Ways I almost died

[Anonymous]

I was in a car accident in rural Southeast Asia and broke my neck. Miraculously, I received excellent medical care and I am fine but I could easily have been a quadrapalegic.

[Anonymous]

Almost drowned by being pinned under a kayak in rapids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Almost drowned by being pinned under a kayak in rapids.

Wow, I'm glad you're OK. It's always so sad and preventable when people die like that.

[Anonymous]

At 4 years of age at a public pool I decided to cross under the line separating the deep end from the shallow end to see what the deep end was like.

I was not aware that under the line was not an incline to the deeper end but an immediate drop from 3 ft to 6 ft. I sank way over my head and bobbed up. People were around me but did not hear my weak, half-choked cries for help. Everyone was busy doing their own thing.

I saw the life guard far away sitting in a chair on a tall white wooden platform. He was not looking my way. I tried to wave to get his attention but I was just one of many people in a pool. He did not look my way. He was looking down at his feet at the people under him.

After several times going under and coming back up I could not stay afloat anymore. As I drifted under the surface I opened my eyes and saw the sun shining above me as I sank lower.

As I was drowning I thought to myself, "I guess this is what it is like to die. Mom will be really sad." I was sad not because I was drowning but because my mom would be heartbroken to find my lifeless body in the pool. I always tried to spare her feelings. Once, when hit in the head by a rock by a mean neighbor kid, instead of going home I went up the road to a neighbor and washed the blood off so mom would not freak out.

I was now beginning to run out of air. I could hold my breath no more. As I resigned myself to die, I saw two arms come at me and a pair of hands grabbed me and lifted me out of the water. It was a girl of about 14 years.

I was so happy I wasn't going to die. I said aloud "You saved me!"

The girl laughed and walked me under the depth divider and put me back in the shallow part of the pool. I thanked her and told her again she saved me but she just laughed and walked away. I was a little angry she did not seem to believe me, that she thought I was playing a game.

As fast as I could I made my way to my mom. She was sitting with my dad and my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Mom offered me something to eat.

She had no idea what had just happened to me, and at 4 years of age I could not put into words how to tell her that I had been one breath away from death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At 4 years of age at a public pool I decided to cross under the line separating the deep end from the shallow end to see what the deep end was like.

I was not aware that under the line was not an incline to the deeper end but an immediate drop from 3 ft to 6 ft. I sank way over my head and bobbed up. People were around me but did not hear my weak, half-choked cries for help. Everyone was busy doing their own thing.

I saw the life guard far away sitting in a chair on a tall white wooden platform. He was not looking my way. I tried to wave to get his attention but I was just one of many people in a pool. He did not look my way. He was looking down at his feet at the people under him.

After several times going under and coming back up I could not stay afloat anymore. As I drifted under the surface I opened my eyes and saw the sun shining above me as I sank lower.

As I was drowning I thought to myself, "I guess this is what it is like to die. Mom will be really sad." I was sad not because I was drowning but because my mom would be heartbroken to find my lifeless body in the pool. I always tried to spare her feelings. Once, when hit in the head by a rock by a mean neighbor kid, instead of going home I went up the road to a neighbor and washed the blood off so mom would not freak out.

I was now beginning to run out of air. I could hold my breath no more. As I resigned myself to die, I saw two arms come at me and a pair of hands grabbed me and lifted me out of the water. It was a girl of about 14 years.

I was so happy I wasn't going to die. I said aloud "You saved me!"

The girl laughed and walked me under the depth divider and put me back in the shallow part of the pool. I thanked her and told her again she saved me but she just laughed and walked away. I was a little angry she did not seem to believe me, that she thought I was playing a game.

As fast as I could I made my way to my mom. She was sitting with my dad and my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Mom offered me something to eat.

She had no idea what had just happened to me, and at 4 years of age I could not put into words how to tell her that I had been one breath away from death.

Wow, great memory for a 4 yr old.
do you count cards?

[Anonymous]

Bacterial meningitis with bacteremia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, great memory for a 4 yr old. do you count cards?

