Have you ever been close to death?

[Geez Louise]

I stood next to a guy today and his stench nearly killed me!!! Does that count??

[NC 5ltr]

dont remember it so going on old mans account of what happened but anyway was absailing down a good 30m cliff when i was about 12 or 13 belayer(sp) was down the bottom etc all was going sweet,then i sliped and started to fall from 20m above,the belayer was a bit slow to react but pulled me up in time for me to just tap my head on the rocks below,got 9 stitches out of it but couldve been alot worse.

[Booka]

In march i got bashed by 25 blokes, and the doctor said if i was lieing on the road any longer i would have bleed out, and wen they stabed me in the neck if it was 2 mm deeper i would be a quadraplecic, and i would have had major brain damage back to a 2 year old level.... worst thing about it, it was compleaty random and they are only charging 3 of the ..... well im still here so im happy

list of injurys:
Shatered eye socket,
Deep stab wound in neck,
Depresion
Phobia of big crouded areas with lots of noise.




sorry about my spelling

[PoMmYwOG]

well firstly when i was being born i had the umbiblical cord wrapped around my neck...my heart stopped 10 times , each time for 30secs cos i couldnt breathe, until the doc unwrapped it. Doctor thought i had died 10 times, my dad collapsed into a wheel chair...

Then when i was about 1-2 i had a convulsion, 40degree temp and eyes rolling to back of my head vomitting etc... but was ok after in hosp for a few days.

Then when i was about 2 we went to the snow and we went to trout farm to fish at lake eucumbeme and i cast my rod and fell in myself, my dad saw me dissappear under water(water was very cold , almost freezing) then he stuck his arm in feeling around for , me and finally found me, coughed up water for a while and shivering but was ok, but still to this day i have a very bad phobia of deep water even tho i cannot remember a thing...

[feebs]

Underground mine.. stope charge-up.. we decided to take the ampho to the stope in the bucket of the bogger (loader).. I was standing on the ampho to keep an eye on it (about 800 kg).

All was well until we ran over a big rock, one of the bags fell OUT onto the rock floor, right in front of the big, flat, tread-less wheel of the loader probably doing about 25km/h.

I honestly accepted my imminent death for about one second.. and knew that at least it would be quick!

I have seen c4 get run over by a ute at speed and not blow up.. but I honestly thought the green bag was going to go boom under the mass of the loader.


At least if it had gone up.. We would have received a Darwin Award for our efforts.

[gozza]

Death and i never see eye to eye so no - we have never been close

in all seriousness - sounds like some of you guys are lucky to be alive - i have read some stuff that makes me think - ie random bashings -

[Mikey]

This may sound like crap but it aint... I have either had or been involved with near death experiences since i can remember... As far back as 2 years old i still clearly remember playing near the back yard Barby when a red belly black decided to wriggle past at my feet. I stood and called out to my Nanna, "nake nanny, nake"! She came runnin out the back and the snake jusy casualy went passed in to the wood heap. Grew up in the Blue Mountains, loads of playing in the bush etc... one day crossing top of waterfall about 10foot away from ledge when the friend i was with slipped on the mossie green stuff and ended up hanging by the skin of his teeth at the top of a 500 foot waterfall. Pulled him back up all the while i was slipping as well. Saved a mate from Drowning in the surf ****ed on a footy camp at Diamond Beach at 15 years old. At bloody night time!!! Wanted to kill himself!
16 years old, going out with my first root. Only place to have rooty toot toot is in the bush. Headed to kind of cave near edge of Cliffs at Katoomba. Finished the biz started heading back up the track, track covered in pine needles and dry sandy dirt. Legs slip from under me, start sliding back towards edge of cliff, nails digging deep into the dirt as i'm heading south flat on my guts when my life flashed before me when suddenly i came to rest with my feet stopping against a a little baby gum tree sapling. FCUKKKK! Approx 800 metres staright down to the tree branches. Gave up sex from that day on! Not...! Surfing and going to the beach since i was 1year old. loads of experience but numerous near death rips, waves, smashed on head by board, surf skis atleast 4 times had tunnel vision but managed to keep focused enough to get to shore. Once caught 5 foot wave on my first esky lid, i was at the top of lip of wave when there was only half a foot of water at the bottom. Wave sucked all the onshore water into it and spat me out off the top, landed pretty much on sand bank with wave crashing on the middle of my back. Paralysed for about 5 minutes and couldnt breath properly for about 20mins.
Shot in the foot by absolute neighbour hood showing off when i was 10years old. God i'd love to see that guy again...!
Bashed inSurfers by 4 blokes one night. Very ****ed luckily. Woke up on side of road covered in blood and feel asleep on beach til 6am. No hospital but took at east 4 days to recover.
Had lighning strike the ground about 4-5 metres away from me as well as other people running across park at Warragamba Dam trying to beat this storm out of nowhere. It threw me a few metres into a broken down barb wire fence. I got all tangled up in it and mum had to free me.

