Topic: Whats the Closest You've Come To Dying?

[nickclone]

Easy topic, whats the closest you've come to taking a dirt nap? I have a long list, but I'll just keep the most memorable ones on the list.

When I was about four my mom blew out a tire and pulled over to the side of the road, the road had a 20 foot drop without a guard rail. The car was literally teetering over the edge when she pulled me out and it car took the plunge.

When I was 19 and on my way to class I swerved to miss a deer, hit a ditch, hit an embankment and while upside down also took out a mailbox. I wasn't hurt at all, but everyone who came by was so shocked that I wasn't hurt, let alone dead, I just feel that maybe I should have been.

I've told you all this story before, but its been awhile so its time for a "remaking". I was doing a lot of E a few years ago and you can't really be sure what an E pill is made of, so I took a chance and got unlucky. I took three, triple stacked E pills (thats nine regular ones) and totally overdosed, but I was able to come through without the help of a hospital or stomach pump. I saw the light and refused to go to it, I'm that hard core.

When I was about ten years old I took a field trip to a mini golf course which sold these giganto hot dogs. I bit off more than I could chew and started to choke, of course no one helped me because I was surrounded by kids. I was able to work the wiener out of my throat (...) and I was done eating for the day after that. I don't know if any of you have ever choked on food before, but let me tell you...its very painful.

[scottws]

I tried to pass a car on a 2-lane road.  It was a legal pass, but the other car sped up as I was trying to pass them.  Suddenly, headlights came out of nowhere.  There must have been a dip in the road, I don't know but it was like they were suddenly just there.

Instead of hitting the brakes and getting back behind the car I was trying to pass, I just put the pedal to the floor.  All 88 horses of my Escort tried to pull my car ahead of the other one.  At the last second I just swerved over.  To be honest, the only reason I made it was because the car I was trying to pass slammed on its brakes to let me in.

[Cobra951]

I veered in front of a car as a kid, on a bicycle.  If the lady had been distracted or even had slow reflexes, I would not be here today.

My grandfather shot an arrow that came so close to my midsection that the feathers grazed my shirt.  I went behind the house to retrieve an errant arrow, and he didn't realize I was in the line of fire.

I skidded across a 4-lane highway once.  I was driving down an unfamiliar 60mph 2-lane country road at night near Columbus, OH, when I saw what looked like a side road with a stop sign facing it.  Someone had bent it, because it was supposed to face me.  I came inches from the guard rail across the big road, and traffic had come to a stop in both directions.

[scottws]

...was it avian flu?

Haha.  I posted that because I couldn't think of any situation in which I almost died and figured the flu was the closest I'd been.  Then I rememberd the story I edited.

[idolminds]

I got severely ill a few years back at my great uncles funeral. We never figured out what it was, but I couldnt stand light, I had constant shivers and could never get warm despite running a fever...it was bad. I started getting better but my mom was pretty close to taking me to the hospital. Oddly, I havent been sick since then.

Does nearly dying at birth count? Intensive care for 18 days after I was born. Good times.

[Pugnate]

Yea I hate to win this thread so quickly, but I've come very close to dying a horrible death four times, all in the past three years, all in this sick fucking country. I've already talked about these, but here is a recap. And again.. it might seem incredible and a total fabrication, but I swear it isn't.

1. Was living as a tennant where the landlord was an extremist and a sexist. He talked down to my mother and sister because they were women and when he realized I wasn't religious sent his sons to threaten me while I was busy moving out. My mother and sister were in the old apartment and the two sons tried to break in. I came storming back and would have probably killed them even though they came armed. Thankfully they chickened out.

2. I was driving back from my grandparent's place (15 minute drive) with my mother,brother,sister and aunt in the car. Everyone was visiting from overseas. Unfortunately we were chased by some bastard who was most likely armed and very dangerous. God knows what he wanted, but I escaped after some driving need for speed style, I kid you not.

3. Most recently some asshole on a bike with his family hit me. Next thing I know a crowd gathered full of illiterate and pissed off people, ready to tear my head off.

4. This happened a few years ago. I briefly mentioned it. There were some horrible storms in this city, and the most rainful in 50 years. This populated road was jammed up its ass while it rained like crazy for 2 hours. The area I was in had walls in side from two bridges that were higher than the car. With the drainge system screwed the water level rose to higher than the car, which started to float. On the other side there was a live wire and some people got killed, I kid you not. They turned off the power, but it was too late for those people.

I took some pictures of the aftermath of that storm. Will post later.

Anyway being in near death situations is a haunting experience.
 

[nickclone]

Haha.  I posted that because I couldn't think of any situation in which I almost died and figured the flu was the closest I'd been.  Then I rememberd the story I edited.

