What is the closest you've been to death?

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kuchitsu
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What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by kuchitsu »

When I was about 7 and couldn't swim at all yet, one time I went too far into the lake, lost the ground under my feet and began drowning. My grandfather noticed that almost immediately and saved me within seconds. Still, it was a somewhat traumatic experience that kept me awake at nights for a while.

What about you?

(this is not meant to be a depressing thread, just a reminder that life is precious and you always need to exercise caution)
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Ruben
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by Ruben »

Incidentally I also almost drowned, but I never hit the water.

I was maybe 4/5 years old, me and the family was out by a lake. I found a little footpath to run along, with a very steep bank of perhaps 5m down to the lake. I saw a thick branch stuck beside the path and for some reason I thought "this shouldn't be here" and I started kicking it with all my might in the hopes of breaking it. In hindsight it was probably put there on purpose so people wouldn't fall down into the water.

I was successful, it snapped and I lost my balance and fell down the bank along with it. The it was mostly mud so I gathered speed very quickly. I can remember this exact moment very clearly, because I genuinely thought I would die. I was sliding down the bank very rapidly, seeing the water come closer and closer. I couldn't swim. I noticed I was sliding past several trees on the way, so I reached out my arms to try to catch some of them, but I couldn't quite reach. I kid you not, the very last tree before a 1m drop at the end right into the water is the one I finally managed to catch with one of my hands. My wrist snapped.

Current situation: I'm hanging from a tree by a broken wrist. Family is quite some distance away enjoying a nice, quiet day out in the forest.

I don't think I even noticed the pain at that point, but I was terrified, so I started screaming as loud as I could in the hopes that they would hear me. I remember it taking ages before anyone came for me, but in reality it probably took no time at all.

I don't remember anyhting after that. But I did get a kickass cast. Even better, it just so happened that my best friend had fallen of a swingset and broken his wrist pretty much at the exact same time, so were were cast buddies for some time after that =D
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tomator
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by tomator »

Crazy how easy it is to almost die in water when you're young and can't swim!

For me the closest I've been to dieing is probably one time I was out on a long climbing trip after many days of hiking and climbing. This day we were out for maybe 8 hours on the face of the mountain and I was really exhausted and tired. So when going down the mountain we were doing some rappels, basically sliding down the rope, going from ledge to ledge and about halfway down we get to this quite small ledge, slightly wider than the soles of my shoes.

Usually when you arrive at a new ledge when rappelling you connect to some anchor bolts first so that you are safe even if you lose balance. This day I was so tired that I forgot to connect and started to unclip my rope and actually began pulling it down to proceed with the next rappel before the guy I was climbing with suddenly grabbed my harness and asked me to clip in.

It turns out that I had been balancing on this tiny ledge maybe 150 meters up the mountain while pulling down the rope where if I had even slightly lost balance I would have slid down and died. Statistics show that this is one of the most common accidents in climbing and it's scary how easily it can happen.

Chilling to think about now but it made me much more aware of own safety when tired after a long day in the mountains.
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by Hosp »

3 times come to mind:

1-2yo got popcorn stuck in throat can't remember teh but was danger hospital osv
6yo big carcrash we were 8 people in car, couple of the other car dead nobody in ours but many broken things osv
19yo OD from 3-cmc
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Zweq
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by Zweq »

hard to say but
- i ran through a glass door as a kid
- as a 13 year old i bicycled with frend ~500meters through lake with 1cm~ ice cover. ice say riks raks riks raks under bicycles.
- i valked into deep vater as a 4~ year old kid, brother saved. Same lake

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5tr1k3r
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by 5tr1k3r »

Hard to say objectively what's the closest encounter ever. But here are a couple:
- 11 yo or so, didn't know how to swim. Visited a water park with classmates, used a water slide there while only wearing some puny swimming armbands. Got submerged in the water for a few seconds, started panicking but everything turned out fine because I think someone else helped me. Probably wasn't a very close case, but the panic made it feel that way.
- 15 yo, biking with a friend. Tried to overtake a bus on a downhill turn - a terrible idea, almost planted head first in the windshield of an oncoming car. Somehow only a minor bruise on a shoulder and a broken windshield is all that I paid with for my stupidity.
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by iCS »