This is not even half of the that has happen to me. I can go on for ever. Although nowhere near as bad as alot of the stories here albeit i have been right there on the edge. Take care guys, and i'm genuinely glad you have all pulled thru your experiences. Life is really like a box of chocolates hey???!!!...

[feebs]

I am not going anywhere near Mikey!

[TEaaron]

Almost drowned when I was 4 (hasn't everyone?)

When I was 10 I found a billicart for free that me and my mates finaly fixed up when we were 12-13 we had 4 of us on it 3 on the back and one driving going down a hill. my mate was driving and he trned a corner causing the thing to flip over dismounting the bookshelf spoiler attached with duct tape all I remember is the back of it and the RHS end structure literaly grazing my nose before it smashed into the ground if it was 10cm more the other way it would've crushed my head.



When I was 15 I broke my arm when I ran into my mate on the pushbike going down a hill fair quick because I thought we were going straight then my mate turned infront of me I slammed into him landed on the road broke my arm then slid into the gutter

2 weeks after that I asked mum to take me to the shop she said no so I got on my pushbike riding with one hand to the shop on the way back going down a hill still with no brakes, riding with one hand $15 worth of junk food in a plastic bag around my neck behind some little lancer, I must've been doing over 40 at the time, anyway the lady in the lancer infront of me jumped on her brakes to turn into a house without indicating and I ran into the back of her then came off the bike food going every where rolling down the road, not only did i re brake the bone in my right arm but I also bent it, as well as scraping my face along the nice course road.


Hit by a car in may riding same push bike, 8 days in hospital 3 months off work. 7 screws and a metal plate remain in my leg.

This is the evil thing that caused 90% of my injuries STILL NO BRAKES





Been riding motorbikes since I was 14, 250 2 strokes and never injured my self on them.

[OXR60W]

Up until 5yr ago i managed a chemical plant. A couple of yrs b4 i left we had an eruption in one of the tanks. I was trapped in an office that only had one entry/exit. It was full of fumes and smoke. I can vividly remember standing in the middle of the floor thinking of my mummy and my kids. Saw my life flash by bla bla.
It turned out to be nearly ten mins before i came crashing out of the factory after falling down stairs, bouncing off tanks and pipework etc, couldn't see through the fumes.
They said i was frothing at the mouth, my face was numerous colours and they wernt expecting me to come out.

Scary at the time.

[gtfpv]

sorry you all had to go through these scary experiances.