I edited my post, I don't know why. I'm really fucked up right now, maybe I'll have another story to tell in a few hours.

[Cobra951]

Pug wins is right.  We're so spoiled in America, particularly those of us who lived in suburbs for so long.

I had not thought of being near death during birth.  I was born with the umbilical cord around my neck.  Almost got hanged as the only activity ever outside the womb.

[Pugnate]

Holy shit! Must have been a nightmare for your mother.

[nickclone]

Jesus, none of us can even compete with Pug. Everyone go out and get shot at in a developing country, come back and post about it.

[Pugnate]

This is one of those games where you lose when you win.

[nickclone]

This is one of those games where you lose when you win.

Well at least this isn't the "Who Has Shit Their Pants In the Last 3 Years" thread, I've got that award on lockdown!

[Pugnate]

I don't even want to start those stories.

[nickclone]

I don't even want to start those stories.

If it comes out of the body at time you don't want it to, its come out of my body at a time I didn't want it to.

[Quemaqua]

Only once when I was a kid did I ever have anything like this.  Choked on a candy, ironically provided at a Fire Department booth at a street fair.  Pretty lame.  Coughed it up, that was that.

Though there were a few times when my heart did some scary things that I wasn't sure about.  I don't know about near death, but I do wonder what might have happened had it kept doing what it was doing.  Always meant to go to the doctor to get it checked out, but it sort of went away and I never did.

[Raisa]

here's some that standout in my memory
1. I was 3 years old, I let go of my mom's hand and went running across the road.  It was a slope.  I fell in the middle of the other lane in front of an oncoming car.  I remember looking up at the headlights, luckily the guy's brakes were good.

2. I was 5 years old, and was an inch away from being hit by a car.

3. 10 years old, major earthquake - actually two of them, other one was 7, the other was 7.4.  I was in front of the tallest building in the middle of the city.  I saw people running around all bloody.  debris fell on my foot.  It looks normal but hasn't felt normal since then.  If i was in school, I would have been dead.  I usually play in an area that was smashed by one of the walls.  Or with my friend in a building that was just a tangled mess of metal and glass.  For days, the sidewalks became morgues.  To this day, there are still ghosts haunting the city. Earthquakes freak me out. 

4. 11 years old, my cousin and i were rushing back to school, there was this steep stairway leading up to the road that didn't have a shoulder or sidewalk.  As soon as we got to the top a 10-wheeler truck zoomed past and we were thrown back down a few steps, if we were a second earlier, we would've been roadkill.

5. 11 years old, i went to visit a friend and her aunt was driving, we hit a lady crossing a lonely highway, she died, we almost went over the cliff because my friend's aunt lost control of the car.

6. 22 years old, I went out with a close friend of mine.. we went shopping during rush hour late in the afternoon, i wanted to go to this shop across the street.  The street forked into another street that was one-way going uphill. My friend told me to wait for her, we'll check one last shop and then cross.  Right when we were about to cross the pedestrian lane, a brand new Pajero passed us and started going downhill (wrong way) and on to the side walk and it just continued till it hit the wall of a shop and it went over  fat person so the vehicle couldn't move.  If my friend hadn't asked me to wait for her, I would've been right there in the corner, and probably would have been one of the 6 victims pulled from underneath the car.

[Ghandi]

Raisa...stay away from roads.

I've never been close to dying, really. Had some choking experiences. I ate a wild mushroom from the yard once when I was little and was forced to vomit it up. It could've been poisonous I suppose.

But yeah,  nothing major. Pug wins by default.

[Xessive]

Man, some of these are pretty amazing stories! Thank God you're all alright!

I've come close to death quite a few times. I swear there's got to be a Guardian Angel watching over me!

The earliest story I have was when I was about 1 year old. Needless to say I don't remember it, but according to my mother I was crawling around the TV wall unit and one of its legs broke just as I was right in front of and under the TV. The behemoth of a TV slid off, right over my head, and crashed on to the floor behind me.

After that my life has pretty much been one brush with death after the other. I've been electro-shocked by 240V outlets about 8 times now. I've only ever broken two bones in my body, and they were both in my head (chin and nose-bone). I've fallen off the top of a house. A chandelier has landed one me once. A drape holder (big wooden thing) landed on my forehead while I was sleeping. Many tales to tell, I'll spill the details as I recollect them.

According to my zodiac sign (Sagittarius) we're very accident-prone and equally tenacious. I am ever so grateful for the fact that I'm alive today! hehe I have also decided tht if I have kids my place has to be baby-proof! Ok, some things will be deliberate booby traps but that's just for the few lessons one can only learn through experience.