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What is the closest you have come to death?

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    #16
    I was diagnosed with cancer and given approximately 2 weeks left to live. That was in 1991.

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      #17
      Was working for UPS at the hub by Harry Hines in Dallas.
      I broke the unload record that week so the supervisor bought us a case of beer on that Friday (memorial day weekend). I had a car and had 5 that rode with me to work so we used to go to a park across the street on Friday to have a beer and wait for others to get off work so I could take em home. A guy on my crew was sitting on the hood of his car when some dudes threw a beer bottle that missed him and broke his windshield. There was 4 of them and when he went over he asked for help and the idiot I was went with him. Well, this 4 turned into probably 14 (mexican motorcycle gang)as there were a bunch hiding out.
      There were probably 30 or more UPS guys there, some were real tough from the way they talked in the break room. So as 3 (another guy helped that I did not know at that time) of us were trying to fight our way from 14 or so kicking our arse the break room tough guys were running away. Anyway, I took a 7 inch blade in the side while fighting 3 of them, punctured my colon.
      I was supposed to go to Arkansas that night and after all was said and done still planned on going even though blood was pumping out of that wound like it was being pushed by a water pump, though it didnt hurt.
      Police and paramedics came and made me go with them, dang good thing cause it wasnt long until my gut swelled up like crazy and all that poison got into my system and I was in real pain. Would have died for sure if I would not have went. One of the other 3 that helped got popped in the back with the same knife twice and we went to Dedman (great name for a hospital) in the same ambulance. All the medical staff was freakin out over him and not me, maybe cause he was whining quite a bit and though I was in pain didnt think it was a life or death situation. They asked us to pee in a cup and when the other dude couldnt they gave him a catheter, after hearing him hollering I made sure to pee in that cup which made the blood really flow from my side. My sweats were soaked in blood. Doc finally came in and looked at him (getting all the attention) and me and told all he was worried about me. I did not freak out till he grabbed one of those 6 inch q-tips and stuck it all the way inside my wound. At that point the blood loss was getting to me and was hard to stay awake but very peaceful. Doc told me to call my folks to say tell them what was going on and say goodbye just in case. My dad answered the phone and when I told him what happened he said 'g-dangit Richard, I told you would never live to see 21..talk to your mother'. LOL Next thing I knew I woke up with in unbelievable pain and my folks were there by my side. Had a morphine machine which was nice unless you push the button too many times which caused a backoff algorithm to take hold.
      Anyway, that is my story. One thing for sure is I always thought getting stabbed would really hurt, I didnt feel a thing. Only way I knew was (after I broke the stabbers nose) I felt something running down my leg and thought I peed myself, reached down to feel it and it was thicker than pee..then it triggered in my mind what had just happened.
      There was a time when I was going to kill that dude out of revenge.

      But nowdays I think he might have saved my life.

      Guy who saved my life (the doctor that is) is named Dr. Fox. If you are on here Dr. Fox get a hold of me, would love to buy you a beer and a giant steak.
      Last edited by rjet; 02-15-2012, 10:48 PM.

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        #18
        flipped a 1/4 mile drag boat over in Waco back in 96. running around 130mph hit a small gust of wind and it stood up and took off like a rocket about 60 foot up in the air. when the boat hit the water I was thrown thru the side of it. almost cut a leg off on the dash.

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          #19
          Originally posted by Smart View Post
          Got hung up in a 110 current when I was 19 changing out a water pump fuse at my cousin's cotton gin. I was standing on a PVC pipe and had that not broke and my body pulled me out of it, I am not so sure I would be here right now.
          When I was in 8th grade my dad was trying to change the belt on my mom's dryer. I was home from school sick that day and in my room watching tv. All of a sudden the tv and house lights got real dim and I heard my dad in the front of the house make a weird noise. I went to investigate and he was just laying there bouncing on the floor. Finally figured out what was going on and tripped the utility room breaker. He had gotten his metal watch band against the heating element on the dryer completing a current and he had 240 volts running through him. That really gave me an appreciation of electricity.

          I have had a few close calls in vehicles and other than that I have been pretty lucky.