I have always had an excellent memory, but this incident was of such magnitude that I have always remembered details clearly like the lifeguard staring down, the people near me (about 10' away) splashing and yelling but not noticing me. The strange resignation of "I am going to die and there is nothing I can do about it." I especially remember being sad for my mom that I would be dead. This shocked me that I cared more about her than me dying.

I have never forgotten it because I should have been dead. I could not hold my breath any more. I was finished. It was over.

It is one of those things I will probably remember until the day I die.

I had not thought of that summer day in a long time until I read this post topic and it triggered that memory again. Even now I see my dead body floating in the pool and people screaming as they pull me out. My mom is hysterical. Everyone is sad that I drowned.

That is what was certain to happen to me had not that young girl pulled me out of the water. I have always wondered what happened to her, if she ever realized that she saved a life that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At 4 years of age at a public pool I decided to cross under the line separating the deep end from the shallow end to see what the deep end was like.

I was not aware that under the line was not an incline to the deeper end but an immediate drop from 3 ft to 6 ft. I sank way over my head and bobbed up. People were around me but did not hear my weak, half-choked cries for help. Everyone was busy doing their own thing.

I saw the life guard far away sitting in a chair on a tall white wooden platform. He was not looking my way. I tried to wave to get his attention but I was just one of many people in a pool. He did not look my way. He was looking down at his feet at the people under him.

After several times going under and coming back up I could not stay afloat anymore. As I drifted under the surface I opened my eyes and saw the sun shining above me as I sank lower.

As I was drowning I thought to myself, "I guess this is what it is like to die. Mom will be really sad." I was sad not because I was drowning but because my mom would be heartbroken to find my lifeless body in the pool. I always tried to spare her feelings. Once, when hit in the head by a rock by a mean neighbor kid, instead of going home I went up the road to a neighbor and washed the blood off so mom would not freak out.

I was now beginning to run out of air. I could hold my breath no more. As I resigned myself to die, I saw two arms come at me and a pair of hands grabbed me and lifted me out of the water. It was a girl of about 14 years.

I was so happy I wasn't going to die. I said aloud "You saved me!"

The girl laughed and walked me under the depth divider and put me back in the shallow part of the pool. I thanked her and told her again she saved me but she just laughed and walked away. I was a little angry she did not seem to believe me, that she thought I was playing a game.

As fast as I could I made my way to my mom. She was sitting with my dad and my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Mom offered me something to eat.

She had no idea what had just happened to me, and at 4 years of age I could not put into words how to tell her that I had been one breath away from death.

Memory like an elephant. Amazing.

[Anonymous]

Sliding down a small waterfall at Cunningham Falls, got off track and almost went over a much larger drop. Grabbed by a family friend. I was about 5 at the time, but remember it very, very vividly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 4 years of age at a public pool I decided to cross under the line separating the deep end from the shallow end to see what the deep end was like.

I was not aware that under the line was not an incline to the deeper end but an immediate drop from 3 ft to 6 ft. I sank way over my head and bobbed up. People were around me but did not hear my weak, half-choked cries for help. Everyone was busy doing their own thing.

I saw the life guard far away sitting in a chair on a tall white wooden platform. He was not looking my way. I tried to wave to get his attention but I was just one of many people in a pool. He did not look my way. He was looking down at his feet at the people under him.

After several times going under and coming back up I could not stay afloat anymore. As I drifted under the surface I opened my eyes and saw the sun shining above me as I sank lower.

As I was drowning I thought to myself, "I guess this is what it is like to die. Mom will be really sad." I was sad not because I was drowning but because my mom would be heartbroken to find my lifeless body in the pool. I always tried to spare her feelings. Once, when hit in the head by a rock by a mean neighbor kid, instead of going home I went up the road to a neighbor and washed the blood off so mom would not freak out.

I was now beginning to run out of air. I could hold my breath no more. As I resigned myself to die, I saw two arms come at me and a pair of hands grabbed me and lifted me out of the water. It was a girl of about 14 years.

I was so happy I wasn't going to die. I said aloud "You saved me!"

The girl laughed and walked me under the depth divider and put me back in the shallow part of the pool. I thanked her and told her again she saved me but she just laughed and walked away. I was a little angry she did not seem to believe me, that she thought I was playing a game.

