What is the closest you have come to death?

[Racer 808]

I almost had my head hit by another motorcycle on the track a few weeks ago while teaching students.
A guy on a all black ducati 848evo hit the brakes hard because he got spooked or something and i ended up touching his back tire with my front and that's all it took.
Was going about 80 or so when i hit the ground and slid a long ways then a other rider on the orange CRB600rr nearly hit me.

[wassaw]

I'll just say "thank you" that they were only close....
this is what goes through my head when i recall any of my "moments"

just boils down to 3 "If's" i hope and pray i get to do

if i make it to Heaven
If there are Guardian Angels
If i can ask 1 favor from God
I would like to meet my Guardian Angel and the ones for my family members. Give each a bear Hug and say a most sincere thank you.
in between each closest time i have been granted so much more... the birth of my two daughters, watching them grow, re-marring and gaining two more children, now grandchildren and too much more to type about

sorry, didn't follow the thread and post stories of each But I thank God they were only "close"

[firemanjj82]

AtTheWall, I'm not sure how to respond to all of that, or any of this for that matter.

I can't think of any times where I was close to death. I guess I'm just waiting for that "one" time. In my profession, I see a lot of people dead from doing the same stuff I did as a kid and not giving an extra thought about it. I've bailed out of fast moving boats, climbed trees too high, fallen asleep while driving, had a shotgun pointed at me by a drunk hunter, given too must trust to people that I didn't really know, etc. I know there have been too many times where I have played with fire and have not been burned. I'll try to keep it that way too.

[Gsxrmike]

I have been very, very fortunate to have a number of close calls yet still be here today.

Twice, while flying planes, I have had other aircraft that were flying where they should not have been flying pass less than 100 feet from my plane. One was a colossal idiot who had decided to depart Dallas in a Cessna 421 through a solid cloud layer without bothering to file an instrument flight plan or even talk with air traffic control. I was cleared for an approach when he pops up from the cloud layer directly in front of me. Scary moment.

I have had numerous very close calls while doing stupid things on fast bikes and sports cars but luckily survived long enough to grow up.

[Okiehunter]

I have never been closer to death than I am at this very moment. Just saying!

[Lokmdwn]

As a teenager I spent a lot of time water skiing. Me and my buddies had just bought a new V-Handle ski rope. We had been using an old twin handle for a few years. Anyway I was on a slalom and having a great time. I was on the right side of the boat and started cutting left, just before the wake of the boat I cut hard back to the right just as my buddy turned the boat to the right (he thought I was crossing the wake to the left). As one of the comedians on the radio say, “Slack” is what you call a ski rope that is not “Taught”. I leaned back and raised my arms as high as I could to keep the rope out of the water and as I started sinking (the rope was about to be “Taught” again) I was doing some mental calculations in regard to the force about to be exerted on my arms and shoulders. Just as the rope got tight I decided to bail and let go of the rope. In the blink of an eye, I was airborne flipping end over end, all I could see was flashing images of sky and water alternating in my field of view. When I stopped again, my neck was on fire and the boat was coming towards me, my buddies had looks of horror on their faces. Once I got back in the boat, I kept putting my hands on my neck and pulling them away looking for blood. It felt like I was bleeding. It appears that the v-handle on the rope dropped straight over my head when I let go and I was snatched out of the water (I had sunk nearly to my waist at this point) by my head . The boat was doing about 30-35 MPH. I had a rope burn all the way around my neck as if I had been hanged. I was in great shape back then and very active and that’s probably why I didn’t get my neck snapped (along with some help from the man upstairs). I know something like that now would kill me.

[five-08808]

Atthewall, the Bering Sea experience sent chills up my spine. I have been spooked offshore in 8' seas and can't even imagine 100' rouge waves. All I can say is, thank you for your service! I would be honored to buy you a cold Lone Star Beer one day.

[Hills of Texas]

Mt lion attack in big bend when I was a kid. Took 14 operations to put me back together.

[Uncle Saggy]

A couple things while in the Army were too close for comfort.

Also was working in a mechanical room when a steam explosion occurred. That was a pants changer

[Bill]

I was driving a company station wagon from Erie to Pittsburgh PA almost 30 years ago, and was drafting a Caddy as he was going over the speed limit and I figured I'd let him see the state trooper with radar. We were in the right lane, passing slower vehicles on the left in the middle of nowhere at about 9pm. We pull in the left lane to pass an 18 wheeler with a load behind him, and all of a sudden the plywood sides exploded out on his drivers side, and there are these big, square pieces of what was bouncing like giant chunks of foam rubber all over my lane. A split second later I realized that it was a truckload of belgian building blocks and those were each about a 20 pound piece of stone bouncing everywhere, and I drove my car through it. I felt a number bouncing up and hitting the body pan from the bottom, but somehow none of them hit the car or came through my windshield. We all pulled over and pieced together what had just happened.

[Landrover]

I have a couple of stories but probably save those for my memoirs one day!!! LOL
Like the ole folks used to say.............."the day u are born are probably the closest to death you will be until you die!"

