So what was your closest escape from death?

[Ralphie ★]

I’ve told this here ad nauseum, but when I was a kiddo I put my bike’s brake pads in backwards, so when I tried to stop to cross a highway, the pads went shoosting oot of the holders and as a result I went shoosting across a busy highway.  I could have died or been maimed at a very young age. So most of my life has been gravy.   Very happy to be here!
 

I think it was a horribibble design defect to make brake pads like that. Maybe that ‘splains my obsession with bad design and small errors that can kill you as in Air Disasters. Yeah, I will go with that!  

 

[Wilbur ★]

A small aortic tear caused by a cycling accident.  Had the ER doctor not been razor sharp, I wouldn't be here. 

[Airehead]

I was working with youngsters who were incarcerated. Juvenile Lockup.  We had a drop ceiling in our classroom which was really poor planning given the kids could not even use a pencil unless a safety officer was next to them.  Anyway, a student jumps up and grabs the metal rail. Safety officer is surprised and does not respond. No doubt in my mind the youth intends to hurt staff. I looked at him and said, “Put that down now. I am the only one on your side here.” He did. Good thing because I had no plan b. Safety officer took over from there. 

[Mr. Silly]

Probably the story I recounted in the 'Coldest you've ever been' thread about the time I climbed the Thorong La pass in Nepal.

[Ralphie ★]

7 minutes ago, Mr. Silly said:

Probably the story I recounted in the 'Coldest you've ever been' thread about the time I climbed the Thorong La pass in Nepal.

Brrr!

 

[BuffJim]

Massive saddle type pulmonary embolism about 11 years ago. Nothing the medical team did, other than give me oxygen. Another couple millimeters bigger and  I wouldn’t have survived.

[maddmaxx ★]

A fingertip was cut almost completely off.

[BR46]

When Wo46 asked me.....does this outfit make me look fat?

I answered the questions. 

[Ralphie ★]

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

A fingertip was cut almost completely off.

Ouch!

[maddmaxx ★]

1 minute ago, Ralphie said:

Ouch!

At the time it seemed to be a fair trade for my life.

[MickinMD ★]

I don't know if I was in any serious danger, but I was most scared of death when I wanted to impress a girl named Jane who I dated for the last time before I left Maryland for IIT in Chicago.  I slid down the face of a 50' high dam into 3 feet deep water.

We watched some other guys do it, then I stripped to my undershorts and managed to jump off a 40' high tower to get into the deep-side water then to the top ledge of the dam, a couple inches of water running over the top, and just sat there for minutes, too scared to move.

Finally, another guy who had been sliding down sat next to me and said, "You've never done this before, have you?"

When I answered, "No!," he said, "First of all, you can't go down in bare feet or they'll get scraped bad on the cement dam, so I'll lend you my sneakers.  As soon as you let go of the ledge, grab your legs with your hands just below the knees."

When I asked, "Why?" He answered, "As you go over the edge and see the bottom, you'll be scared shitless, stiffen up, and scrape your back. Holding your legs keeps you bent.  One more thing, just before you hit the water, take your hands off your legs and cover your eyes."

When I asked, "Why?" He answered, "So the force of the impact doesn't knock your eyes out."

At that point, I was already "scared shitless" but Jane and some friends who were going to go to a Bluegrass Festival with us afterward, were down on some rocks below waving up at me as if asking, "What are you waiting for?"

So I let go of the ledge, grabbed my legs, and resigned myself to my fate.

As I went down the face, my body began rotating so I was at about a 45° angle when I put my hands over my eyes and hit the water.

I rolled a little bit and had a bloodless, very minor scrape about 1 foot long on my back.  Fortunately, it didn't bother me.

But, when I came to a stop, sitting on my but under the water, I didn't stand up right away: being amazed and grateful that I wasn't killed.

Jane and friends thought something was wrong and ran into the water after me.

I stood up before they got to me and then they splashed water at me for getting them wet.

Then we had a great time at the Bluegrass Festival and unintentionally terrorized a Cub Scout camp, but that's another story.

