.5 miles from my house.
    
    I thought my asthma had been getting worse for a couple of days and then just stopped breathing. 
    
    After a very scary couple of weeks, when the head consultant thought I had a growth on my thymus, I was found to have a retrosternal goitre. This is when a bit of thyroid migrates down into the chest and decides to grow there. It's not malignant, but once it is large can kill by shifting so as to compress the heart or, as in my case, the windpipe.
    
    I needed a median sternotomy to get it out, i.e. same procedure to open the chest as for open-heart surgery. Apparently, the thing was the size of a melon, bleeding and necrotic (= rotting) - eeewwww!   
    
    That was just over 3 years ago. In my first week home after surgery, my partner's alcoholism got totally out of control. I lived in hell for the next 2.5 years until he succeeded in drinking himself to death.
    
    I am now turning my life around for the better again. However, I cannot ever prevent one thing from following me around: I set off very sensitive metal detectors at some airports, because of the wire used to put my chest together again

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    1. 88

       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Heeey! Long time no post and new avatar to throw us off the scent.
       
       Whatever you had sounds nasty (have you written a hub about it?) but welcome back

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          WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Thank you, Izzy. I'm trying to reactivate myself with respect to writing, but work tends to get in the way.
          
          I treated myself to one of those "photoshoot experiences" a while back. The photo folder resurfaced recently, so I thought I'd get some use from it, hence the new look  
          
          No, I haven't written a hub about it. Not really my style. I tend to be dry, factual and scientific rather than personal in my hubs. If I touched on the topic at all, it would be to write about the weird world of retrosternal goitres. They are not seen very often apparently, and mine was a giant; it must have been growing for decades I was told.

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          1. 88

             IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Retro sternal goitres. A goitre is to do with the thymus gland? Retro-sternal has to do with its position.
             
             I think you should write a hub (if you're up for it) because there are bound to be searchers.

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             1. 77

                WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Goitre is to do with thyroid. It was just that the head of dept. thought it was a growth on the thymus. One of the other senior doctors had actually said retrosternal goitre after one glance at the x-rays, but he wasn't the boss.
                
                It was finally solved by another test. This consisted of me drinking down what I call my "luminous marine cocktail", a most refreshing and unique blend of radioactive iodine solution, and going under a scanner. The iodine showed up opaque. I saw a white area in my neck, where the thyroid is normally, and then, hallelujah! a huge white area in the middle of my chest.
                
                The person performing the scan was not allowed to comment on the findings, but I knew immediately it was thyroid not thymus, because only thyroid tissue takes up iodine like that. Massive relief, since I'd spent two sleepless weeks thinking I might have thymus cancer.
                
                Retrosternal = behind the sternum (breastbone). A bit of thyroid tissue decides to go walkies, meanders down into the chest and then sets up home there and starts growing. Totally bizarre!

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11. 0

    ryankettposted 12 years ago

    I actually spent the first 4 weeks of my life being kept alive by machine, so I guess I have been pretty close. No major incidents in my adult life just yet though, that I can remember.

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12. 62

    logic,commonsenseposted 12 years ago

    A few years back, I was in an accident and did see my life flash before my eyes.  Thought it was a pretty hokey thing that people said, but it did happen.
    Fortunately, I survived.
    Come to think of it I've been in several vehicle accidents, some as a passenger, some as driver.  Must be a cat.

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13. 85

    camloposted 12 years ago

    Sometimes I tend to be a hypochondriac - if I get the slightest ache or pain, I'm convinced I'm terminally ill - but, actually, I've never been ill in my life, never broken a bone, never been in a serious accident ... I've never been close to death.

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    1. 83

       earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Cool! Now I'm older and more sensible I can tell you it is overrated.

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14. 79

    Peter Dickinsonposted 12 years ago

    I actually wrote a hub about this very subject and related some of the instances which I could recall facing death. These included being bitten by poisonous snakes, eating poisonous fruit and nearly drowned by a killer whale. There have been more than a few such events and I expect that there will probably be a few more before I finally pass on. Meanwhile I enjoy life to the full and have no fear of death at all.

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15. 86

    Elena.posted 12 years ago

    Was in Atocha Train Station March 11 2004. Pretty darned close.

