List close calls in you life when you almost got killed or died.

[tom slick]

I was standing in an open car door (between the door and the car) of a car parked 10+ feet off the road on the shoulder. A drunk driver swerved onto the shoulder and grazed the door lightly enough that the door opened further without damage but it stripped the trim off the rear quarter panel of the car. He turned around and stopped, apologizing for the incident, but also accusing us of "flinging the door open at the last moment and he didn't have time to react." Interesting theory considering he drove off pavement and onto gravel to hit us.

Another time I was making a left turn on a 2 lane highway, a truck from several cars behind me decided to pass everyone on the left as I was making the turn. I caught the truck out of the corner of my eye and swerved back out of the lane just as he passed me.

 

[gfh77665]

Driving home late one night east on a narrow two lane road, I came upon a stranded motorist. I put my hazard flashers on, got out and ask the guy what was wrong. Turns out he was headed almost to the same place I was going, so we decided to push his car into the driveway of an abandon lot to clear the road. He pushed while leaning into the drivers door to steer, while I pushed on the back of the car. He sharply spun the wheel to the right to make the turn, then I saw a flash of light and heard screeching brakes.

A west bound car driving way too fast was headed right for me. In the split second, all I could do is "tense up" and get hit. I was hit directly by the cars bumper and front grill. The impact was incredible. I flew forward about 10 ft. and then the little Isuzu car hit me again, running completely over my leg. I was partially pinned underneath, but managed to squirm out, with tire tracks over my lower leg.

Now, it gets funny. An ambulance transported me to the nearest ER. Other than a fractured lower leg, concussion, incredible road rash on my entire back side, and severely bruised arm and ribs, I was otherwise OK. So, I hear an argument going on in the adjacent emergency room. I could tell a female did not want to be examined. The ER Doc kept telling her "We HAVE to take a look". Finally, the woman told him "OK, its not blood... it's urine. I was so scared I peed my self".

Turns out she was the one who hit me, and she was drinking that night.

 

[Bud]

Several instances in Vietnam in 67 and 68. The good Lord was certainly watching over me.

 

[Trav]

All I can say is I have used up 4 of my 9 lives.

 

[MCompact]

I had a summer job with the county road department. A grader operator was parked under some low hanging trees and was concentrating on moving branches out of his face. He put it in gear and promptly ran over me- I was standing with my back to it. I had several broken bones in my leg but the worst part was I was 17 and the hospital wouldn't do anything until they contacted my parents. I waited in a side room of the ER for two hours until they finally located my father.

 

[oldhp]

1973 was driving Mom's Caddy going out to Phoenix on the interstate. It was sunset had a hard time seeing, in a instant a car went by going the other way. That night we saw on the news head on driver kills 3. That was him.
I'm a firm believer of "When it's your time.......it's your time."

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
I don't fully remember it, but it involves Afghanistan and a well-placed mortar round. I suffered a traumatic brain injury and was unconscious for a while (hence why I don't remember what really happened, just what I've read in reports). My back was hurt pretty bad with 2 herniated discs, scoliosis, and stenosis resulting in a few operations over the years. It also left me with a bum knee. The 2 guys sitting next to me didn't make it. I still have dreams about them from time to time. One of them was an old friend of mine that went through basic training with me.



Holy cow ...

Neurological damage alone is hard enough to deal with much less back injury. Then add to that the loss of people literally right next to you. One who was a good friend. That leads to "survivor guilt" which is very hard to walk through and try to wrap one's hand around with for as long as you are here.

The real physical, emotional, and mental after effects of circumstances that you went through and have lived with are tremendously difficult to live with and cope with. It can take years to try to come to terms with everything you have been through. A vast majority of people in this country have no idea what great pain, suffering and difficulty our survivor veterans have had to deal with one a day to day basis.

I have a great, great deal of respect for people like you who have not only served this nation but have had to cope with, deal with, and live with so much. I hope and pray that you continue on your path, that you find some semblance of peace in your life, and find ways to overcome your physical pain, and that you know that there is a very real purpose for why you are here with us. I believe you have fulfilled a very small part of your purpose just by sharing your experience on here.

 

[Silverado12]

On September 26, 2003 at about 07:15 I had just crossed over into NY state on US-15. At the time it was a two lane road and I was hauling a dry bulk load of plastic pellets to Valeo auto parts manufacturing in Rochester. A Dodge Neon crossed the line and hit me head on. I lost control of the truck at that point and hit the embankment and spent the night in the hospital. Unfortunately, the 3 people in the car were killed. The driver had fallen asleep. It bothered me so bad I had to see a shrink and almost quit driving truck, but an old driver I knew told me that statistically an incident like that would never happen again. That made sense to me so I went back to work in about two weeks.

