What's the closest you've been to death?

a reply to: pheonix358

Holy Christ...

That must have been dreadful. It must have hit him either in the temple, or just behind the ear. What a horrid thing to witness, leave alone as a child.

a reply to: TrueBrit

It was the umpteenth blow that week. I had been trying to protect him to the best of my ability but, in the end, I failed. Took me many, many years to come to terms with it and work through it.

I remember afterwords, being in bed, shaking in fear. I had so many constant nightmares until I found a drug called Prazosin. I hated waking up with a fully alarmed body in fight or fight mode.

Thanks mate.

P

I've had several very close calls, mostly car crashes. Some of them were so close it makes me think I did die in another time line. I very much dislike like the many worlds theory but it could explain how I've managed to survive so many near death experiences. It makes me wonder, if I try to kill myself right now, would I actually succeed, or would there be a time line where I failed and survived? There's always a chance I could fail, and if every possibility splits into an alternative time line, that means it would be impossible to truly kill myself if the many worlds theory is correct. If I was absolutely sure that it's correct then I could do almost any dangerous activity and know that there's always a time line in which I remain unharmed.

a reply to: pheonix358

YOU did NOT fail.

Never, ever let anyone tell you different.

Least of all yourself.

Some other bastards failed. You however, exemplify heroism. You tried to defend him, and you survived. You were a boy, a babe amongst wolves, and your efforts are not to be considered against their results. It was out of your hands. You did not fail, the system did. You should never have been put in that position.

I've had a couple of near death experiences.once walking back from a night out with a friend he got in to an argument with a taxi driver in a petrol station, all of a sudden their were 5 more taxi drivers brandishing steel bars.my friend ran away (guess he's not much of a friend) leaving me to fight my way out.i came off the worst as you can imaging with a fractured skull and a broken jaw/chin.ive also been in a pretty bad car crash where I went through the windscreen and ended up in a bit if a mess (I always wear a seat belt now) I also raced motorbikes and have had various bad crashes.

Everyday for 9 months in Afghanistan.

Every time we went out on mission our aircraft would get fired upon.

On the ground it was rockets, mortars, IEDs, and coordinated attacks.


Heh, every time the rocket alarm would go off we knew it was smoke break time.

7 days in ICU with the chicken pox. lol I live on the #ing edge.

The honest truth is, I have no idea. why I am alive. I've had so many near fatal incidents that the very fact that I am puzzles me. From cars accidents that there is no way I should have lived through, but walked away with out a scratch, to something that happened when I was a coal miner that, to this day, I can't explain, I. Should. Not. Be. Here.
The only explanation I have is that I was saved to create my children, because one or all of them is going to do something great and I need to be here to take care of them till they are out on their own.

I've got everyone beat.

I once told a woman that her butt did look big in those jeans.

Still here to talk about it!

a reply to: beezzer

a reply to: harvestdog

I died during dental surgery under general anethstetic, that was my closest. The other three times are a long explanations, didn't die but it was damn close.

Cheers - Dave

i have faced death // come close to dying far too many times for comfort

its not being dead that scares me - thats " easy " i will be dead - there is nothing to fear

its wakling up again - a bit more broken than last time thats the crap part

oh - and what i remember of the moments prior to things ` going black `

like i say - death doesnt scare me - its the fact that all my brushes with it have involved inconcevable ammounts of pain and brutality that i object to

my reccollections // memories of what happened are often very poor - and to be bruttally honest - utter bollox - i have seen a video of one of my ` incidents ` - and what heppened in the 2 min leading upto disaster bears absolutly no semblence to how i " remember " it .

i have now concluded that its probally best not to know - just accept that i survived and attempt to move on

i dunno if that answered the actual question - but its the only answer i am prepared to share on the topic

a reply to: harvestdog

Fell off a house, crushed under a refrigerator. Fractured spine, leg, crushed skull and crumpled lungs.

Body cast for years, cane as well...almost good 5 years later. 30 years later with cervical and lumbar herniated disks and arthritis.

Current 1st Responder...so blessed to still be here.

In reverse while crushed underneath I saw a hand of God surrounded by gold beams as a Viet Nambvet pulled the fridge off with 1 hand...saving me.

I can't recall any near death experiences myself, but thank you for this post! Some very interesting accounts.

Just makes me more grateful every day

originally posted by: charolais
I can't recall any near death experiences myself, but thank you for this post! Some very interesting accounts.

Just makes me more grateful every day

That Is what I persuade myself every day, that this moment is what we live for.
Its difficult, to me its nearly hitting 40 and realising that you are mortal.

The energy and dreams that was once there as a child, seem to be a distant past
though I still remember it, It still makes my heart longing for it.

a reply to: harvestdog

Actually the first tornado was when I wasnt even in school yet. But boy howdy I still remember the clouds. It was in Berrien Springs coincidentally. But the neighborhood behind our house got hit pretty hard. I remember all the trash and stuff in our yard and looking at the houses on the street behind us.

Later in life watched 5 waterspouts come off the lake in Lakeshore with my uncle. We hid behind a gas station as one of them touched down after bouncing off the bluff.

One in WS in NC but I was an idiot driving around in that hurricane that spawn some tornadoes in Old Salem.

A couple others too. But I find them facinating now. Wish I could be a tornado chaser. Tried it a couple times in north Texas.

a reply to: harvestdog

Past lines of work have put me in a few hiccups...ive been shot at....almost hit by quite a few cars....the closest was being stabbed it. When I think back about it its like a movie where I caught the knife just in time and it doesn't feel like me. Oddly in almost every situation I felt nothing the moment it happened but approximately 2 days later id have this rush of adrenaline and be like "oh my god that # happened". Im actually curious why that is...whys its many hours later when I realize how crazy something is.

Oh another time on an Army range another range had a guy shooting a 50 cal and he fired it over the hill and it landed into our area and almost hit a few of us haha....that was such a hilarious situation because we standing there thinking..."this is training...what is that coming in at us" We thought maybe someone was messing around until the bullets got really close then we all ducked for cover....turned out some asshole didnt know how to shoot and the rounds were carrying all the way over to us.

Does being around 30 feet from a momma griz with two cubs count? Took some pictures that were great, but in retrospect it didnt seem very smart.

Back when I was a wee 4 year old, we had this old car parked out in the back yard of the house we just moved into, a few months prior. It never turned over, and the windows were permanently crack open. Well, being the boy I was, I decided to climb up and into said window (Because why not, right?). Well, the window didn't seem to appreciate this, and decided to finally roll down, and thus I had fallen and discovered the only improperly cut stump in the area, busting noggin wide open. Several staples later, and I was on my way.
Two years later, I made the mistake of jumping out of the bath with a slightly wet floor, meeting the counter with the same spot of my head. Again, several staples later.
Now, in my teens I made a foolish attempt on my life, having been in a very dark place at the time, but fortunately that failed, though left me in a coma for about 3 or four days thereafter.
Life seems to have other plans, I've since received the hint.

The closest I've come to death was during the birth of my first son. I started hemorrhaging and suffered massive blood loss. All I can remember is feeling very sleepy.