So I almost didn't make it home

[game-lover]

When I was little, I almost drowned in an apartment complex pool visiting my dad. People say drowning is not loud at all and they'b be mostly right. I figure it's because a person who really can't swim, the moment they go underwater, they stay there. And no amount of splashing is getting to anyone on the surface. Anyway, my father saved me. I guess I'm lucky he saw me go under because no one else seemed to.

Also, I almost walked straight into the path of a car my freshman year of college. I remember being near the street and had gotten into the habit of not looking both ways. Don't know why. That particular day, I debated just looking the one way and going but something made me change my mind. Soon as I did, a car passed right by when my feet were on the edge of the curb.

I make sure to look both ways when I cross for certain now.

 

[DanielBrown]

Damn. Glad you went through the window, OP. Such a sick thing to do. :/

OT: Only ones I got are stories of child stupidity.
Was climing a tall tree and made a jump to another branch. It snapped and I fell down. Would probably have died, or at least gotten very injured, but I hit a few other branches on the way down which I assume slowed me down. Came out fairly ok, though it was hard to walk for a while.

Another time I was out swimming in Tenerfia during a red flag period(strong fucking currents, don't go near the water). All of sudden I far away from the beach and struggled like crazy to get back to the shore. There were huge waves constantly as well, which both helped and disoriented me. Furtunetly I was eleven years old or something, so I was able to get back eventually. Had this happened now I'm sure my stamina would've run out in no time at all.

Also, according to WebMD I've got cancer in every part of my body. Still haven't killed me!

 

[Miyenne]

That's upsetting. I hope you can wrap your head around it, talking to a professional may help.

As for me, I've nearly been run over by a gravel truck. It was winter and my light had turned green, but the roads were pure ice and I was skidding and couldn't get traction. Which was a very good thing, as I drive a tiny Kia and the giant gravel truck blew through his red light and would have crushed me to bits had my tires caught on the ice.

When I was a child I had this weird pimple thing on my chin, I was like five. We thought nothing of it, until something woke my twin up in the middle of the night and she saw me in bed drenched in blood. I don't even know what the thing was, but if she hadn't woken up and started screaming I would have died. I don't even remember any of it as I lost so much blood, I only remember it through my sister's eyes. (Yes, weird twin thing, we do that.) I saw myself on a stretcher in the hospital with a doctor injecting something into my chin.

When I was like 11 my sister, neighbour and I would go to the back fields of the university by our house and climb the three story rubble piles as they were doing construction on the university then. One time we climbed to the top and I remember falling off the edge. I somehow managed to grab ahold of a plant that was rooted into the pile and hung on while my sister and friend pulled me up. Below was just wreckage of broken cinder blocks and such. It may not have killed me, but I would probably have been crippled for life.

That and when my aunt left her abusive husband he decided to kill her and her two sons. She escaped (barely) and they moved in with our family. He stalked us for weeks until he was arrested and was aiming to kill us all.

 

[V TheSystem V]

Two occasions where I have come close, both due to other people:

1) One of my friends in secondary school invited me down to his house, where he was shooting at targets with his dad's air rifles with one of my other friends at the time. Was walking down his drive when one of them aimed the air rifle at me for a joke. Bearing in mind, we were about 13, so anything could have happened. He laughed and reassured me it wasn't even loaded, then turned around and shot at the target. Basically, if his finger had slipped or something, I could be dead. Let's just say...he was a hard one to trust.

2) This one happened on a family holiday two years ago. We were on a French motorway, and decided to stop for lunch two hours into our six hour drive to our holiday home (not ours, just one we were renting). My dad is a fast driver, my mum is a slow driver yet a hell of a lot safer. We all wanted to get to our destination, and my mum offered to drive. My sister expressed how she believed we'd get there a lot faster with my dad driving, and my mum just agreed and let my dad drive.