 

[shiny]

I cannot begin to "compete" with some of the stories here. My heart goes out to you all.

When I was 3 years old, I suffocated under a blanket my father pressed over my face. It wasn't the first time he did it but that time went on for too long and I died. I remember being out of my body, looking down from the ceiling, not sure where to go from there. I don't know what brought me back or why I'm still here.

6 years old, swimming underwater in a hotel pool in Corpus Cristy. I wanted to see if I could hold my breath all the way from one end of the pool to the other. When I was at the deep end, a bunch of kids jumped into the pool with heavy blue canvas rafts and covered the pool from one end to the other. I ran out of air and tried to surface but the rafts blocked me. No one knew I was under there. The water was too deep for me to kick off from the floor and push through. I remember pounding and pounding on rafts but no one felt it. I started blacking out and seeing flashing light. Once I got my nose above water for a second before the rafts pushed me under again. It seemed to go on forever. Finally someone said, "Hey, there's a kid down there" and they let me out. I went crying to my parents, told them I almost drowned. They were passed out drunk on lounge chairs ten feet from the pool. They never opened their eyes; just told me to go away and not bother them.

7 years old in Galveston, my drunk parents thought it would be fun to make me walk to the end of the jetty. It was covered in slime and slick like ice. I kept slipping and sliding to the edge; almost fell into the crashing waves more than once. Maybe for a grownup it wouldn't be a big deal, but to me it felt like near death.

10 years old in Port Aransas. Waaaaay out in the water with my mother, walking in the shallows of the second row of dunes. The water was murky; you couldn't see your own feet. There was glare on the water, it was all bright white with sharp black shadows from the wavelets. My mother said "Oooh! something rough just brushed against my leg." It was a shark "tasting" her. We were in the middle of a huge school of sharks. Their fins looked like the black shadows on the water. People on shore were waving their arms and shouting "SHARKS!" but we were too far out to hear them. When we finally figured out what was going on, I panicked. I remembered reading that one should never splash water around sharks because it attracts them. But how could I swim away without splashing? I just went for it. I don't know if we were close to being eaten or not, or if we were actually in as much danger as it felt like we were, but it was terrifying. I've been afraid to go in the ocean ever since.

39 years old, breast cancer. Eschewed the cut, burn and poison docs. Treated it with Gerson therapy, Hoxsey therapy, ESSIAC tea and some other things. I'm still alive and kicking with all my parts.

58 years old, amelotic nodular melanoma between my nose and my eye. It looked like an innocent, round pink mole that came up suddenly. My doctor didn't even notice it during a routine appointment. But within a month I felt like it had grown a taproot down to the bone that pulled on my muscles and it suddenly dawned on me that normal moles don't do that. I researched skin cancers. It didn't look AT ALL like the pictures of melanomas, so I didn't panic. I figured it was probably a basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma, even thought it didn't look quite like those either. I decided to treat it with Curaderm and if it wasn't gone in a month I'd go to a doctor. The Curaderm destroyed it and didn't even leave a scar. A few weeks later I saw an article about amelotic nodular melanomas. The picture was identical to what I'd had. The article said it's the most dangerous kind of melanoma because while they look innocent on top, they quickly grow long roots that spread throughout the body. Most doctors miss them because they're looking for big, ugly black melanomas. Usually by the time someone realizes what it is, it's too late. At that point I suddenly broke into a cold sweat and got the shakes. Dodged another bullet.

 

[4WD]

Been too close to bulls, snakes, and gators … and they all let me know it.
When I was too close to zinging rounds (real close) flying by … I had to go tell those animals to shoot another direction.
2 idiots/2 guns were shooting at cans on a dirt mound … drinking beer … clueless …

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by Trav
All I can say is I have used up 4 of my 9 lives.

X2!!!

Me & my buddies used to ride our dirt bikes through allies & cross the streets doing 60+ mph, There were more than a few close calls oncoming traffic. I'm surprised one of us didn't get killed. Why our parents would let 12/13 year old boys ride 250cc dirt bikes in the city I couldn't tell you!



About 8-9 years ago, We were building a 1955 Belair show car. It had a Hydroboost brake booster & coworker was trying to bleed the the brake system. He was pretty green but talked a good game & went to UTI which he liked to brag about a lot!
It had a Aluminum Willwood master cylinder with a threaded aluminum plug on the end.
He had been trying to bleed the system all day & I kept telling him that it most likely had a few small leaks & it was dragging air back in the system. In frustration he started to car so the pedal was easier to push as I'm sure his leg was about gave out. Him & a helper tried to bleed the system for another hour or so.