1 or 2 years ago. ( i really cannot remember) which is wierd.
the day after my anniversary. i'd borrowed a car to go to work . because i had had an accident the week before and my car was getting repaired in a panel shop.
i was travelling in this borrowed friends , small laser doing 90kms an hour on the M4 . NO TRAFFIC. i dont remember what happened . and didnt see anything coming as there were no cars in front of me and i was driviung straight .
anyhow i heard this massive crunch. and my head went back hard . hitting the headrest. it nearly knocked me out , and instantly hurt . a lot . i thought a BOMB WENT OFF , or a semi had hit me from behind at very high speed . and was trying to stay conscious. my thoughts were . if that was a truck . it will hit me again or run over me . so i thought my time was up.
the impact had accelerated me and the car lifted upwards . and went sideways at about 100kms an hour now, then i thought that the car was going to roll for sure , and kill me. but it didnt. i started to hear screeching tyres . and battle to try and control the car somehow . which was now going backwards in a anticlockwise spin. i remember traveling backwards at great speed and distance trying to reverse lock and controll the car to stop it rolling . i dont think i hit the brakes . ( dont know why) i could see smoke every where the car must've spun around atleast 3 times , and maybe 5. over a distance of about 100 to 200 metres. i had no control /or sense of direction, all i could hear was a terrible tyre screech and see smoke. i wass wondering what would kill me . ie : whatever hit me in the 1st place, was it going to hit again.
or ; a roll, or what was i going to hit. either way i was just waiting to die.
the car came to a stop facing backwrds to the direction i was treaveling against a gaurd rail butted up against the drivers door. i sat there dazed, for a while . i felt the back of my head and felt blood. i thought i was injured badly. and couldnt believe i'd survived . 2 people were looking atr me through the windscreen i told them to ring an ambulance and police. than i just sat there and started to feel alone . then i realised i was alone . on the road , in a damged car. i unbuckled my seatbelt, and crawled out of the drivers side window . and stood up . looked around and realised . noboidy was there .i felt like my death was prevented by something , or that i ws invincible at that point. within aboout 1 minute . a police bike drove by, stopped and breath tested me . he looked at my head , and said it was only a scratch . i then broke down , and went into shoick , crying. he called an ambulance, and took a statement from me
the tow truck and amboes turned up they assessed me and said i was ok . and didnt need to go to hospital . i asked them to take me as i felt , not right . but they assured me i was . the tow truck driver took me home .
i cried uncontrolably at home , and went into hyperventilation. my wife didnt know what to do. i came good . i remember thinking . nobody is helping me here . perhaps i shouold just die . it was a terrible terrible feeling . my wife rang my best mate, who spoke to me on the phone . and i remember slurring alot quite clearly. he insisted i get myself to hospital for a checkup. but i didnt go. nobody was taking me so i wasnt in a condition menatally to take myself .
i was ok the next day . it wasnt till not long after i started not giving a and fighting and rebelling against my wife etc etc and spliting up temporaroly and feeling reallyreaaly messed up. and taking anti depressants for depression. and pushing the limits with my life . i had already had an operation earlier on in the year .
that a marriage counsilor actually considered " POST TRAUMATIC STRESS SYDROME" everybody missed it . i'd felt like society and the people around me had let me down.
she expained that when you survive something like that . you normally feel elated, as if given a 2nd chance .
but me i didnt drive a car for 3 weeks and went and lived in my brothers flat alone . close to work. so i wouldn't have to drive a car . as i didnt have one anyhow . it was the worst thing i could've done at the timne

to this day i feel that my death was intervened , and i wasnt my time that day.

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

sorry you all had to go through these scary experiances.