[Loreva13]

Wow lots of scary stories. I've had a few but not many mostly car accidents where everyone was in serious to critical condition except for me. For some reason I was always able to walk away. I wish I had pics to really tell the story. I know in one accident I was coming home from a fishing trip in New Mexico. I had the right away to get onto the highway an an elderly couple had gotten distracted and pass their stop sign,crossed lanes, and hit me head on at 55mph. My wife who was my girlfriend at the time shattered her wrist and bruised her lungs and rib cage. The elderly man driving the pickup broke both his arms, had head trauma, glass stuck all over his his face and arms, and punctured a lung. His wife broke both of her arms, punctured both lungs, had glass stuck in her face and arms, and head-brain trauma. Unfortunately, she die a few days later because of her injuries. I was able to walk away with only a small gash across my body the seat beat left me. I was stunned that I had't gotten seriously hurt.

[Diamond S]

7-23-11 on a lioness hunt in South Africa. I was going to hunt a baited area but nothing was hitting the bait. As we were on the way back, there were a set of fresh tracks crossing our tracks. The guide told me to get my bow and come with him. It only took about 5 minutes to get our first view of her at about 45 yards. There was to much brush in the way to take a shot and she vanished in to the tall grass. We followed, after about 500 yards we lost her track. We were making big circles looking to pick up the track again when I decided to walk over to the guide and ask what plan "B" was, just as I was about to ask he started backing up as he shouldered his rifle. As we were backing up (rather quickly) she busted out of the grass with all of her fury, everything went in to slow motion. I could see the color of her eyes, the way her toes on her front feet were spreading out as she lunged closer to us, I could see how her ears were pinned back and the size of her teeth and hear the low repeated growl every time her back feet push her forward. At roughly 10 feet she turned and ran past us. After I regained my composure I ask the guide why he didn't shoot her and in a calm voice he replied "it was just a mock charge the next one will be real." I did manage to kill her about an hour later and how I was composed enough to take and make the shots I have no idea. ** Disclaimer** Verbiage has been cleaned up considerably for the green screen as well as the part of the story where I questioned his sanity.

[Patton]

As a teenager I spent a lot of time water skiing. Me and my buddies had just bought a new V-Handle ski rope. We had been using an old twin handle for a few years. Anyway I was on a slalom and having a great time. I was on the right side of the boat and started cutting left, just before the wake of the boat I cut hard back to the right just as my buddy turned the boat to the right (he thought I was crossing the wake to the left). As one of the comedians on the radio say, “Slack” is what you call a ski rope that is not “Taught”. I leaned back and raised my arms as high as I could to keep the rope out of the water and as I started sinking (the rope was about to be “Taught” again) I was doing some mental calculations in regard to the force about to be exerted on my arms and shoulders. Just as the rope got tight I decided to bail and let go of the rope. In the blink of an eye, I was airborne flipping end over end, all I could see was flashing images of sky and water alternating in my field of view. When I stopped again, my neck was on fire and the boat was coming towards me, my buddies had looks of horror on their faces. Once I got back in the boat, I kept putting my hands on my neck and pulling them away looking for blood. It felt like I was bleeding. It appears that the v-handle on the rope dropped straight over my head when I let go and I was snatched out of the water (I had sunk nearly to my waist at this point) by my head . The boat was doing about 30-35 MPH. I had a rope burn all the way around my neck as if I had been hanged. I was in great shape back then and very active and that’s probably why I didn’t get my neck snapped (along with some help from the man upstairs). I know something like that now would kill me.

That sir is by the grace of God. While wake boarding in 07 I did a flip, arm went through the handle and I fell. It dislocated my elbow and tore my bicep tendon partially and bicep partially. I went into shock of some sort when I got on the boat because I started drinking the water from Lake LBJ. Some of you may remember in 07 all the lakes closed from flooding, we went out on LBJ on the first day it opened, also the first of the lakes to open. It was super dirty. Docs took x rays, said it wasnt broken and sent me home. A week later I was back with MRSA infection. Hospitalized for a week with an IV every two hours.

My arm was still swollen for a week after I was released and I had an open wound wear the doctor had scraped off about a 3 inch by 2 inch patch wear the skin had died from a bruise. I got out of the shower and was carefully drying off and my arm popped open in a little hole on the wound and all sorts of jelly material came out. I thought my bicep had deteriorated into jelly but I could tell it felt way better and I could finally bend my arm, not completely.

I had a hole in my arm and could see my muscles moving around. Physical therapy began after that. My bicep tendon feels like its 3 inches in diameter compared to a little half inch like my other.

I know one day that this injury will take me away from bow hunting and I'll have to switch to a crossbow...

I dread that day but I know it's comin like the sun is gonna rise tomorrow

[Texbow]

I've been shot and left in the woods but managed to get to a road where a lady pulled over and took me to a hospital. I've passed out from carbon monoxid poison and spent some time in oxygen tent (close call). Faulty exhaust in a van. I've t-boned a cadillac while going 60 mph on a chopper (that hurt) and a drugged idiot tried to stab me but I actually put the hurt on him. One of the most fearful times was when I was caught in a major lighting storm while on a solo backcountry bowhunting trip for mule deer in Colorado. Fearful of lighting from then on. A few other close calls while in the military.