How close to death have you been, close shaves/lucky escapes
Discussion
While surfing in South Africa, a 12ft great white turned up. The other three in the water were on 6ft+ boards, which they all got up on, I was the biggest guy and on a bodyboard. I tried to catch a wave out of there, got knocked off my board and went under. I was sure I was going to get eaten, but it left me alone. I managed to get back on my board and paddled for the next wave, which I caught and rode most of the way in, then hit some deep water and had to paddle. I've never gone so fast in my life and didn't stop until my knees hit the sand. According to my mates it was cruising along a little behind me all the way in. As soon as I got out, I headed back to where I was staying and started drinking, even though it was 6.30am.
I've come close to drowning a couple of times in the sea when I've been caught out by freak waves.
The other one was when I was in a mates Micra just after he passed his test and we had a head on with a JCB. We all walked away with a few bruises, but it could have been so much worse.
I've come close to drowning a couple of times in the sea when I've been caught out by freak waves.
The other one was when I was in a mates Micra just after he passed his test and we had a head on with a JCB. We all walked away with a few bruises, but it could have been so much worse.
Nom de ploom said:
nothing particularly dramatic but I was run over at 9 - pedestrian crossing, feeder light confusion for ford capri driver who didn't stop and was never caught. fractured skull and 10 days in hospital.
BTDT but no head injury, just a mid shaft tib and fib fracture which I explained to my Dad, after he pegged it down the back lane to find me sat at the kerb, as, 'Dad, look, I've got two knees on this leg'. The poor fella nearly passed out.The close shave was that as I, the daredevil five year old, whizzed out of the back lane into the car, I went over the car and the bike went under; had the roles been reversed then I would never had had the last forty years.
I'll try and keep it short...
There've been a few, 'lucky misses' but the 'one' that sends shivers down my spine is this...
...My in-laws live in Buck's and we live in Fife. Visiting them is always a toss-up of the cheaper option as to whether I can claim expenses for 'driving to site' or we'd be better flying. This time we chose to drive. Because our Boy was under 2 it was easier to set off around 7pm and drive into the dark as invariably he'd fall asleep en-route then all we had to do on arrival was plonk him in his bed around midnight and grab some Z's ourselves.
I had a Vx Omega 3.2 MV6 estate. It was fairly quick and good at long distance. He was in the middle rear seat, (for access), and my Wife gave him his bottle as we drove away from the in-laws. Normally he'd be asleep by the time we'd got to the M1, (20 minutes later!)
He wouldn't fall asleep! Very strange! We got on to the M6 and he was still wide awake although he was quite content so we didn't bother about it too much.
As we passed Stoke it was starting to get dark. In the twighlight I swore I saw a car driving towards us in lane 3 of the M6 but I put it down to a trick of the light.
Almost half way there and approaching Charnock Richard Services I asked my Wife if we should stop to fill up and relieve ourselves. I knew I was going to have to refuel at some point, (thirsty car!), so we might as well make it now while Boy was awake to save me waking him later.
We decided to break but to get to the exit I had to 'hoof it' to get past the muddle of traffic I was passing to make the exit safely. I drove 'very fast' for a bit and made the exit without upsetting anyone and pulled up to park.
When I opened my door I heard Police sirens and was convinced they were after me but they passed and I forgot about them...
...Until I went back out to the car to get the nappy bag and the car park was full of people on their phones.
Turns out there was some muppet driving south on the northbound carriageway!
Had my Son fallen asleep, we wouldn't have stopped there and we would've driven staight into him!
After we lefft the services he fell straight to sleep and the motorway was empty.
Very surreal experience!
There've been a few, 'lucky misses' but the 'one' that sends shivers down my spine is this...
...My in-laws live in Buck's and we live in Fife. Visiting them is always a toss-up of the cheaper option as to whether I can claim expenses for 'driving to site' or we'd be better flying. This time we chose to drive. Because our Boy was under 2 it was easier to set off around 7pm and drive into the dark as invariably he'd fall asleep en-route then all we had to do on arrival was plonk him in his bed around midnight and grab some Z's ourselves.