1 or 2 years ago. ( i really cannot remember) which is wierd.
the day after my anniversary. i'd borrowed a car to go to work . because i had had an accident the week before and my car was getting repaired in a panel shop.
i was travelling in this borrowed friends , small laser doing 90kms an hour on the M4 . NO TRAFFIC. i dont remember what happened . and didnt see anything coming as there were no cars in front of me and i was driviung straight .
anyhow i heard this massive crunch. and my head went back hard . hitting the headrest. it nearly knocked me out , and instantly hurt . a lot . i thought a BOMB WENT OFF , or a semi had hit me from behind at very high speed . and was trying to stay conscious. my thoughts were . if that was a truck . it will hit me again or run over me . so i thought my time was up.
the impact had accelerated me and the car lifted upwards . and went sideways at about 100kms an hour now, then i thought that the car was going to roll for sure , and kill me. but it didnt. i started to hear screeching tyres . and battle to try and control the car somehow . which was now going backwards in a anticlockwise spin. i remember traveling backwards at great speed and distance trying to reverse lock and controll the car to stop it rolling . i dont think i hit the brakes . ( dont know why) i could see smoke every where the car must've spun around atleast 3 times , and maybe 5. over a distance of about 100 to 200 metres. i had no control /or sense of direction, all i could hear was a terrible tyre screech and see smoke. i wass wondering what would kill me . ie : whatever hit me in the 1st place, was it going to hit again.
or ; a roll, or what was i going to hit. either way i was just waiting to die.
the car came to a stop facing backwrds to the direction i was treaveling against a gaurd rail butted up against the drivers door. i sat there dazed, for a while . i felt the back of my head and felt blood. i thought i was injured badly. and couldnt believe i'd survived . 2 people were looking atr me through the windscreen i told them to ring an ambulance and police. than i just sat there and started to feel alone . then i realised i was alone . on the road , in a damged car. i unbuckled my seatbelt, and crawled out of the drivers side window . and stood up . looked around and realised . noboidy was there .i felt like my death was prevented by something , or that i ws invincible at that point. within aboout 1 minute . a police bike drove by, stopped and breath tested me . he looked at my head , and said it was only a scratch . i then broke down , and went into shoick , crying. he called an ambulance, and took a statement from me
the tow truck and amboes turned up they assessed me and said i was ok . and didnt need to go to hospital . i asked them to take me as i felt , not right . but they assured me i was . the tow truck driver took me home .
i cried uncontrolably at home , and went into hyperventilation. my wife didnt know what to do. i came good . i remember thinking . nobody is helping me here . perhaps i shouold just die . it was a terrible terrible feeling . my wife rang my best mate, who spoke to me on the phone . and i remember slurring alot quite clearly. he insisted i get myself to hospital for a checkup. but i didnt go. nobody was taking me so i wasnt in a condition menatally to take myself .
i was ok the next day . it wasnt till not long after i started not giving a and fighting and rebelling against my wife etc etc and spliting up temporaroly and feeling reallyreaaly messed up. and taking anti depressants for depression. and pushing the limits with my life . i had already had an operation earlier on in the year .
that a marriage counsilor actually considered " POST TRAUMATIC STRESS SYDROME" everybody missed it . i'd felt like society and the people around me had let me down.
she expained that when you survive something like that . you normally feel elated, as if given a 2nd chance .
but me i didnt drive a car for 3 weeks and went and lived in my brothers flat alone . close to work. so i wouldn't have to drive a car . as i didnt have one anyhow . it was the worst thing i could've done at the timne

to this day i feel that my death was intervened , and i wasnt my time that day.

the car that hit me . drov e off and left the scene. a bicycle rider was hit by a car in the exact same spot . the day before almost at the same time . and killed . and the guy that lent me the car said he was glad i wasn't killed because he had lent a motorbike to someone in the passed who goit killed on the bike . ( these trivial things i found out later)
to this day i wonder if the driver that left the scene wonders if i died or not . because everytime i drive to work . i look at a bunch of flowers in that spot . where the bicycle rider got killed . i wonder what the driver that hit me thinks when he sees those flowers . he might just go to his grave thinking he killed somebody , when he didn't .

[Dauphin]

That was very moving, GTFPV. I'm glad to know you can look back on what happened and were able to share with us about it.

[revcore]

A few years back on my cousins farm, I was helping him cut grass along the fence lines with a wippersnipper. The cord on the wippersnipper jammed up so I knealed down to fix it then out of the long grass, "WHACK"......A fully grown brown snake bit me on my left arm. It was so powerful that the force of the bite actually knocked me onto my back. My cousin who was only a few feet away from me rushed over and put his belt around my arm to stop the venom from spreading and then rushed me to hospital.
I lapsing in and out of consciousness, Shaking and sweating, White as a ghost and couldn't even walk. I was put on anti-venom and the doctor said had I not been rushed in when I was I would have definately died.
Stupidly, Some retarded Indian doctor said I should have caught the snake so they could positively ID it.....I was just bitten and in a bad way so I was hardly gonna chase after it and risk being bitten again.
I spent 9 days in hospital and am now left with a constant reminder each time I see the scars from the snake bite. Despite the fact I almost died, I still have the upmost respect for snakes and now own a Spotted Python.

[Sloth]

Strueth some of these are pretty intense. Mine are petty in comparison.

I got a ride home from the Pukekohe round of the V8s with my brother one night coming up behind a slow moving tractor with some sort of mowing attachment on the back, which was raised upwards so you could see all these hooks and mechanisms underneath. We were getting closer and closer without without moving into the other lane to pass. I was just thinking that my brother was just messing with me, but as we continued to get closer I yelled at him. He said 'yeah I know' and then passed.
Then just after we had a tyre blowout on a rail crossing he told me that he was actually asleep (or in that state just between asleep and awake) and if I hadn't said something our van would have gone up the back of the tractor and its attachment would have severed us to pieces. He's prone to falling asleep at the wheel (and the handlebars) so I always make sure hes awake if he's driving now.