5tr1k3r wrote: 29 Aug 2018, 12:11 - 11 yo or so, didn't know how to swim. Visited a water park with classmates, used a water slide there while only wearing some puny swimming armbands. Got submerged in the water for a few seconds, started panicking but everything turned out fine because I think someone else helped me. Probably wasn't a very close case, but the panic made it feel that way.
i have very similar waterslide story, i was ~5-6 years old
there were 2 waterslides, father was supposed to catch me in water, but he probably got confused XD
i drowned then noticed that water level is above top of my head :O tried to shout help but it didn't work underwater
then help arrived few seconds later :D
i was coughing loudly, probably also cried a little, so everybody was watching us and that was mega embarrassing
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by roope »

Another water story: I was maybe 8yo and was walking home from school in the winter (was maybe some -15-20 celcius weather). For some reason I decided to go walk on the ice of a pond that was nearby. Was walking among a pretty thick bed of reeds near the shore and then plumps, ice wasn't thick enough and I fell in (I think there was some drainage pipe or gak in that spot so ice was very weak). I just swam/walked/crawled to shore and walked home (lajk 500m away) absolutely drenched by ice-cold water and took a hot shower. I don't think I ever even mentioned it to family (no one was home when I arrived). Coulda been bade since it was cold, dark, no one nearby and teh vegetation was obstructing the view even if someone would have been nearby.
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by milagros »

i played ice hockey on our lake (~12y old) and somehow I ended up swimming in skates (~5-10m depth)
wasn't close to death though
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by insane guy »

Risking life everyday by biking through Berlin city traffic with bike (fast).

Other than that probably getting Borreolosis (?) from a tick as a kid. Was unfortunate spot (head) but all went well.
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by pawq »

Lots of kid stories :o I can't remember any sach, but remember one more recent situation quite well.

A few months ago I was cycling down some road and for whatever reason got a bit distracted (was cycling pretty fast, maybe 30-40km/h). At some point focused again and looked ahead and noticed a stationary truck maybe, duno, 5m ahead of my. I just managed to dodge it on the side, was too late to brake in front of it. If I looked up a second later I would've probably slammed into it at full speed, and it had a steel frame exactly at the height of my head. I had my helmet on so maybe wouldn't have died, but still... Was a pretty scary moment when I finally stopped and realised how fucking close I was.
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by ROKKEBOL »

Im having krapula/hangover/похмелье couple times every week. The state, which very close to death. Sometimes i even cant get up and go to work. I woned this thread?
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ile
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by ile »

I sometimes go outside
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by ribot »

hard to say but
- i ran through a glass door as a kid
- i got hit by an car

Though i got some real story about this. An few years back I started to work really hard with my own business projects. I was kinda programming every waking hour of the day, including when I woke up at night (programming in my head).

As this went on for some months I started getting headaches and dizzinesses. Although I've been very much into health I didn't care about it. I thought I had health under control, and I knew this stuff. But imagine if jump from a cliff, then it doesn't matter how healthy you've been living or will live. I didn't jump a cliff but got similar results.

I got exhausteds. Tried to heal myself with yoga, meditation and foods, which had work numerous times before, but this time it got worse. I couldn't even walk.

Went to multiple doctors who just looked at me as if my condition was so weird they had no clue what to do about it.

This went on for years. Literally. And I didn't get better no matter what I did. I started to deal with my life as it would end soon. (Although I had been doing that mentally as an exercise for many years, it was so much more real this time).

I was thinking "if i have one month left to live, how do i want to part this life"?

how to leave my last projects? who to contact (way too exhausted to even chat with most of my acquainances). in my mind i was as good as dead.
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by gimp »

I have broken a few bones including my femur with a serious concussion and hence i have a gimp, but really only one thing stands out to me.

As a teenager i once drank half a bottle of industrial glycerin in a full blown state of depression, crying, and passion. I dont know if i was hoping for attention from the stunt or wanting to die. All that happened was some mild confusion and dizziness. I have never told anybody this.
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Madness
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by Madness »

Never been close to death I think. The only scary thing I remember is being bitten by a venomous snake as a kid and ending up in hospital for a week puking my guts out, but this is usually survivable. Or almost poking my eye out as a kid as I stumbled and fell down on some sharp wooden sticks and bled like hell (super scary). Or being close to having to have my dick amputated (that would have been my death).
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Re: What is the closest you've been to death?

Post by Lousku »

Or being close to having to have my dick amputated (that would have been my death).
Tell story.
then again i don't know anything
maybe easier not to think abouut alöl things thought than not things thought ... or something..=?
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