The following week, finishing up my last week of summer chemistry research at UMBC, Dr. Alvin Meckler, the Chairman of UMBC's Physics Department, heard my dam story and we went into his office to calculate on his chalkboard how fast I was going when I hit the water.  It was about 40 mph!

 

[ChrisL]

A bullet missed my head by inches….

[maddmaxx ★]

1 minute ago, ChrisL said:

A bullet missed my head by inches….

Glad it missed.

[JerrySTL ★]

3 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

A bullet missed my head by inches….

I was shot at but I think that they were only trying to scare me a little. The bullets missed me by a few feet. Stuff like that happened in Kentucky back in those days.

It might have been on a bicycle. I was bombing down a steep hill at over 40 mph when the bike developed the 'death wobble'. Pedaling didn't help. Clamping my knees to the top tube didn't work. Putting on the brakes made things worse. I was looking for a place to dismount the bike but there were trees on both sides of the road. Then I remembered that popping a wheelie could help. So at 40 mph I jerked up on the handlebars and it worked! I bought a new bike soon afterwards.

I also had a heart attack on the bike racing up a steep hill. It wasn't a bad heart attack though.

[shootingstar]

• As teen crossing road on green light as pedestrian in winter, and hit by a car cutting illegally through a red light. I went down..the sky was like a jagged movie film, juttering.
• And another cyclist colliding into me as I turned a corner.  Apparently after crash, I was babbling for awhile and no one understood me, for lst few hrs. I have no memory of this.. I lost my short-term memory according to  neurologist. Which means even looking at something right now, requires cognition..and memory --to recognize what you are  looking at.  

[Tizeye]

I escape daily. Waking up in the morning is a good thing.

[Ralphie ★]

Just now, Tizeye said:

I escape daily. Waking up in the morning is a good thing.

How aboot all those gators? 

[Tizeye]

4 minutes ago, Ralphie said:

How aboot all those gators? 

Driving on I4 tempts fate more than gators.

[maddmaxx ★]

6 minutes ago, Ralphie said:

How aboot all those gators? 

They weren't as dangerous as predicted.

[Rattlecan ★]

1975. New job hauling mostly grain, fertilizer and soft feed in dump trailers.

Unloading at the mill you either backed into the pit or drove over it depending on the design. The trailer tailgate had a coal chute about one foot square that you would open to let the product unload through , raising the trailer body in stages as it unloads.

So one day, I’m dispatched to pick up a load of meat meal at a meat processing plant to deliver to the Ralston Purina pet food plant.

This plant had the unloading pit that you backed into so when you were behind the trailer you were kind of boxed in with very narrow avenues of escape.

I had the PTO engaged and the box slowly raising as I am in the pit trying to get the meat meal to start running out the coal chute by prodding it with a bar when suddenly I hear a loud crack and see the trailer tailgate begin to give way.
To this day, nearly fifty years later, I have no recollection of how I escaped the pit before twenty nine tons of meat meal tore the tailgate hinges off and slammed down into the pit, causing the truck to lunge forward about ten feet.

It was almost enough to make me believe in guardian angels.

The plant where this happened is about a mile from where I currently live although I didn’t live anywhere close back then.

[Ralphie ★]

4 minutes ago, Rattlecan said:

To this day, nearly fifty years later, I have no recollection of how I escaped the pit before twenty nine tons of meat meal tore the tailgate hinges off and slammed down into the pit, causing the truck to lunge forward about ten feet.

That is fun when all of a sudden you are just in a different place.

Reminds me of something br46 will like that I read in a motorcycle review ages ago. 

“You don’t twist the throttle of a Suzuki gs1100 to get somewhere. You twist it , and you ARE there. 

 

[Wilbur ★]

3 hours ago, Wilbur said:

A small aortic tear caused by a cycling accident.  Had the ER doctor not been razor sharp, I wouldn't be here. 

By "razor sharp" I mean sharp as a razor, not sharp like Razor or I wouldn't be here.  

[maddmaxx ★]

28 minutes ago, Ralphie said:

That is fun when all of a sudden you are just in a different place.

