tof

So, what's the closest you ever came to dying?
Skip this if its something you aren't comfortable sharing. But otherwise, what happened. What was the aftermath? Did it change your life or at least your outlook on it?

I have to declare a tie. About 20 years ago I was driving in to work one morning in a Honda Accord with an automatic. Through a series of incredibly stupid actions that can only have been caused by sleep deprivation and lack of caffeine, I ended up on a railroad track with an oncoming train about 20 feet away and moving fast. I was in neutral and hunting for a forward gear in a state of panick so intense that even this small task was beyond me. In a flash of divine inspiration it hit me that if I squeezed the button with my thumb and pulled the lever back I would end up in some kind gear. This I did, as I pushed the skinny pedal down hard. It was so close that there was a point when I experienced immediate relief that I wouldn't be killed in spite of the fact that I was about to lose the trunk of the car. As it turned out I didn't even lose the bumper. How I escaped death that day is still a mystery to me. Aftermath: I sat there shaking violently for a few minutes. But I was young and immediately went back to thinking I would live forever.

The other event was a case of cancer that would have gone undetected until it was terminal had I not decided for no particular reason other than my age (I was 55 at the time) to get a colonoscopy. Aftermath: Ever since successful surgery I have felt like I'm playing with house money.

God watches out for drunks, working women, and (apparently) fools.

FLA-Vyk

The cloesest I can to seeing the eternal light was when I was blown out of helicopter in Vietnam 1971. But it was not till I was diagnosed with cancer 4 years ago that I changed my view on life and said; go for what ever you want and enjoy what life has to offer.

tof

Vyktor, sounds like your reactions were the same as mine...In youth we just thank our lucky stars. In our more advanced years we reevaluate. And now I know at least one reason why you own so many interesting cars.

Lainey

I'm not a thrill seeker, or dare devil, or someone who tests the limits of life. The only thing I can recall was doing some white water rafting on an inner tube. I was a young Mom at the time. I was also stupid enough to be floating down this river without a life jacket. It was not exactly the rapids, nor was the water deep, but the current was strong. The tube flipped and I went with it.

I kind of got caught up in the tube and the current and it took what seemed like forever to get myself free. I think I actually walked out of the water, but while I was underwater, my first thought was that my son was going to grow up without a mother.

Doesn't quite compare to some stories like getting blown out of a helicopter or staring down a train.

To date, I've been very fortunate in the health department. No scary disease has found it's way into my body.

valentine

Probably the closest I've come to a near death accident was a few years ago when Jim and I were returning from a meet at Pinehurst, NC. We were sitting on an on-ramp when a car careened sideways down 220N and was heading toward us. I put the car into reverse and backed up as fast as I could on the ramp. The car slid directly in front of my S2k (the '01 model) and missed us by a foot. There have been other near miss accidents but I can't recall them all. Fortunately I've never been shot out of a helicopter or anything.
A life changing event for me was the untimely death of my father. I learned there are no guarantees in life and we can be struck down at an early age. I've lived more in the moment since his death, learned its okay to have and express my opinions, stopped sweating the small stuff and that if I'm going to disagree with my husband to let it be just a disagreement, not a full scale war-like argument. He is the most important person on the planet to me and no little silly disagreement is worth getting into a lather over. I save that for internet forums.

Conedodger

I got T-boned by a mid-seventies LTD wagon while riding my bike when I was 14. Tore the cartilage in my knee and broke my hand.

In 1991, I was rear-ended on my motorcycle at a yield sign. Surprisingly, I never hit the ground and only ended up with a bruise, but the bike was totaled and the car was a mess.

Neither felt life threatening, but slightly different circumstances could have changed that.

boltonblue

well now,

28 years ago I was driving up to Vermont to my future wife's graduation.
She had gone up earlier with her dad but I had to work late.
Her mother had a class that night so we left around 10 for a 5 1/2 hour, 232 mile drive.
Upon getting into the car I snapped into my belt.
My MIL asked if she should do the same, and I responded I always wear mine because you never know.
So for the first time in her life my mother-in-law-to-be put on her seat belt.

It was rainy moonless night and I was the kind attentive future son in law.
so instead of driving with the windows down and the stereo blaring and it was warm and cozy inside the car.
It was in short, perfect sleeping conditions, throw no visibility except for the hypnotizing white lines going by.
By all rights, It was a very short nap of only two or three seconds which would have gone unnoticed on a straightaway.
It wasn't a straightaway however but a big sweeping curve with a multi wire guardrail protecting the 80 foot embankment.
We took out the first two sections of the railing at around 70 mph and continued on another 200 feet out into the woods and down the embankment.
Fortunately, the first 50 feet or so were small poplar and pin cherry about 2 -3 inches in diameter.
These snapped off without much ado but slowed the car considerably.
Towards the base of the hill we encountered a very old pine which was about 3 1/2 - 4 ft thick across the trunk.
The Pine did not snap even with much ado.
We stopped then and there.
The head lights surprising were still on and after a moment or two the intermittent wipers cleared the windshield with one stroke.
Then my mother in law suggested maybe I could back out.

Fortunately, we both walked away without a scratch, bump or bruise, not even any stiffness the next day.
I lost both mirrors from the doors, left up against larger pines earlier in our traverse of the woods.
It could have easily have had much more dire outcome.
The manner by which we took out the guardrail was almost invisible from the road.
Unless you knew exactly where to look you could not see the car from the road.

There was a moment.
I don't know if was upon striking the guardrail or instantaneously prior to it but I felt I had been asked the question do you want to die?
The answer was no.
I will never forget the sensation of driving through the trees at high speed in a forest though.

valentine

^^ Was not forgetting due in part to the never ending reminders from your mother in law?

RC - Ryder

T-boned and totaled an old woman at 55 mph in a VW GTI in 1992. The steering wheel got me real good. The old left turn trick.
T-boned a motorcycle 3 years ago into minivan driven by an illegal in NAPA, CA area. I got launched off at the top of a 360 degree flip. I walked away on an adrenaline high, but everything hurt for 2 months. He pulled out on me.
I parachuted into the top of someone else's parachute on my third jump, but was able the "pedal" out and off. The luck was that he was much heavier than I and thus fell faster, allowing me to pedal out. Because this all happened in slow motion of sorts, there was plenty of time to max out the sphincters.

tommyra

Three times come to memory immediately, probably more as a teenager.

First - pulled to pass someone on two lane road and there was a car coming in the other lane I never saw. I was close enough to read the license plate & see the expression on the lady's face. I pulled to left on the shoulder of the road and the lady went between us. I pulled back on the road & finished passing the car. Pulled off the road shortly after and sat for awhile.

Second - driving down interstate and a semi ran me off the road onto the inside shoulder of the road (I don't think he saw me). Somehow missed two road signs and got the car stopped. It was a work car and other were riding with. One of the guys started reaching for his seat belt and I heard another tell him it was to late.

Third - when I was a police officer a situation where a guy wanted to commit suicide by cop.

The first one and the last seemed to impact me the most on the way I view things.