How many times in your life have you almost died?

I was viciously attacked once by a stranger and could very well have been killed if I hadn't escaped.

1. Thought I was Batman, drove recklessly over bridges going 100 mph+ and woke up hours later in a different city. I could have killed other people as well.

2. Fell on my head hard and woke up in the hospital the next day; I saw the light and everything that time.

When I was a kid, I was deathly allergic to peanuts and raw eggs. I went on a camping trip with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, and they made homemade ice cream (had raw eggs). They offered me some the first night, but I was feeling pouty and refused for whatever reason. My aunt/uncle didn't know about my allergy.

The next day my parents showed up, and they casually told me not to eat the ice cream because of the eggs in it...

I was only 6 or 7 years old back then, but I remember thinking "WTF... lucky I didn't eat that shiz!" That, or a guardian angel was watching over me.

Lame story, I know. Sorry. Just wanted to do my part in this thread.

1) While fishing with my dad and brother in a small boat on a Great Lake, my dad underestimated the closeness and intensity of a rainstorm. He high-tailed it (as much as you can with a 25-hp outboard) in, but we got poured on about a 1/2-miler from shore. Boat almost swamped and we couldn't see anything. Luckily we ended up about 300 yd down from our landing and my dad was able to see enough so we didn't run into anything.

2) in grad school, I was walking from my apartment to my lab and lightning struck so closely my hair raised and I smelled ozone. Fortunately it wasn't worse.

Once for sure in a boating accident.

1) Choked on a tortilla chip when I was 6 years old.

2) I'm deathly allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. Had maybe 20 reactions in my life, but only one was near life threatening. It was delayed onset, which was unusual. I was on a business trip, and running on a treadmill in the hotel gym about an hour after eating lunch at the buffet. It was over 100 degrees outside, so I decided to stay indoors (which ended up saving my life). After running for about 15 minutes, I felt a strange tightness in my chest. I'm not usually one to cut a run short, but I could tell something was very wrong. I started walking back to my room, got about 10 steps and all of a sudden went into full-blown anaphylactic mode. Collapsed on the ground, and managed to gasp instructions to my friend (another thing that saved my life, if he hadn't been there I'd have been a goner) to get my epi-pen from my room. By the time he returned 5 minutes later, my airway had been completely restricted for about a minute, and I was lapsing in and out of consciousness. Somehow managed to administer the epi-pen, and a few minutes later the ambulance came and got me in an oxygen mask. Still have no idea what it was I ate.

3) Various close calls with cars while running/cycling.

Probably just my own foolishness, driving while near blackout drunk once or twice. Woke up, realized what I'd done, got an "oh shit" feeling of relief and guilt.

Glad I've grown out of that.

1.) Auto accident when I was 13. My mom was driving on a back road to my grandfathers house which we did every Sunday. There is a turn (which still gives me chills every time I drive it to this day) that is in a wooded area where you cannot see traffic from the other direction until well into the turn. A woman in a small sedan had crossed over into our lane and hit us head on, both vehicle were going roughly 50 mph. Our van corkscrewed and rolled over several times throwing my sister out the back window, and me out the side window (minivan). I remember waking up on the pavement and looking up to see the infant from the other vehicle still in her baby seat that was never strapped in then looking over and seeing my sister lying on the road as well. There was glass everywhere. Our van had stopped in a large hay bail 100 feet away.

2.) My appendix burst and I was in the hospital for 2 weeks while I recovered from the infection.

3.) Two years ago the steering failed in my vehicle and I drove off the road and rapped my car around a tree. My car was almost split in half and my head had gone through the window. I was unconscious for an unknown amount of time (20-30 minutes) before someone found me and called the paramedics.

1) I had forgotten about a childhood illness until I read someone else's post, but I was told by my parents that I had Scarlet Fever when I was born. They baptized me immediately because they thought I was going to die.

2) Twenty years later, I almost slid off a side of a clif on an icy patch of road. A friend was able to get out the passenger side and push my car away from the precipice.

3) Almost drowned in a wave pool until I was pulled out by a lifeguard.

4) Two incidents of low blood sugar (sub 20 mg/dL) where I was rescued by my dog (woke up my wife) and my teenage daughter, who gave me OJ and called paramedics.

One while I was younger I got hit by a large wave and woke up on the shore with sand everywhere.

A second time I was at summer camp. We were all about 8 and the lifeguard was like "okay, you can all swim right?" He asked about three times. Apparently the kid next to me couldnt swim. He freaked out and scrambled on top of me. I woke up in the lifeguards chair. No idea how long I was out.

I figure if things go black, you're pretty close.

Once for sure, another probably

Probably: Almost drowned when I was 5 years old swimming in Lake Pontchartrain in N.O. Stepped into a big hole and was lucky my Dad saw me go in.

Driving drunk like the idiot I was in HS, absolutely dead drunk. I remember driving my little POS Opel Kadette right at this big tree and jerked the wheel away at the last second and only sideswiped the tree. That one 100% would have been curtains - no seatbelt no airbags.

Flatty wrote:

Once for sure, another probably

Probably: Almost drowned when I was 5 years old swimming in Lake Pontchartrain in N.O. Stepped into a big hole and was lucky my Dad saw me go in.

Driving drunk like the idiot I was in HS, absolutely dead drunk. I remember driving my little POS Opel Kadette right at this big tree and jerked the wheel away at the last second and only sideswiped the tree. That one 100% would have been curtains - no seatbelt no airbags.

Tough to confess, but I did the same as a dumb high school kid who thought I was bulletproof.

Not a true near-death experience since I wasn't injured, but...

Hammered out of my mind and driving my parents' full size van (this was the 80s), I drove through the median of a 4-lane highway just before crossing a bridge. It was actually two bridges, one each for the southbound and northbound lanes. I remember my head hitting the roof of the van as I plowed through the median (also no seat belt). Drove across the bridge on the wrong side of the road. After crossing the bridge, I was somehow able to maneuver through the median back into the correct lane and make it home.

I could have gone between the two bridges and plunged 20-30 feet to a small river below or crashed head on into another vehicle. Luckily, it was late so there wasn't much traffic. To this day I don't know how I avoided a wreck and almost certain death. Also can't believe someone didn't see me and call the police. I was trashed and had no business walking anywhere, much less driving.

i took abunch of my aunts pill when i was younger cause i thought they were candy... i passed out, my heart almost stopped spent 3 days in the hospital. moral of the story: dont take other peoples pill, they taste bad

Stepped into a busy street without looking one of the directions when I was 13 or so. Big truck screeched its brakes and just stopped in time. That's probably the only one I can think of.

When I was little I used to have asthma. When I was 6 or 7 I had a bad asthma attack and thought I was going to die. Fortunately I outgrew the asthma and it never affected me when I started running in jr.high.

kruger wrote:

3) Various close calls with cars while running/cycling.

Ditto. Especially when it comes to cycling.

1. At least once as an infant I stopped breathing in my Dad's arms

2. I don't know if this qualifies but when I was 15 I was in a very severe crash in a kart race. I took the worst hit of the 3-4 involved and the chassis was twisted way out of shape. I was very fortunate to only have a sprained ankle.

Why does a thread always stop whenever I post anything?????

Once. Drowned.