Reminds me of something br46 will like that I read in a motorcycle review ages ago. 

“You don’t twist the throttle of a Suzuki gs1100 to get somewhere. You twist it , and you ARE there. 

 

That ended my one and only test ride on my neighbor's new motorcycle.  Here, ride it around the block, it's easy and you can handle it.  First round not so bad other than learning how much one has to lean to make a corner.  Second round, I got this, time to crack the throttle open.  After surviving a monster wheel stand I have the bike back to the neighbor and never got on one again.  Much as I love to drive fast cars I knew that i would kill myself if I ever got involved in motorcycles.

My friend and the Fuel Dragster/Funny Car/Jet car driver who introduced me to my wife was eventually killed on a motorcycle.

[KrAzY]

As a kid I climbed a tree and was up about 40 feet. I slipped and could not hold on and hit branches on the way down while being inverted. My leg caught onto a branch and hooked around it stopping me from being a human plink'o chip. when I basically understood where I was, I saw I stopped on the last branch before I hit my head on the ground. I was able to reach up, and straighten myself up and just drop two feet to the ground. 

Another time I stoke my 4 wheeler out and was being stupid like normal. Im not sure how it all happened, but it bounced upon landing, I was inverted again and it was on top of me. I somehow twisted the steering on it and you had to drive straight by turning the handle bars at a 40 degree angle

Another time I was riding my motorcycle, and I had a bad shimmy in the rear.. tried to slow down by  giving it no gas... shimmy got worse, bucked me high side and I flew like superman for about 15-20 feet until gravity took over pulling me to the earth at a high rate of force. I evaded death, but bruised my sternum, tweeted both wrists and ankles. 

Another time I was water skiing and my dad thought it would be funny (an it was) to toss M80's out the back of the boat. I was dogging them like a beast. Well Someone didn't notice we were too close to shore and hit a sand bar making the boat stop abruptly. No brakes means you just ride it out... I missed the side of the boat, but ended up going ashore skis and all. the thing that stopped my beautiful swear fest was a tree. 

Another time while I was on the Fire department... We were sounding floors in a house fire, and it gave out and I ended up in the basement. 

Should I keep going? 

[maddmaxx ★]

12 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

As a kid I climbed a tree and was up about 40 feet. I slipped and could not hold on and hit branches on the way down while being inverted. My leg caught onto a branch and hooked around it stopping me from being a human plink'o chip. when I basically understood where I was, I saw I stopped on the last branch before I hit my head on the ground. I was able to reach up, and straighten myself up and just drop two feet to the ground. 

Another time I stoke my 4 wheeler out and was being stupid like normal. Im not sure how it all happened, but it bounced upon landing, I was inverted again and it was on top of me. I somehow twisted the steering on it and you had to drive straight by turning the handle bars at a 40 degree angle

Another time I was riding my motorcycle, and I had a bad shimmy in the rear.. tried to slow down by  giving it no gas... shimmy got worse, bucked me high side and I flew like superman for about 15-20 feet until gravity took over pulling me to the earth at a high rate of force. I evaded death, but bruised my sternum, tweeted both wrists and ankles. 

Another time I was water skiing and my dad thought it would be funny (an it was) to toss M80's out the back of the boat. I was dogging them like a beast. Well Someone didn't notice we were too close to shore and hit a sand bar making the boat stop abruptly. No brakes means you just ride it out... I missed the side of the boat, but ended up going ashore skis and all. the thing that stopped my beautiful swear fest was a tree. 

Another time while I was on the Fire department... We were sounding floors in a house fire, and it gave out and I ended up in the basement. 

Should I keep going? 

You only have 4 left.

[Ralphie ★]

22 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

That ended my one and only test ride on my neighbor's new motorcycle.  Here, ride it around the block, it's easy and you can handle it.  First round not so bad other than learning how much one has to lean to make a corner.  Second round, I got this, time to crack the throttle open.  After surviving a monster wheel stand I have the bike back to the neighbor and never got on one again.  Much as I love to drive fast cars I knew that i would kill myself if I ever got involved in motorcycles.