Earlier this year when I was working on a ship a faulty bucket grab one one of the ships cranes opened up and dropped probably 15 tonnes of coal on the deck a metre from where me and my Dad were standing, waiting for it to pass over the deck. He had to pull me out of the way to stop my feet being buried. I see why they tell you not to walk under these things, because if I was stupid enough too I would have been killed for sure.
http://www.c3.co.nz/stevedoring.php?inc=coal

[zigzagnt]

I was in a fairly bad way when i was born, Does that count?

[GORDZ]

i once went to get my big toe nails removed and got wheeled away for open heart surgery by mistake... whats the chances of having two 'gordons' in the same 4 bed ward? :P

[Fev]

Had choniostinosis when i was born. 6 mths old i had skull surgery where they cut out bone from my skull.. i had 160 stiches and still have huge scars like a huippy peace sign from the top to the back of my head. also have a depression in the bone in the top of my skull. if i didnt have the surgery my brain would not have grown as the skull plates fused to early, not allowing for expansion so i would be a vegetable by now.. but im not



almost killed myself on a jetski, apparently i almost hit a big yatch, which i never saw.. parents seemed to think i almost hit it, same with the instructor..

[Werd.]

Originally Posted by Fev

Had choniostinosis when i was born. 6 mths old i had skull surgery where they cut out bone from my skull.. i had 160 stiches and still have huge scars like a huippy peace sign from the top to the back of my head. also have a depression in the bone in the top of my skull. if i didnt have the surgery my brain would not have grown as the skull plates fused to early, not allowing for expansion so i would be a vegetable by now.. but im not



almost killed myself on a jetski, apparently i almost hit a big yatch, which i never saw.. parents seemed to think i almost hit it, same with the instructor..

Are you sure about that one?

[alstar5]

Originally Posted by GORDZ

i once went to get my big toe nails removed and got wheeled away for open heart surgery by mistake... whats the chances of having two 'gordons' in the same 4 bed ward? :P

LOL Are you serious?

[kyro_02]

born with collapsed lungs lol

i pulled through ok, i suppose

[Sourbastard]

Originally Posted by sfr rob

LOL!!!!!! most end up in the boot and don't get to share their stories, thanks for coming forward.

Thats not true, I've met many people who havent ended up in the boot or a barrel..... voices in my head count as people dont they?

My mate and I flew to the US in the mid 90's. We had just flown direct from Sydney to LA for 16 hours and were feeling a bit worse for wear, our next flight was a Delta Airlines flight from LA to Phoenix AZ, it was one of these old clunkers.



The venerable Boeing 727, rusted bucket of the sky. We get on, and grab our chosen seats, which is right at the back where the stewardess' sit(I made sure of that :P ).

We Taxi. We take Off. We climb to 1500 feet or so. And all three turbofans spin down and stop. Now, the scariest part of being in an engine with no power, isnt the rapid descent, it isnt the worried looks from the passengers(We didnt have these, my mate and I looked at each other with irony that we were about to die 2 minutes into our first US Delta flight after 16 hours of air travel on Qantas) the scariest part is the silence. All you hear is the wind racing past the fuselage.

We dropped about 750 feet before Cleetus in the pilot seat worked out which button performed restart and which lever piled on the thrust. As the plane begins to climb again, we overhear one of the stewardess' behind us comment "Gee it is an old one isnt it?!"... You dont say honey.... you dont say.

Unfortunately didnt have time to sit at our destination and think about how lucky we were, it was only the first of 4 more flights that day for us.

[Jason[98.EL]]

many moons ago when i was a young tacker

i was riding in the back of a 4wd ( the very back ) and it rolled 5 times into a river

me not having a seat belt on i got thrown around the 4wd and got knocked out

the thing is it was around 10pm and pitch black ( being in the dargo high plains )

fortunatly for me the lights on our landrover didnt go out as i floated out the front windscrean down the river

a guy in his 4wd coming the other way along the track saw my figuire float through the lights and he high tailed it back down the track to the next river crossing

he then drove in the river looking for me lucky he was there and seen me

i owe this person my life and if i knew how to find him i would gladly do anything for him or any of his family

jason