He calls me over again, Saying the PS pump was making a whining noise & he thought the Hydroboost unit was bad & that's why the pedal was low & hard?? I said.....NO, You're bottoming out the piston in the MC & deadheading the pump. He had me pretty frustrated at this point & I was talking down to him while trying to locate the leak. I had my head down around the MC & could hear the pump straining more & more. I raised up & told him to STOP pressing the pedal so hard! He just stood on on it & the end of the MC exploded shooting the aluminum plug out like a bullet. It ripped right through the air intake tube & put a 2" deep dent in the core support.

If my head would have been down there....I would have killed me, Luckily...I just took some shrapnel in the arm from the MC housing. A trip to the hospital to extract it & 5 stitches.

 

[joegreen]

Ill keep mine short and sweet. I went down on a 6 lane highway riding my motorcycle doing about 85. The front handlebars started shaking uncontrollably. Luckily i didn't get injured besides a concussion and was released from the hospital in a few hours.

 

[dave1251]

Well. Right now I'm going through Chemotherapy for Burkitt's Lymphoma. This is one close call I didn't sign for.

 

[daves87rs]

Last year someone came into my lane on a two way street, and I swerved out of the way to avoid hitting him head on. My Cobalt span out of control of few times! I stopped about 6 inches from hitting the driver's side of my car into a large tree.....

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by dave1251
Well. Right now I'm going through Chemotherapy for Burkitt's Lymphoma. This is one close call I didn't sign for.



Holy cow dave1251....

I know you probably know the following..Take care of yourself one day at a time. . You are in my thoughts man. If you need anything... Just let me know.

 

[bachman]

The way my brain works, I better type while on I'm on the thought track.
I'll get back to the pages of reading through all posted responses but meanwhile, congratulations for making it through your close calls. Glad you are here still to hang around and type among other fun things to enjoy, see and do.

Part I
Michigan, August of 1980-
My home state and just graduated high school, I was coming back from the north side of town after seeing a movie with a friend. We'd usually wait for the scary one's or thrillers to come out and go see them, laughing at each other as we jumped and flinched during the surprise scenes. It was a dry night, we hadn't had the usual mixer we'd slip in a coke or soda that we sometimes did. No beers, no party hopping or anything. We were going to meet some friends at a coffee / food joint and they might have had to work that evening or were coming from some other outing. The movie was out about 1115 or 1130 pm and I stopped to add a few dollars in gas to my '74 CJ-5. That being my last memory of the night. From there, I drove another few blocks turning west on another road that would take us most of the way to the restaurant within 5 minutes or so. As I approached a flashing yellow light and flashing red for the cross traffic at the signal, another car was northbound and to my left as it proceeded through not ever slowing down. I'm guessing that I had looked right first and by the time I checked left, the car hit the front clip with my ever seeing it coming. Young driver mistake.

My passenger Chris said he had just enough time to say or start to say " watch this car on the left!" I'm sure the impact spun us around clockwise 45 degrees or more, and neither of us were seat-belted in. Chris got thrown to my seat and I went out the soft top door into the road landing on the back of my head. Chris cut his head on the mirror but was otherwise okay. He said he was interrogated by medical and Police, questioning our drug use or drugs of choice. Apparently the severe head injury (me) causes a combative behavior much like drugs do. He / we assured them we were stone cold sober and on nothing. In the hospital, I had severe brain swelling and would either get better or be stuck in some level of partial recovery, possibly permanently. I was completely restrained for most of my week in the hospital, said weird things, forgot just about everything anyone told me and kept asking the same questions. At home and for weeks, I needed constant supervision, would change my clothes a number of times a day and constantly forget I couldn't go anywhere, didn't have a Jeep anymore, had to stay calm and take my anti seizure meds. Eventually everything worked out quite well. My memory of events never changed so just about everything you read here was told to me by friends, family and my girlfriend who I married in 1983. My grandmother always said the accident changed my temperament just a bit and I'm wouldn't be surprised. Yet I was always pretty laid back and easy going. I've never been a high maintenance type of person in that regard. I do think around that time, I realized the invincible attitude of my pre-20's self was thinking nothing will kill us and felt quite guilty for putting my friends and family though a bit of that drama because I was too cool to wear a seat-belt. From that time on, always a seat-belt and a chance to test that theory years later...