My friend and the Fuel Dragster/Funny Car/Jet car driver who introduced me to my wife was eventually killed on a motorcycle.

Note that the laugh only goes with the part before the last paragraph. That gets a .  
 

My inaugaral first motorsickle ride was similar but thankfully gentler. It is rude to hand a motorsickle to a neophyte!  

[Ralphie ★]

19 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

Should I keep going? 

Were you voted “luckiest to still be alive” in high school? Ahspose you probably have that honor here, although ChrisL dodging a bullet is pretty close!

[Kzoo]

1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

A bullet missed my head by inches….

I had a nail from a nail gun on a construction site do that to me.  It stuck in the wall beside my ear.

 

[jsharr ★]

I drank lighter fluid as a kid.  Was rushed to hospital.  Spent time in an oxygen tent.  Heard something about chemical burns to my lungs, but apparently no lasting damage, but I could be wrong.  Maybe I got brain damage and my overposting is a result of that? 

[12string]

Reading posts made me remember some that I had kind of brushed aside.  The bullet hitting the fence next to me, the dude that I later found out planned to stab me had I not sensed something wrong and didn't accept the challenge....

the funnest, though, was accidently going airborne at 130MPH, with a curve and jersey barrier looming.  Somehow, managed to stick the landing just at the curve and maintain control, missed by about an inch.  That was my last street race.  I lost.  But I suppose keeping my underwear clean was a win.

[Parr8hed]

copy/paste from the other thread.

 

2 years ago.  Softball tourney in Colorado.  Team elected to do a whitewater rafting deal.  We all went up to Clear Creek.  About 8,800 ft in elevation.  No moms went, just dads & daughters.  Water temp of 38.  Air temp was 66.  We got plenty of instruction on what to do if you fell out or had emergencies.  We had life jackets, wet suits, helmets, etc.  We all thought it was way overkill.  We thought it was going to be some touristy thing that was way safe and presented as a "real mountain experience".  

It wasn't.  It WAS the real mountain experience.  

We were going through some rough water and doing great.  It was me, coach Coop and Em and his daughter in the boat with a guide.  I don't know what happened.  We went into a hole and popped out just fine.  One minute I was in the boat, one minute I was in the water.  

It wasn't very deep but it was a STRONG current. I could not do anything except ball up and try to avoid boulders.  It ripped me around for about 5 minutes.  Bouncing me off rocks and over ledges.  I actually started getting the hang of it, going down on my back, keeping my legs out in front of me.  Until a boulder slammed me in the ass.  That hurt.  

I finally worked my way over to the side and was able to grip onto a boulder and pull myself up and out of the water.  I took literally every ounce of strength I had to keep my grip on that rock.  I then felt a hand on my arm of the girl in the follow truck that had scrambled down the embankment to grab a hold of me.  I pulled myself out and stood up on the rock to catch my breath.  I looked at our boat that had managed to hold up on the other side of the creek to see Emmy break out in tears.  She later told me that she thought she had lost me.  She hugged me awfully tight when we finally met up at the end of the trip.  I got into the follow truck with the heater on and just could not stop shaking.  

We went back to the place where we were staying and I got undressed and had some pretty good marks, scrapes and bruises all over myself.  The wife was like WTF happened.  That is when I told her the story.  

The next day we were talking to the tourney director and he stated that every year they warn people not to raft, and every year it seems like at least one parent gets killed while rafting.  

Jenny told me "I am glad it was you".  There were several dads on our trip that probably would not have made it.  I am convinced that military training and just being strong from lifting/riding/swimming are the only reasons that I did get back out of that water.  I could easily see someone just giving in to it and drowning.  

So yea, that is the time I almost died in Colorado.  

 

[ChrisL]

I forgot about the time we pulkee over two Asian gang members.  As we were walking up the drivers side we could see them fidgeting down by their legs.  I paused just as my partner yelled gun!!! We pulled them out via felony stop and found a Mac 10 & Tech 9 with the magazines in the wrong weapons.  

Had they gotten the magazines sorted out I’m guessing I would have met my end via a burst of automatic fire! 