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16. 59

    cubeszposted 12 years ago

    I passed out for about half a minute, after a skiing accident. Couldn't move my back for a week.

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17. 59

    Donna Suthardposted 12 years ago

    All my clothes caught on fire when I was 6 years old. I ran screaming through an attic, My 8 year year old cousin saved my life..I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns...

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18. 51

    ForYourInfoposted 12 years ago

    I think most of the people have some experiences like this.Most of us has experienced this kind of horrible incident.I was about to die when I face a metro railway accident.But please,don't force to recall all that moments,its heartrending.

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19. 90

    WryLiltposted 12 years ago

    My mother slit my throat ear to ear as a toddler, then left me to bleed for 40 minutes before before she called the ambulance.

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    1. 83

       earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!
       
       Well you certainly seem to have survived and flourished. So glad you made it!
       That is one hell of a legacy......

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       recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Damn - that is not a good start to life !!   I hope she got the help she needed ?
       
       
       BTW  Have you changed your name?  I always thought it was Wrylit - no 'l' ?

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    3. 90

       WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I'm working on a book about it! And no, she was in a mental ward for 12 months then was let out to homeschool me.
       
       And my name has always been WryLilt. I always get variations such as wrylit and wryit.

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    4. 76

       cathylynn99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       how did you learn to trust your mom after that? trauma by someone so close is so hard to recover from. i'm looking forward to your book. i don't remember much before i was 5. do you remember that or is it something that you know from family that it happened.

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          WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I don't trust her - and haven't talked to her in about four years, and before that sporadically (parents divorced at 13).
          
          And I remember it.

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             cathylynn99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

             sounds absolutely horrible. sorry you had to go through that and remember it. will follow you, so i know when the book is released.

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20. 67

    Michael Willisposted 12 years ago

    Anaphylactic shock from 1 red wasp sting. By the time I got to the Emergency room, the Doctor did not expect me to live through it. I couldn't breathe, throat swelled, blood pressure through the roof and my heart was pounding.
    
    For several hours the doctor kept giving me shots and yelling at me to stay awake until I finally was able to breathe normally.
    
    I was put on a 3 and a half year program with an Allergy Specialist for treatment. I had to take weekly shots to build up an immunity system that could save me from another anaphylactic shock incident and/or death.
    
    Definitely my worse day ever and biggest fear.

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    1. 80

       DIYweddingplannerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Oh my gosh, me too, Michael!  Mine was fire ants.  Four shots of adrenaline and a near trachaeotomy and I could breathe...frightening!

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          Michael Willisposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Another bad part was that I didn't go into Anaphylactic Shock immediately as is normal. It was an hour later and then quick.  My immune system and reactions to medications is not like others. It takes a lot longer for my system to react.
          And with a high immune system, my body will develop immunity very quick to medications, so I have to be careful how long I take medications.

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       2. 73

          the clean lifeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Mine Yellow Jackets, same reaction..Throat closed, hives from head to toe, Itching every part of my body and turn a beautiful shade of GRAY within minutes. Carry your epee pen. Spelled wrong sorry >

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21. 73

    the clean lifeposted 12 years ago

    The closest I have come to dying was when I was bit by a Yellow Jacket and when into anaphylactic shock. Fortunately I lived less than 5 minutes from hospital and Doctors told my wife if I lived minutes longer away from hospital I would of not made it. 4 hours later I finally woke up from all the medicine and epinephrine that was given to me to save my life.

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22. 60

    dutchman1951posted 12 years ago

    I was hit during a Chopper crash in Viet Nam, I thought for a min. This is it. It was not. Thanks to s fellow Medic and a dam good Surgeon

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       the clean lifeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you for fighting for our Country!!!!

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23. 79

    brimancandyposted 12 years ago

    Well, I almost died at birth. Something to do with my mothers rib cage splitting open my chest. I had a scar on my belly for years.
    
    I have also had multiple head injuries. The first one was being hit in the head with a piece of cement flooring that my sister threw at my brother when I was five. Split my head wide open, because he ducked, and I just happened to be walking into the room.
    