I had a Vx Omega 3.2 MV6 estate. It was fairly quick and good at long distance. He was in the middle rear seat, (for access), and my Wife gave him his bottle as we drove away from the in-laws. Normally he'd be asleep by the time we'd got to the M1, (20 minutes later!)
He wouldn't fall asleep! Very strange! We got on to the M6 and he was still wide awake although he was quite content so we didn't bother about it too much.
As we passed Stoke it was starting to get dark. In the twighlight I swore I saw a car driving towards us in lane 3 of the M6 but I put it down to a trick of the light.
Almost half way there and approaching Charnock Richard Services I asked my Wife if we should stop to fill up and relieve ourselves. I knew I was going to have to refuel at some point, (thirsty car!), so we might as well make it now while Boy was awake to save me waking him later.
We decided to break but to get to the exit I had to 'hoof it' to get past the muddle of traffic I was passing to make the exit safely. I drove 'very fast' for a bit and made the exit without upsetting anyone and pulled up to park.
When I opened my door I heard Police sirens and was convinced they were after me but they passed and I forgot about them...
...Until I went back out to the car to get the nappy bag and the car park was full of people on their phones.
Turns out there was some muppet driving south on the northbound carriageway!
Had my Son fallen asleep, we wouldn't have stopped there and we would've driven staight into him!
After we lefft the services he fell straight to sleep and the motorway was empty.
Very surreal experience!
Mine isn't dramatic or probably as interesting as most written about here but I consider myself to be rather lucky as I've come close three times and all for the same reason ... If only it was in my control.
I've had and recovered from bacterial meningitis on three occasions, the most recent two episodes have been in the last two years.
Each time I've been within hours of not making it according to the doctors and specialists and each time its taken several months to make a full recovery.
Can't complain though as if there's anything to make you value the stuff that really matters in life its a near miss (or three) ... Family, friends and dare I say it (well it is Pistonheads) a fast car or two!
I've had and recovered from bacterial meningitis on three occasions, the most recent two episodes have been in the last two years.
Each time I've been within hours of not making it according to the doctors and specialists and each time its taken several months to make a full recovery.
Can't complain though as if there's anything to make you value the stuff that really matters in life its a near miss (or three) ... Family, friends and dare I say it (well it is Pistonheads) a fast car or two!
thought i was dead when i had my first epileptic seizure, walking through a shopping centre in Newcastle just felt my jaw clamp shut then everything go black, no idea what was going on or whether id wake up. turned out to be a good thing as eventually found out i had a brain tumour, had that removed and although the risk of dying during the op is very small, you cant help wonder as you go under if you will wake up again. Its likely to come back and get me in the end im sure, but for now im just enjoying the reprieve!
another one is being on an oil rig with a big oil/gas leak in a room right underneath the accomodation module, ended up being one of 15 left (just enough for one chopper) out of a normal crew level of about 160. me and my mate sent down to go look through the window to see whats going on. one of those moments that was dealt with some silly humour! Got a £500 bonus for that which paid for a new telly.
Another oil rig related one was two guys were killed when gas leaked out of a pipe in one of the concrete legs and suffocated them. one of them was the guy who did the job when i was home so another 5 days or so and it would have been me down there..
another one is being on an oil rig with a big oil/gas leak in a room right underneath the accomodation module, ended up being one of 15 left (just enough for one chopper) out of a normal crew level of about 160. me and my mate sent down to go look through the window to see whats going on. one of those moments that was dealt with some silly humour! Got a £500 bonus for that which paid for a new telly.
Another oil rig related one was two guys were killed when gas leaked out of a pipe in one of the concrete legs and suffocated them. one of them was the guy who did the job when i was home so another 5 days or so and it would have been me down there..
King Herald said:
See my thread about doing helicopter escape training, with a small BA type mouthpiece, strapped in a chair, inside a helicopter, crash landing, rolls upside down, underwater......
I don't scare easily, have done many, many crazy things, but the idea of getting trapped and not being able to breathe had me 99% on the verge of releasing the chocolate soldiers inside my waterproof exposure suit...
Thins is, I've done it six or seven times over the last 20 years, and every time I tell myself after "nah, it wasn't that bad really, no worries next time".