[12string]

27 minutes ago, Parr8hed said:

copy/paste from the other thread.

2 years ago.  Softball tourney in Colorado.  Team elected to do a whitewater rafting deal.  We all went up to Clear Creek.  About 8,800 ft in elevation.  No moms went, just dads & daughters.  Water temp of 38.  Air temp was 66.  We got plenty of instruction on what to do if you fell out or had emergencies.  We had life jackets, wet suits, helmets, etc.  We all thought it was way overkill.  We thought it was going to be some touristy thing that was way safe and presented as a "real mountain experience".  

It wasn't.  It WAS the real mountain experience.  

We were going through some rough water and doing great.  It was me, coach Coop and Em and his daughter in the boat with a guide.  I don't know what happened.  We went into a hole and popped out just fine.  One minute I was in the boat, one minute I was in the water.  

It wasn't very deep but it was a STRONG current. I could not do anything except ball up and try to avoid boulders.  It ripped me around for about 5 minutes.  Bouncing me off rocks and over ledges.  I actually started getting the hang of it, going down on my back, keeping my legs out in front of me.  Until a boulder slammed me in the ass.  That hurt.  

I finally worked my way over to the side and was able to grip onto a boulder and pull myself up and out of the water.  I took literally every ounce of strength I had to keep my grip on that rock.  I then felt a hand on my arm of the girl in the follow truck that had scrambled down the embankment to grab a hold of me.  I pulled myself out and stood up on the rock to catch my breath.  I looked at our boat that had managed to hold up on the other side of the creek to see Emmy break out in tears.  She later told me that she thought she had lost me.  She hugged me awfully tight when we finally met up at the end of the trip.  I got into the follow truck with the heater on and just could not stop shaking.  

We went back to the place where we were staying and I got undressed and had some pretty good marks, scrapes and bruises all over myself.  The wife was like WTF happened.  That is when I told her the story.  

The next day we were talking to the tourney director and he stated that every year they warn people not to raft, and every year it seems like at least one parent gets killed while rafting.  

Jenny told me "I am glad it was you".  There were several dads on our trip that probably would not have made it.  I am convinced that military training and just being strong from lifting/riding/swimming are the only reasons that I did get back out of that water.  I could easily see someone just giving in to it and drowning.  

So yea, that is the time I almost died in Colorado.  

Dude, why did you do that AGAIN after almost dying the first time?!

[dinneR ★]

I did a bike race when it was -40. Mittens had his hub freeze and he could have died. I could have been a witness to that. It's terrifying to even think about it.

[Ralphie ★]

1 hour ago, jsharr said:

Maybe I got brain damage and my overposting is a result of that? 

Yes!  Dain bramage definitely ‘splains it. 

[jsharr ★]

7 minutes ago, dinneR said:

I did a bike race when it was -40. Mittens had his hub freeze and he could have died. I could have been a witness to that. It's terrifying to even think about it.

Nothing good ever happens at 40 below.

[12string]

Just now, jsharr said:

Nothing good ever happens at 40 below.

Correct.  We just watched a documentary about exactly that called The Day After Tomorrow.  It's even worse at -150, especially when that happens in a matter of minutes.

[Longjohn ★]

I had a cardiac arrest as I was being discharged from the horsespittle. Five minutes later and I would have been in the car on my way home and wouldn’t be here now.

I was traveling the Alcan highway when it was -60° and moved over to let a truck by and got sucked over the edge of the mountain with no guardrail. I thought we were dead, snow pushing over the hood and the windshield so I couldn’t see anything as we careened down the mountain. It eventually came to a stop and we were still alive.

[Airehead]

11 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I had a cardiac arrest as I was being discharged from the horsespittle. Five minutes later and I would have been in the car on my way home and wouldn’t be here now.

I was traveling the Alcan highway when it was -60° and moved over to let a truck by and got sucked over the edge of the mountain with no guardrail. I thought we were dead, snow pushing over the hood and the windshield so I couldn’t see anything as we careened down the mountain. It eventually came to a stop and we were still alive.