Part II
Fast Forward to Colorado, April 1995-
Working on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I was driving my van and seeing clients / taking product orders when a DUI driver lost control at a high rate of speed and hit my driver door not quite a tee bone hit pinning me in the van and pushing it into 3 other cars. My seat and the floor pan was heavily bent and I was belted in but all the forces and moving parts created chest wall - heart trauma, broken ribs, fractured pelvis and dislocated femur head (popped out of pelvic socket). Sitting in the van, I knew nothing of this and just had difficulty breathing. The wind got knocked out of me so-to-speak. Bleeding from the mouth, I thought maybe some internal injuries and I'm sure I thought the worst. I really did conger up my wife and kids faces to memory, maybe an automatic mechanism to "see them" as one might fade out or fade away.
A Ft Carson Soldier came to the van window and I asked him to call my wife giving him the number. Something like- "Just see where they say they are taking me, let her know and tell her I'm fine. I'll be fine." The call she remembers is- "You should see the van ! You should see the van !" Dang, more putting the family through this again.

To wrap this up, The DUI driver threatened everyone at the scene as witnesses, he was uninsured. I had my heart get back to normal after they stopped / restarted me in the trauma room. I fought them in ER good enough to miss out on getting intubated. I had surgery on my hip adding a pin in there and nice shiny staples for a while.
Walking therapy and stairs with a walker, then a cane, then biking, hiking and skiing. I was on the phone every week seeing what they'd allow me to do. After a short time, I was having some confusion and being overwhelmed with things back to the sales job and all details that go along with it.
Went in for testing and discovered and closed head injury causing some cognitive and memory challenges right about the time I realized Workers comp and lost wages is legal battlefield. After hiring an attorney and nearly 3 years of that contest, I finally got a teeny bit of compensation then payback of wages I was due over that 2.5 years. They like to cherry pick the seasonal numbers to your disadvantage then try to starve you and the family so you'll possibly settle quicker or for less.
We sold the home we'd just had built 8 months before the crash. At that time, we were coming up short and workers comp was just digging in. My post-injury ability and performance with a 15% impairment rating just wasn't the same and some things had to give.

Anyways, that's a bit about my education into the realm of unscheduled adventures, happy to be here and find another job that better fit my new "dynamics" - lol

Stay safe everyone !

 

[Skippy722]

I was 17 driving my friends Honda Scooter (kind of like a Metropolitan) down the sidewalk of my small town, without a helmet because I thought I was invincible. I was going ~40mph when I hit a bump, death wobbled, lost control got thrown from the scooter and rolled into the middle of the main road through town.

By the grace of God I didn't get run over by any traffic and the scooter didn't hit any cars. When I got thrown, I was thrown at about a 30° angle from parallel with the sidewalk face down. I managed to bring my arms up to protect my head as best I can and landed right on my left arm/elbow somewhere in the left lane and rolled a few times over into the right lane. Scooter needed new handle bars, I had some road rash on my left arm and a small rock embedded in my skin just below my elbow.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted by dave1251
Well. Right now I'm going through Chemotherapy for Burkitt's Lymphoma. This is one close call I didn't sign for.


Look after yourself mate...not much else to say...

 

[Shannow]

Won't mention cars...they are things that you put yourself in harm's way with every day.

Most memorable was the pickled onion incident...

I was in a shared house, with girlfriend, her twin sister, and sister's boyfriend, my mate from Uni....sounds much better than it was...

I HAD a habit of eating picled onions, sucking the brine off them, peeling off the soggy layers while I swished them around my mouth, then enjoying the pure crunch of the onion without excess brine and soggy layers.

Was home alone, and doing this, while thinking and walking, and tripped on a fold in the carper...the onion went down my through, and stopped...on an inhale. Time just slowed down, same as when you go into a corner twice as fast as you should.

Tried to cough and "back it out"... no luck... but I was a pretty OK competetive swimmer in my teens, and could hold my breath fro nearly 2 minutes, so I glanced tthe clock for reference of my expected continuity, and went to work, trying to reach down ad grab it, drop my head between my knees, all sorts of stuff.

At 1:30, I realised that this wasn't going to end well, and decided to write a note to my girlfriend, and find a non threatening place to lie down to be found...seriously, that's where I was.

Then saw the breakfast bar in the kitchen, and ran at it full tilt hitting the corner just below my sternum. The stupid onion popped out, hit the melamine surface, rolled a few times, and stopped, just like something Stephen King would describe.

Air was good....

Back in July 2018, bored in a motel room, I remembered that day, and started working on breathing and meditation (my record was earlier this year, at 4:06)...that saved my life again.

 

[bachman]

Originally Posted by Shannow
Won't mention cars...they are things that you put yourself in harm's way with every day.

Most memorable was the pickled onion incident...


That's quite a twist and amazing story! Good for you to slam the counter.

Cars- That perspective is very true although I see my experience as 42 + years of driving and they only tried to kill me twice. Done some fool things in younger days with cars too.

I won't mention breathing... that's something I do everyday !!