What is the closest you have come to death?

[CarbonFlinger]

Hooked my hand to my knee with triple treble hooks on the San Gabriel river on a canoe with no life vest and fell out of a canoe. There were cold beers involved and thank god my brother was near by in a jon boat and jumped in to pull me off the bottom of the river (2nd time he has saved me, the first was when I was 3-4yrs in Cali and I jumped in a pool unsupervised with one floatie on). Anyone that knows about the San Gaby prob will agree with me that its not the river you want this to happen. Lots of fallen trees/brush. All I remember is watching it get darker and darker as I sank deeper. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TO ALL, WEAR OR HAVE LIFE VESTS ON YOUR BOAT AT ALL TIMES ESPECIALLY IN A CANOE.

Also cost me $800 to have a doctor yank 2 hooks out of the joints in two of my finger nuckles in Taylor, TX when it was all said and done. NO HEALTH INS SUX!!!

[dustoffer]

VN in '71---bullet came through the chopper door, just missing my hand, passed about 2" in front of my nose and went out the roof.

[PremierGenetics]

Put the cruise control on 65 at around 1 am headed home from studying. Woke up in the ditch with the cruise still on about 20 yards from a very large gravel pile, giving me the split second I needed to jerk my steering wheel to the left. I still hit the pile but not head on, nearly totaled my pickup but it could have been a heck of a lot worse!

[Ptedmonds3]

When I was a kid I was fishing on Lake Fork with my dad and a family friend. We were a long way away from the ramp when out of nowhere this front hit. There were five foot swells (well thats what my dad said, I was a kid) but we finally made it to the ramp when we took on water and sank the boat. We all got out safe though and the family friend recovered his skeeter bass boat.

[NannySlayer]

April 1st 2007 about 3:34PM. I was 18 years old.. In a very abusive relationship, for about 2 years. I was young, dumb, very gullible, and naive. I had recently learned that my boyfriend had began using drugs and I didn't take to well to that. Him and a friend wanted to go to a party and I disagreed. It lead to an argument.. After going back and forth, him slapping and pushing me some He walked into the bedroom, grabbed a .22 pistol, came back to the kitchen.. Pointed it at me and pulled the trigger. 1 round into my abdomen.. They hauled butt and I dropped to the ground. I called 911. PD, FD, and EMS showed up.. Transported me to the closest trauma center (MUSC) I went to surgery, I had 21 staples, was in ICU for 4 days.

Yes, he is in jail. No, I haven't talked to him since. Yes, I learned my lesson and found an amazing man that treats me right.

I am truly blessed and I like to think that my experience led me to my career in EMS. I met the FFs that responded to help me.. Joined the department. My chief talked me into EMT school and here I am today!

[RodinaRanč]

Last Sept., afternoon dove hunt. Tail end of the truck is facing the direction we expect the birds to come from. Cousin's on the tailgate & I'm on a bucket seat by the rear wheel of the truck. Lil time goes by & a few birds start flying. 1st good group comes by on my side of the truck from the direction we expected. Shooting starts, I'm still sitting on the bucket for the 1st shot. I'm left handed, so I couldn't swing on 'em far enough to the left, so I stood up to turn my body a lil to take the 2nd/3rd shots w/o thinking about my cousin on the tailgate. He had a bead on the birds & wasn't watching me & had no idea I had decided to stand up.

We're both grown men & both should've known better. Skinned by w/ ringing in my ears & a busted ear drum. I'm only here today b/c of the grace of the man upstairs.

[Cajun Blake]

Sadly , all my near death experiences involved drugs and alcohol when I was using between the ages of 15-19.

The one I remember most was almost over dosing on Soma.

I was 19 and attending LSU at the time. My friend Steve had a lifetime prescription for Soma-compound 350 mg (1/2 pain killer , 1/2 muscle relaxer). We were playing "quarters" and every time you bounced the quarter in the cup, the other person had to drink a cup of beer with a Soma in it.

I remember drinking 17 beers & 17 Somas while only quitting because we ran out of beer. I went to use the restroom and somehow had enough common sense to force myself to throw up. I truly believe God had something to do with me sticking my finger down my throat and purging all the drugs I had ingested. 9 times out 10 I would have laid down on the couch only to pass out. Throwing up saved my life otherwise I would have OD'd and been in the obituaries like several of my other friends who died from alcohol and drugs

By the grace of God , I went to treatment 6 months after this occurrence and have been sober since December 1987. I NEVER forget my past as it makes me a stronger person today

[westtexducks]

I have 3, 2 ended badly and the other could have.

The first was when I was about 13 years old I decided to go out and ride the 4 wheeler. I thought my dad had completely knocked down the borders in the field in front of our house. So I am hauling it full throttle across that field when I found where he had stopped the day before. I went air born rolling the 4 wheeler. All I remember is hitting the border and then waking up on my back with the 4 wheeler about 30 feet away on it tires. Scared the heck out of me started doing the wiggle your toes drill just to make sure my back was not broken. Thank the lord I was only 150 yards from the house. Longest walk ever. Ended up with my forehead one big scrape mark and my ever since then I have had back problems.

