What is the closest you have ever come to dying?

Was in a snow machine accident when I was 17. I was not driving as I was the passenger. My younger cousin who was 14 at the time was driving and we were headed down a icy road at over 60mph. Anyways we come near the end of the road and I expected her to start slowing down. However she breaks way too late and we start a spin cycle and we both fly off the road and into a bed of snow. The Snow Machine flipped onto its side and there was some light damage. My cousin was okay but I ended up landing the wrong way and had to limp home with a bad bruise.

I was in Switzerland in the alps, on the mountain Pilatus. I was with a group, and I went out on this separate grass rock that basically a peninsula. It was super small but I stood up there to try to grab a cool picture. I had a moment where I looked down at the thousands of feet of nothing below me on all sides except one and almost had a moment where I fainted because it was surreal. If I would've fainted, I would've fallen down and died...

Gotta be more careful!

I have died once before. I was swimming with friends and one of them snuck up on me and dunked me from behind. I remember there was light from the ceiling overhead, then there was quiet, and then everything went black & silent. The next thing I knew, I was sputtering back to life on the pool deck as the lifeguard was performing CPR on me. The lifeguard told me my pulse had stopped for about 30 seconds. My so-called friend thought it was rather funny. He later went to prison for something heinous and unrelated. Karma's a mofo.

Gee, nothing so dramatic (or so close to death) as most of these.

About ten years ago I got very sick--the flu, presumably. It was four days before I was strong enough even to go to the doctor. Haven't missed a flu shot since.

My little heart attack was not nearly as unnerving.

Prior to being born in the mid 1980s, I was dead for an infinite number of years.

Not that it has happened to me but it reminds me of those guys who've had near death experience who as they claim, die, go through a tunnel, are embraced by very bright light and enter a very peaceful place where they meet Jesus.

One such guy died and wrote a book, 90 minutes in heaven.

Accidentally left car running in garage all night. When alarm clock woke me, had a massive headache.

Passed out while shaving, then passed out again in the shower. Finally called my neighbor who came over and the fumes about knocked her over — meanwhile I had no idea and never smelled it.

Most people thought I was trying to commit suicide, but it was completely unintentional

I have many.

There was an article in the news churn last week about an 11 year old kid that fell through the ice in a pond in NY. I fell through the ice on the same pond when I was 11 and was frozen blue by the time I got out and made it home.

I was a passenger in a car on a dark road that came to a T intersection and the driver tried to make the turn at the last minute. The car went off the road sideways, down an 8 foot embankment, and rolled 3 times before stopping upright in a plowed field. The roof was crushed flat to the level of the front hood and the trunk. We both climbed out through a small space where the windshield had been without a scratch. No seatbelts.

I was stopped at knifepoint by six thugs threating to kill me after I gave them my money. I had just bought a bottle of coke and put my thumb over the opening and shook it while I used the other hand to fumble through my pockets for money. I pulled out some bills for distraction and a split second later unleashed a spray of coke that caused enough of a commotion that I could use my 11.1 speed to make my break.

I have many more.

I drowned when I was 3.

I was married 18 years ago. I’ve been dead inside ever since.

A big pickup truck ran a red light going 65 (the speed limits in my city are 55-60 on the streets so its normal) and it came a foot from t-boning me. I certainly wouldn’t have survived since I was going 65 myself (it was green for over 30 seconds and I was just cruising through normally) so I would have flipped many times.

My mom was pregnant with me when she was underage but didn’t abort me. I’m so glad.

First Friday of May, 2014

The day after I got back home from university, I decided to go for a solo tempo run on the local trails (mix of dunes/ Boreal forest). Started out as a typical spring run through the forest (beautiful), did my 20min w/u some strides then proceeded to get on with my tempo. ~15min into my tempo I heard a strange noise, so I slowed my pace for few seconds just to scope it out.

Boom, all of a sudden a grizzly jumps out of the forest across the trails and back in, grazing my wrist. On all fours it was about shoulder height. For the next, ~600m (guessing I was scared, felt like a long time) I sped up significantly (full out sprinting), while it continued to run alongside me in the bushes. At that point I realized that if it can cruise effortlessly through thick forest brush then I am totally ****** if it comes after me. However by some miracle it veered away from me. Afterwards I continued with my tempo, trying to get to the highway as fast as possible where I knew at least someone would be able to see me. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if it was not for that miraculous gut instinct to slow down.

I have not run on those trails since.

In rural Norway, I was hit by a car that came along so fast that I'd never seen it until it hit me. I had injuries to my left arm (which was swinging forward), my shoulder, and my ribs. In effect, I got spun around. If I'd been about four inches further into the road, I would have been killed. As it was, the car's windshield was shattered.

Back in December I was running around a large inner city park and a massive tree trunk collapsed 5 meters in front of me, it was massive and I had to swerve and stop Indian Jones style, like I was running to the edge of a cliff. Only 500m earlier I stopped for like a second or so to get a stone out of the grooves in my shoe. That was lucky.

Long story but I owe my life to an 18D who knew enough to stick his hand inside my neck and pinch my carotid artery.

When I was 7 I walked out in front of the school bus before it came to a stop. When I got the bus driver yelled at me "Are you crazy!!!". I didn't realize what I did wrong, so I gave her a strange look and went to my seat. It wasn't until years later when I randomly thought about it that I understood what happened.

After two combat tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq as a Marine Infantryman, I'd never be able to count the number of times I was in life threatening situations. After a short time, life and death becomes somewhat comfortable.

But I'll never forget the first time I heard a bullet whiz by my ear. It ripped the cloth on my helmet. If my head was an inch to the right I'd have been instantaneously killed.

An Apache launched a rocket at the position from which the bullet was fired. Four Al Qaeda warriors were later found very much dead behind that pile of rubble.

Overdosed on Meth. Like a previous poster, saw a light that receded and then darkness I've never felt or experienced in any other way.