There was an Ozzie guy on my course that wasn't a swimmer at all. We did the first bit, hit the water get out, hit the water sink get out, then it came to the roll over. We hit the water he tried to get out, then we rolled, with him half out the window. Was entertaining from the side of the pool. On the same day a guys buckle jammed with him upside down, the whole thing had to be lifted back out to free him, kindly they gave him 2 mins to sort his life out and get back on with it. I don't scare easily, have done many, many crazy things, but the idea of getting trapped and not being able to breathe had me 99% on the verge of releasing the chocolate soldiers inside my waterproof exposure suit...
Thins is, I've done it six or seven times over the last 20 years, and every time I tell myself after "nah, it wasn't that bad really, no worries next time".
As for near death, stood on the drill floor after moving a big bit of our kit around. The drill crew had started to rig down and move the air hoist back into the fingers. The air hoist is rated to 50 tons so is fairly substantial and is attached to a length of heavy weight drill pipe (HWDP). They use a crane device called a PRS (Pipe Rack Back System) to move it. However as it was stood holding the length of HWDP and hoist in it's flippers. Unknown to us the hydraulic pressure was slowly bleeding off the flippers. So as I walked away to head to the moonpool, I start to hear the sound of chain hitting the deck, followed by a colossal thump. I turned round to find the lot had fall out of the PRS....that was the high point of a rather incident packed hitch.
Whilst fitting a new exhaust to my car on my very uneven driveway last summer I was struggling to get the last pieces of rusty exhaust off when the car toppled off the axle stands. My chest was pinned underneath the floor pan and luckily the old exhaust was off at this point and my head slipped neatly into the tunnel luckily avoiding any spillages of brain on the tarmac, I had left my phone inside in case it got broken so I had no option but to wait there like a t
t until a passerby could jack the car up for me. I look back now and count my self very lucky!
t until a passerby could jack the car up for me. I look back now and count my self very lucky! Robert Burns said:
My body had started to shut down. Everything from pulse to liver and kidney's. Was rushed into Aberdeen to be drip feed for 2 weeks. Not a nice feeling. I was told at times I did come round for brief minutes to talk about some random says the father. Did lose 3 stone which was a plus point.
I also feel like a cheat death every time I travel offshore now with the EC225 helicopters back in service. Small flying boxes with escape windows that even if you where a supermodel thin person with all your gear on your not going to escape.
So, was it some illness, disease, obesity, or just old age that nearly killed you?? says the father. Did lose 3 stone which was a plus point.I also feel like a cheat death every time I travel offshore now with the EC225 helicopters back in service. Small flying boxes with escape windows that even if you where a supermodel thin person with all your gear on your not going to escape.
Fozziebear said:
monthefish said:
Parachute getting caught around my leg upon deployment is the closest I've come.
That's how a friend of mine got his metal legs. I was his first tandem jump after he recovered, dragged him out the door laughing Dr Evil style! 
About an hour later you couldn't see any white in the whites of my eyes.
That was caused by me spinning like a sycamore leaf: I was spinning so fast I couldn't pull my arms or legs in.
If not for the safety rated instructor at the DZ arresting that I'd not be here.
C
pdavison said:
Mine isn't dramatic or probably as interesting as most written about here but I consider myself to be rather lucky as I've come close three times and all for the same reason ... If only it was in my control.
I've had and recovered from bacterial meningitis on three occasions, the most recent two episodes have been in the last two years.
Each time I've been within hours of not making it according to the doctors and specialists and each time its taken several months to make a full recovery.
Can't complain though as if there's anything to make you value the stuff that really matters in life its a near miss (or three) ... Family, friends and dare I say it (well it is Pistonheads) a fast car or two!
After my bout - thankfully turned out to me none too serious and only viral, despite being in the worst pain I have ever been in when I woke up, it was the after effects that, frankly I still live with - memory loss, absent mindedness, depression. I had no post trauma help whatsoever, just packed on my way a couple of days after admittance.I've had and recovered from bacterial meningitis on three occasions, the most recent two episodes have been in the last two years.