As fast as I could I made my way to my mom. She was sitting with my dad and my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Mom offered me something to eat.

She had no idea what had just happened to me, and at 4 years of age I could not put into words how to tell her that I had been one breath away from death.

Memory like an elephant. Amazing.

Do you have a UTI or something you're so crabby?

My friend and I got off a high set of train tracks (not trestle-height, but not jump-off height either) and two minutes later a train came around the curve.

[Anonymous]

As a teenager my friends and I did some impromptu mountain/cliff climbing near Massanutten. It was not rock climbing because the face was a combination of dirt and rocks and some vegetation. A technical climber would never try this because the surface was unstable. I started out at an easy part, but there kept seeming to be better holds to my left, so as I got higher I was also moving to an area where it was taller and steeper below me. I made it far enough that I could put my hands on the top, and I was using a plant to pull myself up (another think a climber would never do), when the plant pulled out of the ground, and I fell backwards.

I had just enough time to think "oh shit I'm going to die" when I landed on a thin tree growing out of the slope at the bottom of the cliff. Because of the slope, the tree trunk came out of the ground at an angle and then curved skyward. I landed with the trunk right in the middle of my back, with my arms and legs splayed on either side. The tree trunk acted like a spring, and I found myself laying there, bouncing up and down, as I realized how close I had been to death. It was just luck that I had been centered on the tree when I fell. A foot or two on either side and I would have landed on rocks.

[Anonymous]

Age 8 - got stuck upside down in a tube in the ocean. My mom thought i was being cute and took pictures as I was desperately trying to swim upside down closer to shore so I could push myself upright. Eventually I did, but as someone who was swimming since they were 3, this is the first time I ever felt like I was drowning

Age 17 - friend skidded on some black ice in her SUV. We broke through a wooden guard rail and plummeted into the woods, tipping over and striking a tree. We all walked away with just some bruises, cuts, and a broken arm for me and a broken leg for her. Thank God for seatbelts, airbags, and a sturdy car frame

Age 20- Something in a salad caused my gag reflux to act up. Excused myself, went to a one stall bathroom and proceeded to throw up. As I was finished, I inhaled and a little piece of lettuce got stuck on my windpipe. When I inhaled, I could feel the lettuce flapping and preventing me from getting any air in my lungs, but since it was wet, it was also stuck there and I could not cough it up. I ended up performing Heimlich on myself by thrusting my stomach/chest against the sink. It did dislodge enough for me to cough it up, but I had already started to have tunnel vision on my way to passing out. It was by far, the most terrifying moment in my life.

[Anonymous]

My parents used to drive drunk with us. One time, I remember my father was so drunk, swerving all over a dark and winding road that my mother made him stop and switch with her. She was so drunk that she turned on, and then couldn't figure out how to turn off, the windshield wipers, so she just drove with them on, even though it wasn't raining. My little sister and I were clinging to each other in the back seat. That was the worst, but no means only, time.

Almost drowned in a pool when I was four. My mostly deaf great uncle didn't hear me screaming, but my older sister did and pulled me out.

Attacked by a dog when I was eight. Ended up with nothing more than a whole bunch of stitches, but the dog certainly could have killed me.

[Anonymous]

Age 12 -- flipped over by a surprise wave and couldn't for the life of me figure which way was up. I literally swam into the sand floor and fortunately had the presence of mind to think, "Hey, this is sand. That's the bottom. Try going the other way."

Age 29 -- Eating dinner at a family reunion listening to some uncle whose name I didn't know talk. Something stuck in my windpipe and I couldn't breath. At. All. Uncle NoName kept on talking, oblivious, and suddenly I see my cousin racing across the room -- this was a hotel ballroom -- toward me. Just as my vision started to fade, he reached my table and slammed me on the back. Seriously hard. The food popped out and I took the deepest breath of my life. Only then did Uncle NoName stop yapping. Thank God for cousin!

[Anonymous]

Got into a car with a drunk driver (I was drunk also). He almost hit the street post, the ones in the middle on the island. I was in the back and had no car seat.