Two hours later, I was reading and my mum and sister were listening to the radio as my dad drove. Suddenly, my mum and sister both screamed, as the car bounced off the railing at the side of the motorway and my dad stopped the car as quickly as he could. As it turned out, he had fallen asleep at the wheel doing roughly 60-70mph, maybe more. We were lucky there was a metal railing where he crashed, because ten metres further and we would have ended up in a ditch, probably not getting out of it unhurt like we had done. My dad then decided to tell us that he gets tired driving after having lunch, which was really helpful to hear after he had dozed at the wheel.

The rest of the holiday was spent shouting at him to slow down when he went too fast, which was fairly often. He would shout back, clearly not learning his lesson from the crash which has now kinda made me nervous getting into a car with him.

 

[geK0]

Its really hard to have pitty for a guy who would put so much effort into trying to kill a random stranger who was trying to help him.....

When i was 16, I snuck out of my house to visit a female friend. It was night time and i was biking on a poorly lit country road. I was hit by a car on the way there and was left barely concious. The guy drove off at first but decided to return. If i had been left there, there's a good chance i might have either bled out or have been hit by another vehicle. Its sort of scary to think about.

 

[MrStab]

Two occasions where I have come close, both due to other people:

1) One of my friends in secondary school invited me down to his house, where he was shooting at targets with his dad's air rifles with one of my other friends at the time. Was walking down his drive when one of them aimed the air rifle at me for a joke. Bearing in mind, we were about 13, so anything could have happened. He laughed and reassured me it wasn't even loaded, then turned around and shot at the target. Basically, if his finger had slipped or something, I could be dead. Let's just say...he was a hard one to trust.

I'm not entirely sure how reassuring it will be to know this now rather than then but it's pretty difficult to die from getting shot by an air rifle, but I am glad you didn't get shot by one because it hurts like fuck.

OT: Nothing like the OP just some light car crash that only had a fatal potential if they had have been a lot of worse than they actually were. Glad you're alright OP.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

Wow.

Well, the greatest threat to MY life has always been my own stupidity, so I don't really have anything worth mentioning here. I'd just like to say, I'm glad you're OK.

Also, on behalf of all of us, thanks for being a paramedic!

 

[V TheSystem V]

Two occasions where I have come close, both due to other people:

1) One of my friends in secondary school invited me down to his house, where he was shooting at targets with his dad's air rifles with one of my other friends at the time. Was walking down his drive when one of them aimed the air rifle at me for a joke. Bearing in mind, we were about 13, so anything could have happened. He laughed and reassured me it wasn't even loaded, then turned around and shot at the target. Basically, if his finger had slipped or something, I could be dead. Let's just say...he was a hard one to trust.

I'm not entirely sure how reassuring it will be to know this now rather than then but it's pretty difficult to die from getting shot by an air rifle, but I am glad you didn't get shot by one because it hurts like fuck.

I had heard that before, but it was from a short enough range (5-10 metres) for me to be a tad scared. He was an arsehole anyway, glad I no longer speak to him.

 

[Jmumbler]

Damn that story came as a surprise glad to hear you're okay OP.

When I was 15 we went to south (or north, I can never remember) Dakota. We found this out of the way beach with two GIANT rock walls on either side. My uncle convinced me to climb it with him. About half way up the the top at a small ledge I slipped and started to fall backwards towards the rocks below. My uncle grabs the collar of my shirt, barley, and pulls me to safety. Solid 30 foot drop, would have been the end for sure.

 

[Angie7F]

For me it was the earthquake in Japan in march 2011.
I was out with my BF that day and I the experience really brought us closer.

But some of my friends rushed to get married after the earthquake, and then got divorced within a year...

 

[Guffe]

I can't remember anything that would've had me in danger of losing my life.
Pretty many close by situations in this thread, makes one understand how dangerous everyday life actually can be.

 

[xmbts]

I've bee almost killed a few times, never intentionally though. Just dumb little accidents usually involving my head and a heavy object.

Oh! and one time blood poisoning.

 

[Quaxar]

What's even more worrying is that you people apparently are required to do 3-day shifts. That's just irresponsibly extensive, even with long breaks.

 

[Aeshi]

Think the closest I've ever come to death is a few weeks ago when I woke up in the middle of the night almost choking to death on my own vomit for some reason. My throat spent the next day feeling like it was on fire