Each time I've been within hours of not making it according to the doctors and specialists and each time its taken several months to make a full recovery.
Can't complain though as if there's anything to make you value the stuff that really matters in life its a near miss (or three) ... Family, friends and dare I say it (well it is Pistonheads) a fast car or two!
I'm 100% convinced the lack of follow up contributed to me losing a brilliant relationship, i neeed help but didn't put it down to the meningitis at all.
glad you're ok too
King Herald said:
Fozziebear said:
monthefish said:
Parachute getting caught around my leg upon deployment is the closest I've come.
That's how a friend of mine got his metal legs. I was his first tandem jump after he recovered, dragged him out the door laughing Dr Evil style! Scariest moment of my life (but maybe still not as scary as the underwater helicopter breathing thing)
I lived though, no damage, reserve chute opened at about 500' according to onlookers.
When I got back to the clubhouse I threw my rig in the packing shed, and never jumped again.
King Herald said:
60th jump
Any idea how it happened? Were you unstable when you deployed?(I was upside down during deployment on my incident - but it was about my 20th jump and that is my excuse!)
Out on the push-bike on a route I had ridden many a time. I was heading down Dean Hill (nr Sailsbury)and sailed right through the junction at the bottom. The priorities had changed and I had neglected to notice this...and the freelander heading from the right. I made contact with the passenger side A pillar, ending up wrapped around it. I fell into a crumpled mess.
I snapped the forks of the bike clean in half, and broke a few ribs.
I was pretty lucky really.
I snapped the forks of the bike clean in half, and broke a few ribs.
I was pretty lucky really.
Kermit power said:
I've only had one. I went back to my parents one August shortly after I'd graduated, and decided to go out for a bike ride as it was a nice, sunny day. This being the early 90s, I wasn't particularly aware of the existence of bike helmets!
Some 30 minutes later, going down a steep hill, I went round a corner, and from there have fairly patchy memories of what happened next. I know I came off the bike, apparently from the front wheel washing out on some loose earth on the road and then digging back in to the tarmac. My first point of contact was between the corner of a cobblestone on a storm drain and the front of my head.
There was a guy coming down the road behind me in a red Fiat Uno who stopped to see if I was OK, and I can remember asking him if he could pick up my bike pump before someone ran over it and I'd ride back home. He told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't riding anywhere, got me to the side of the road, and then went to get someone to call an ambulance (mobile phones being somewhat in short supply back then). He came back with another chap who'd called the ambulance, then said he really had to go, as he was already late for a meeting.
Fortunately, the chap who waited with me was a first aider for the local amateur football team, so had the good sense to get my name and contact details, as the last thing I could remember him saying was "I can hear the ambulance siren", before waking up in A&E 3 hours later, having had 27 stitches on an inch-squared area of the front of my skull just behind the hairline.
I was released from hospital 3 days later, and my mother took me over to collect my bike, as the chap who waited with me had been looking after it in the meantime. It's the first (and hopefully last) time I've ever seen a fully grown man burst into tears when opening his front door.
It seems that as soon as he'd told me he could hear the ambulance, I started having convulsions, and then passed out completely. In addition to the ambulance, there were a huge number of coppers, who closed the road in both directions, and at one stage they were apparently talking about marking up where my body was for the accident investigation unit (at this stage, I was the only person who knew that the guy in the Uno hadn't hit me, and I was in no state to be telling anyone), so this poor chap was convinced he'd never see me alive again.
So, in hospital for 3 days, off work for nearly a month, and I've never been down a hill on a push bike at anything like the same speed since! Looking back - although not so much at the time - the comedy moment of the same thing was the consultant chap doing the rounds at Wexham Park hospital with a bunch of trainee doctors in tow stopping at the bottom of my bed, looking at the notes and saying "ah yes, this chap's interesting! If his skull wasn't 30% thicker than average, he'd be dead now!"
Rough story. Doctor's comment must have been a bit surreal.Some 30 minutes later, going down a steep hill, I went round a corner, and from there have fairly patchy memories of what happened next. I know I came off the bike, apparently from the front wheel washing out on some loose earth on the road and then digging back in to the tarmac. My first point of contact was between the corner of a cobblestone on a storm drain and the front of my head.