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            #20
            Dad let me start driving when I was young. I was driving us home from the lease when I was 13. He was dozing off, a dog ran out in front of me, I swerved into the path of a car. I can still see the faces of the man and woman with a little kid sitting between them. Dad rose up and jerked the wheel. Missed the car and rolled several times ( according to witnesses). Ended up on the roof, dad pinned under the steering wheel with broke neckand leg, I ended up outside somehow with broken ribs and cuts.

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              #21
              I would bog down the server with all mine.

              Here's one if you've got an hour....


              3 bouts with colon cancer....

              Numerous close calls in the Marines and law enforcement.

              Almost fell through a rusty well cover in Many, Louisiana when I was about 8 or 9. I was jumping up and down on it when it starting breaking through. Somebody knocked the hell out of me (grandma or mom/dad)

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                #22
                30 years as a cop i had more than 1 close call.... car pusuit from beaumont to orange county then back into vidor, crossed s main and 105 on a light, only had time to say "o' God" because the light changed and two 18 wheelers were crossing from both sides and there was no way to stop at 122,, by some miracle both trucks stopped and nothing else tried to cross or turn... got back into beaumont and headed west on the service road,, with a big ridge in the middle,, the suspect went airborn came done on right side blowing both tires,, i was able to keep my car level and the officer behind me later told me he could see the roof of the suspects car under mine when i went airborne at about 80.... twice on one chase.....
                another officer while flagging traffic was hit by an old woman on major drive,, he was barely able to call for help,, i started to him west on highway 90 ( college st) 7 lanes east and west,,at lindbergh it was 4 north and south,,, i was the closest car at about 5 miles,,, light changed again,, another "o' God" and the light changed green for me, blew through the intersection at 105mph.... that light change was not a lucky thing because every other car on the road was already in motion and all of the stopped, because of the way the light changed out of sequence and real quick
                disturbance with a gun call, had a danged yankee rookie with me.... found the house and suspect, super drunk... he let us in to look for the gun,, this was a very very narrow shotgun shack, doorways were about 20" wide, narrowest doors i ever saw... rookie let the suspect enter the bedroom first, and then let him reach into a dresser drawer were he pulled the gun ( rg 22 revolver) pointed it straight at my chest and pulled the trigger, @#$%&^*( rookie never tried to stop him) and i was just tring to get into the room behind them, no time even for an "o' God" heard the hammer click as i am trying to reach through the doorway and grab the gun, didnt even have room to draw,,, drunk pulls the trigger the second time say "see i told you it quit working" stupid drunk thankfully had loaded the bullets in backwards, fireing pin was hitting the nose of the bullet!!!!!
                rookie was taken into the station and given to the sgt,, he started looking for a new line of work two days later....
                Last edited by xman59; 02-15-2012, 10:57 PM.

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                  #23
                  Flipped a 56 Buick 4 door end over end in Temple back in 68 or 69 late on Friday night and was thrown out of the vehicle into a front yard next to the yard the car landed in. Walked away without a scratch. Do not remember a thing from the time the rear end started going voer the front end and i was looking down at the dash until i was standing in the yard looking at the car upside down with the tires still spinning and paper and books going everywhere. The driver was thrown out too and the car landed on him from the waste up, all i could see was his legs. he was hurt, but also survived.

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                    #24
                    I got two. Not sure how close to death i really was but i thought it at the time.

                    Fishing for crappie on toledo bend when i was about 17. Three of us in a flat bottom jon boat. Storm started rolling in and we started hammering the crappie. Could see all the other boats heading back but were hesitant to leave our spot as it was protected from the wind by an island. Stayed there for probably another hour when the wind shifted around a little and made it impossible to hold. Decided to run back to the ramp. When we rounded the corner from our spot we ran into a wall of 6+ foot waves. Was certain if we tried to turn around to wait it out on land we would have taken one over the side and been flipped. So we ran it. Took about every third wave over the front of the boat. Luckily about the only thing that worked appropriately on that vessel were the bilge pumps. They kept just enough water out to make it the few miles back to the ramp. Had several inches of water in the bottom when we pulled out. I'm not sure how we didn't sink.