    The second was getting hit in the head with a playground swing, that hit me in the exact same spot as where I was hit by the tile. And, the final was slamming my head into the back of the metal seat in my dads station wagon, when he slammed on the brakes to miss hitting a dog. Split the back of my head open.
    
    I also fell off the back of a friends bike, and hit the cement head first. I have probably had more head injuries than anyone I know. Inlcuding hitting an Oak tree head first during a kick ball game. My brother whipped the soccer ball at me, and it hit me in the back of the head and slammed me into a tree. I was out cold for hours.
    
    All that stuff happened between the age of 5 and 11. I sometimes wonder if all that head damage might have something to do with how I turned out as an adult. But, I'm still as sharp as a tack, and my memory is awesome. People can't believe some of the stuff I can remember. It's scary.
    
    I should also mention the time that I got nailed during a dodgeball game in Highschool. One of the boys was mad at me, and grabbed a medicine ball and whipped it at my head. The ball hit me, and threw me head first into the gym wall, and then I fell and hit my head again on the bleachers. Once again, out cold for an hour.
    
    Also, just recalled hitting the floor at work a few times. Including once at Burger King, where I was rushed to the hospital. That's a long story.

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       the clean lifeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Wow you sure have had your injuries (head) and still you are sharp as a tack! I am glad after all you had gone through you are fine.

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          brimancandyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I could be better. When I had the swing incident, and the medicine ball incident, I should have done the American thing, and convinced my parents to sue the schools. I wouldn't mind having any form of dodge ball removed from phys ed. It is just a bullies dream come true.

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             the clean lifeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Yeah you are so right. Dodge ball tends to be a litle brutal that's for sure> I remember that so well when I was in school. They were out to kill

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24. 53

    ocbillposted 12 years ago

    I've been in situations, or areas, which could have caused death

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25. 59

    BaliMermaidposted 12 years ago

    While living in Jakarta I was lucky to have a job that, in addition to a salary, provided a car and driver. The driver I was assigned had the annoying habit of stopping on rail road tracks on the way home. It could be said this happened because of traffic congestion but it bothered me because he could have stopped before getting stuck on the tracks. Finally I asked the company to give him to someone else. I was told there would be a one month wait to get a new driver but I insisted and said I would drive myself.
    
    That afternoon, on the way home to get ready for an important dinner with customers that evening, I got stuck in traffic due to rerouting during road construction.  I came upon a rail crossing I was not familiar with. There was a long slow train passing from left to right.  There were three lanes with two mid sized buses full of high school students, just out of school. I was in the middle.
    
    As the train rolled past I noticed how close the bumpers of the buses were to the trail cars. Suddenly I had a premonition of chaos, screaming and crying with horrifying images flashing in my mind. I backed up, upsetting the vehicles behind me.
    
    As is usual the space I left between the buses was instantly filled with pedicabs - called bejaks, bicycles and motorbikes.
    
    Then the train finally finished going by. All the traffic, including me, moved forward and up on to the tracks as we worked at moving across to the roads on the other side of the track crossing.
    
    Suddenly I saw in front of me the barrier rail, which had only been on the far side of the crossing and not, due to road construction, been present on our side of the road.
    
    At that moment, I did not even take time to think. I put my car into reverse - and pushed backward - pushing two smaller cars, who were momentarily infuriated - out of the way or backwards with me.
    
    Just as I did this a large GE blunt nosed Switch Engine came barreling down the other set of tracks. That's right there were two sets of tracks.
    
    As I pushed backwards - not even having seen the train - the giant engine roared past me - neatly taking the front bumper off my car.
    
    The chaos I had forseen just moments earlier all passed again before my eyes with body parts of the high school students in those two buses flying everywhere.
    
    In a blink of my eyes a crowd was forming behind my car as they looked for the flagman that should have been present. They found him sleeping in a hut and immediately beat him to death.
    
    A police man watching the raging crowd told me in Javanese to get out of there immediately. He did not have to tell me twice.
    
    If I had not relieve that driver of his duties that day - I would not be writing this for you now. If that policeman had not been there - who knows if the raging crowd running amok could have incorrectly thought I had something to do with the carnage that lay in front of us. Perhaps I was close to death twice within minutes on that day.

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