There was a guy coming down the road behind me in a red Fiat Uno who stopped to see if I was OK, and I can remember asking him if he could pick up my bike pump before someone ran over it and I'd ride back home. He told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't riding anywhere, got me to the side of the road, and then went to get someone to call an ambulance (mobile phones being somewhat in short supply back then). He came back with another chap who'd called the ambulance, then said he really had to go, as he was already late for a meeting.
Fortunately, the chap who waited with me was a first aider for the local amateur football team, so had the good sense to get my name and contact details, as the last thing I could remember him saying was "I can hear the ambulance siren", before waking up in A&E 3 hours later, having had 27 stitches on an inch-squared area of the front of my skull just behind the hairline.
I was released from hospital 3 days later, and my mother took me over to collect my bike, as the chap who waited with me had been looking after it in the meantime. It's the first (and hopefully last) time I've ever seen a fully grown man burst into tears when opening his front door.
It seems that as soon as he'd told me he could hear the ambulance, I started having convulsions, and then passed out completely. In addition to the ambulance, there were a huge number of coppers, who closed the road in both directions, and at one stage they were apparently talking about marking up where my body was for the accident investigation unit (at this stage, I was the only person who knew that the guy in the Uno hadn't hit me, and I was in no state to be telling anyone), so this poor chap was convinced he'd never see me alive again.
So, in hospital for 3 days, off work for nearly a month, and I've never been down a hill on a push bike at anything like the same speed since! Looking back - although not so much at the time - the comedy moment of the same thing was the consultant chap doing the rounds at Wexham Park hospital with a bunch of trainee doctors in tow stopping at the bottom of my bed, looking at the notes and saying "ah yes, this chap's interesting! If his skull wasn't 30% thicker than average, he'd be dead now!"
So the chap who waited with you needed you to verify that the Uno driver didn't hit you as the Police assumed the worst?
roadman said:
onyx39 said:
Kermit power said:
roadman said:
there are some horrific posts on here, mine is nothing compared to that...... 3 months ago, woke up with 3 Paramedics trying to keep me alive (not like 3 nurses in my bedroom dream)...... diabetic sugar low reading 1.4 after a bottle of lucazade the GF shoved down my throat......not my finest hour, but again just a smidge of some of these tales
If I ever do want a close shave with death, all I'd have to do is dial 999 when my wife next has a hypo! Instructions were "shovel lots of sugar down me and I'll be fine. Don't you dare phone the ambulance!"The one time I actually have called an ambulance for her was because she'd smacked her head on the corner of a kitchen worktop on the way down - blood everywhere and a lump the size of a tennis ball on her forehead.
This being around 2am on a Sunday morning, it took what felt like bloody ages to persuade the paramedics that she really was a diabetic, and that I'd not been slapping her around. This wasn't helped by the (presumably inexperienced but rather cute) paramedic lady failing to clean the honey off my wife's fingertip before pricking it to test her blood sugar levels before glaring at me and suggesting that if anything, her blood sugar levels were very high!
The Mrs has type 2 diabetes and from time to time has hypo's (she is rubbish at managing sugar) when she does, we just get her fresh Orange Juice (CANNOT be from Concentrate) works a treat.
Camping with a group in monument valley USA, miles from anywhere. My blood sugars were a bit high, so i gave myself perhaps a smidgen too much insulin before we all went to sleep in a big native american hut called a "hogon"
When i woke up i had the most horrendous pain in my back, my head hurt, my hands were cut to ribbons, glasses broken, face and lip all cut and i felt very. very unwell.
I'd had a seizure upon waking up, collapsed headfirst into a log pile and thrashed around for i am told "5-10 min" Only the actions of the group leader and a lovely lass from Newcastle giving me sugar tablets and bits of Orange saved my life. An ambulance was never going to find us in time. Waking up and realising it had happend, that i had cocked up (something i'd never done before with my diabetes in 10+ years) was not good.
I also drove a mini into a tree at 40mph+ head on. But i walked away from that......incidently a week after my seizure i jumped out a plane over Vegas. But that wasnt quite so scary....
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