That is scary. What were you driving on that day?

[Longjohn ★]

1 minute ago, Airehead said:

That is scary. What were you driving on that day?

Some kind of Ford 4 door. It was a friend’s car I was driving up to Alaska for him. I had his wife and kids in the car.

[Zephyr]

I have had a few.  They have been fully de-briefed and I tend to not talk about/think about them

[Chris...]

Had meningitis one time. It was bad. Spent 2 weeks in the hospital. Also drunk at October fest with friends. Went on the Ferris wheel. At the top we decided to swap seats with the car below us. Looking back it was not a smart thing to do. 

[Randomguy]

This one time, I almost died of dehydration because I did not have a Stanley tumbler of water.  It was terrible.

Fortunately, some millennial chick with a spare happened by, and I was saved!

[BR46]

There was that time I found out what it was like to have 480 volts pass though my body and when I was rushed off to surgery to have my gangrene gallbladder removed. 

The room service in ICU was really nice, a little expensive but nice. 

[Allen ★]

Catastrophic car wreck. Broke my damn neck. 

[Kirby]

I was hit by a car once, but luckily wasn't injured.

Decades ago, I happened to be out of town when my roommate was kidnapped and assaulted,  The kidnapping took hours and they ended up back at our apartment where they robbed the place, If I hadn't been out of town that day, I'd definitely have been home at that time.

[Ralphie ★]

52 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

This one time, 

At band camp? 

[KrAzY]

5 hours ago, Ralphie said:

Were you voted “luckiest to still be alive” in high school? Ahspose you probably have that honor here, although ChrisL dodging a bullet is pretty close!

Nope, not that I was aware of. Seriously I have about 10 more I could have wrote about.. 

[Bikeguy]

After I had acute pancreatitis and I was home, that's when I learned for a while the docs were very concerned that my O2 levels were so low my organs could start shutting down.   The docs told WoBG when I was in intensive care for 2 or 3 days (can't remember).    That was close enough...  

I had pain that was sooooo bad ALL the time it hurt to breath.  Apparently not breathing is a bad thing.  Most of the time I was breathing very shallow.  I had to have PT for a while to learn to breath again before I was released from the hospital.  

When I finally was getting better, I remember the docs telling me I needed to start walking longer distances while I was in the hospital.  WoBG heard that, so we went for a walk together down the hospital hallway.  I got maybe 100 feet and turned around and went back to the room and got back in bed.  WoBG says, you need to walk more than that.  I explained, I just ran a marathon, I'm totally exhausted from the walk and need to rest. 

I've read that most people recover from pancreatitis in about a week.  It took me about 2 weeks to recover.  Then I was at home getting my strength back for another week. 

The day this all started I rode my bike about 26 miles and then used a push mower to mow the lawn for 2 hours.   And soon walking 200 feet was all I could do.

[groupw]

I walked around for 3 or 4 days on a ruptured appendix. I had abdominal pain all day at work on Thursday. It finally got persistent and bad enough that night we went to the ER. The pain was not consistent with an appendix and my white count was low. They gave me a shot to help a kidney stone pass. 
I was in La La Land when it ruptured. I remembered throwing up but that was it. The next day my side hurt, but I went to work. There was a flu going around the office so I just figured that was why I had a fever that night. The next day I felt better so I went to an RC race in Omaha. All seemed fine until that afternoon. We got caught in a sudden rain shower so I agin thought nothing of it when I got chills that night. 
Sunday was a beautiful day. The pain in my belly was still there, came and went, but otherwise the day was fine… until I drove home. As soon as the sun set, the chills came back. Even though it was 75 outside, I drove home with the heater on. I decided to go the Dr first thing in the morning. I was in surgery within an hour. I barely had time to let my wife know. 
I spent a week in the hospital recovering. At the weekend, my Dr had to go out of town so one of his practice partners came in. 
“So you’re the walking miracle!”

I was confused. 
“Oh. I suppose you were pretty weak so he didn’t tell you much. With the amount of abscess in your body that we removed, you shouldn’t be alive!”  
 just say that was a lot to take in…