                    The other happened a few months ago. Was driving down 35 about 10p.m. when a guy in an suv FLEW up behind me. He tried to pass in the middle lane but got stuck behind an 18 wheeler, which apparently made him very angry. His new goal it seemed was to try and run me off the road. After several near misses i dropped back as far as i could and put the hammer down. Acted like i was going to switch to the middle lane then swerved to the left and passed in the shoulder between him and the concrete barrier at about 120mph. Kept the pedal down until he was out of sight and had to exit and pull over to settle down.

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                      #25
                      Almost got shot during a robbery. Refused to give up our stuff and took off. The bullet went through tailgate, across truck bed, through front of bed, through speakerbox, and stopped inside the seat. Bullet would have impacted 3/4 of the way up my spine. The second was getting hit head on by a drunk driver, he was going 70 i was going 60. It was a mess. Then another couple times i dont care to talk about.

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                        #26
                        Surfing@13, fell and surf board hit me in the stomach. I remember gulping water everything going black and then waking up on the beach with lifeguards around me puking salt water. Spent 3 weeks in the hospital fighting a lung infection. Also was in a car when I was 17 doing(according to the police report)115+mph with 7 people in the car, driver lost control, flipped and rolled numerous times, 3 friends were killed. I walked away with a hole in my head where barb wire hit me.

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                          #27
                          Ruptured my spleen playing basketball. I woke up with my priest at my bed side. I couldn't figure out why he was there

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                            #28
                            18 years old. I was walking to the blind and saw a deer. Started to shoot it, but at the last minute decided not to and put the gun back on my shoulder with the sling. As I was climbing up the tripod and slung the gun off to put it in the blind, the trigger got caught on my jacket and went off. 7mm mag, within a few inches of my head. I really have no idea how close the barrel was, but it scared the hell out of me..,still scares
                            The hell out of me. I think that is when the ringing in my ears started and Hasnt stopped since. Powerful reminder.

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                              #29
                              Not sure how close I was to dying, but at the time I felt like it was over. We had been on fish pretty steady one summer in upper San Antonio bay and would would wade the shore line. There are lots of aligators by the refuge but have never had them bother us, when you got out of the boat they would always swim away and not want anything to do with you. Well one trip I drop my dad off and circle the boat down abou 1/2 mile trying to find the fish. As we set anchor I see the normal amount of gators but notice one rather large gator about 200 yrds. the direction I will be wading. Got about 100 yrds. from the boat in waist deep off colored water and had not seen the large gator and pretty much forgot about him. Well this guy comes popping up no more than ten yrds. in front of me, he had closed the distance and met me 1/2 way. I stood motionless while we looked at each other for about a minute and while I was scared then it did not come close to comparing to what I felt when he submerged and I could not see him. About 2 secondslater I was on a dead sprint back to the boat without a care in the world about stingrays. I assume he was just curious because if he would have wanted me there was nothing I was going to be able to do to stop it.

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                                #30
                                The shop I used to work in had a vertical end mill that we used as a drill press. We kept it in high gear so you could stop it easily. Someone had moved it to the low gear this day and I didn't know it. I started drilling a big round washer, holding on to it with vice grips. All of the sudden it caught, it twisted my wrist, and the knurled screws on the drill head caught my shirt. It picked me up and threw me between the head and neck of the machine with the drill in my arm pit. When I jumped out it had ripped my shirt, t-shirt, and overalls off on one side. My underarm had a huge raspberry where it ripped my clothes off and I had a big knot on the back of my head. One of my buddies was there as I came out and I told him "Didn't you hear me screaming, why didn't you turn it off!" He said "You never said a word and by the time I got here you were out of it." It seemed like I was hung up forever, actually only seconds. If I had been drilling a square piece of plate it would have cut me to shreds.

                                When I was in Saudi, we locked the key in our room at Khobar Towers. So I went down stairs and climbed out on the balcony and stood on another guys shoulders, reached up to the next ledge, climbed into our room and unlocked the door. We were several stories up. You are so stupid when you are young.

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