2nd experience was when I was 15. We were irrigating a field with the plastic irrigation tubes out of a concrete ditch. Well I picked up a pile that had been laying up next to the ditch over night. To move them down. Next thing I know I feel a sharp sting in my armpit look over and there is a black widow spider. Squish it and then the pain starts to slowly spread through my body until I am engulfed. Never did go to the doctor just took some miracle pill that my dad was given for his back after he was in a wreck. That stuff was awesome, went from searing pain to complete relaxation in right around 30 minutes.

3rd time was the past October. Went down to do some duck hunting and was headed into town, when some lunatic merges into my lane when it switched from 4 lanes to 2 lanes. Was on the phone with my mom and all she hears is "Holy Smokes" I flip the phone shut and have to bail off into the bar ditch and watch either a mentally challenged or high/drunk retard keep cruising down my lane for at least another 1/4 mile before violently jerking all the way over into her bar ditch and then swerve back over into my lane and finally straighten out. Scared both me and my brother. If I had not been paying attention it could have turned bad in a hurry with a direct head on at 75 miles per hour.

[Fishndude]

Eeeek. Some scary stories.

It's 1989 and I'm headed down lake Travis at 65 mph in a bass boat. I had taken my shirt off to take in a few rays and laid it between my feet. At 65, the shirt blows up and out as I remove my hands from the steering wheel to try to catch it. Big mistake as this boat has no hydraulic steering. The boat banked so hard to the right, that I flew out behind the passengers seat. Wiped out the handrail and knocked the seat off the hinges on my way out. I hit the water so hard that all my clothes came off except shoes and socks. The boat locks in a hard right turn at about 25 mph and ran over me twice. The first time striking me perfectly between the eyes with the skeg. I had no life jacket on and I'll swear to this day that saved my life because when the boat ran over me, I was pushed under and not chopped up by the propeller. Luckily, each time the boat circled, it got further away. I was snatched from the 85' of water by a couple and their young daughter. Ruined their boat carpet with my bloody face and miscellaneous cuts and broken finger.
I took 38 stitches to the forehead, a broken finger and bruised lungs but was no worse for the wear.

I should have died that day!

[The "Juan" 12]

Thanks be to the good Lord upstairs that all of you are alright!!!

[30-30]

Other than being born at 3 pounds 1 ounce, I narrowly missed a head-on with a Dodge dually hauling a loaded cattle trailer when I was 16.

[Froggy]

Cambodian Invasion 1970. Inserted into the Fishook with the 1st. Cav. We were pinned down for three days in a bad L shaped ambush. While retrieving an ammo drop I ended up being pinned down by a sniper while trying to hide behind a 6 inch tree for 7 hours. I cursed the Army for making the buttons on my fatigues so thick. I was like a gopher trying to burrow in the ground.

God must have let me live through that for a reason.

[Gonzo]

At the age of 12 my appendix ruptured(didn't know this at the time). My dad kept thinking it was a bad stomach ache. Finally decided to take to the dr. They rushed me into surgery. It took 3 weeks to get up and walking. Gan green had just about eat me up from the inside out. Dr said if they had waited a few more hours they would have been putting me in the ground. Thank god it wasn't in his plans for me to go that day.

I had the same thing when I was 17. I tried to play mr. tough guy thinkin it was just Diarrhea but finally my dad called for an ambulance after I couldn't stop throwing up and almost past out from the bad pain. I spent the following 6 weeks in the hospital after two surgeries I was finally able to go home.

[TC]

October 5th, 2006. I was on my way to work traveling down Hwy. 67 into Stephenville. When I crossed the 4 way stop at hwy 281 I was hit by an 18 wheeler that ran the stop sign. He hit me at 55 MPH, I happened to turn to my left right as the hit the front of my truck so my face slammed into the window. Had I been just 1 second faster he would have T-Boned me in my driver side door and I would for sure be dead. Walked away with a broken nose and some bumps and bruises and an extreme fear of crossing 4 way stops.

[texas_red_19]

july 14th 2011, was laoding a fourwheeler in an enclosed trailer. i ahd already climbed in and empited it so i thought it was ok. well when i drive the fourwheeler in the hitch came off, causing the trailer to flip back and come down on my head. i thoght it just hit me hard till i heard the blood spilling outta my head. had to walk to the house get my wife to call an ambulance. er doctor told me it should have fractured my skill cause it did hit my skull. i lost two units of blood in less than an hour. so i should have beem dead. thank God he wasnt readyf or me. woke up the next day with two layers of stitches nuder my scalp and 44 staples across the top of my head.

may 2003, outside of baghdad iraq. we were in a traffic jam and i stepped outta the hummvee to **** in the wheel well. well i heard a crack and pop and a bullet hole appeared in the side of my humvee about 6 inches from my head. the nearest structure was about 700 yards away. so thank god then too. case the boy shooting wasnt far off lol