Closest Brush with Death?

In My Humble Opinion
61

I have had two really close calls - one caused by my idiocy, the other by my dad’s.

My first close call was toboganing down a local hill. It was truly a freak accident, and if you saw the hill you would know why.

The hill is reasonably long and steep, and at the bottom there is a big flat bit of parkland - big enough that it has two baseball diamonds on it. On the other side is a fence.

I had been down that hill many times. Generally, you never make it even a quarter of the way to the fence. The thought of that fence being a hazard had never even occured to me.

However, on the day in question, there had been a freezing rain - followed by a very light snowfall. Because I went down the hill without checking, I did not know that the park had turned into a giant ice rink - totally smooth and almost frictionless, with only a light dusting of snow.

Well, I went down that hill all right, and was zipping along across the park - very fast. I was already close to the fence when I began to notice I was not slowing down - at all. I remember thinking, “why am I not stopping?” when - wham - I hit the fence head-first, smashing my head open on an iron bar.

I left a trail of blood all the way to the hospital. Had I been going just a little off to one side, I would have hit a row of metal spikes. As it is, I still to this day have balance problems from this (I get dizzy when my head is in particular positions).

The other occasion was when I was logging with my dad. He was cutting a big old rotted poplar with his chainsaw while I was working the “come-along”, basically a pulley jack attached to a steel cable for pulling the tree in a particular direction (required because the tree was on a slope and near the cabin). Well, the problem with this system is that the tree falls in the direction of the guy working the “come-along”. He told me “when that tree begins to fall, run into the shelter of that other, big tree and you will be safe”.

Well, I looked at the tree and I wasn’t so sure. But you don’t argue with my dad. So I pumped away on the “come-along”, and when the tree began to fall I ran - in the other direction.

And it was a good thing I did, because that poplar hit the other tree head-on – and knocked it right over. The place where I was supposed to “shelter” was pierced by dozens of broken-off tree limbs, under the full weight of both trees.

62

I’ve had two :

  1. careening down a fairly steep hill on my bicycle at about 13 years old. At the bottom of the hill, I hit the curb, flew off the bike, and tumbled 15 or 20 feet onto someone’s front yard. Two feet to the right of where I hit the curb was the telephone pole that would have killed me.

  2. Driving from Denver to New Jersey. On an Interstate highway, rainy and treacherous. Stop and go traffic. In a period of “go,” I went too fast, and when it got to “stop,” I didn’t. I slammed on the brakes, but was supremely lucky. The guy in front of me had the same problem - he went too fast, slammed on his brake, but pulled his car over to the side in time to miss an accident. My car stopped inches from the car in front of where HE had been - if he hadn’t forced his own car off the road, I’d have rear-ended him with significant force. Maybe not deadly force, but who knows…

hrh

63

Work accident- just out of the service for a year and a half, and working at a lawn installation job (hello dead end job). I was working the spring loaded tail gate lifter (used to load the mobile equipment) when the mounting spring attachment point snapped.

The industrial heavy steel spring rocketed back and hit me dead on the face, a half an inch under my left eye, fracturing the bones, and puncturing my sinus. A wiff higher, bye bye eye, and likely a fractured skull. A tiny wiff higher then that- then smack into the temple. Gulp.

Worst part was, that I was alone, hurt and didn’t know the area. I loaded the equipment (??) and drove off to find a hospital. I couldn’t, started spitting blood, and getting nausous (not good). I lucked into a police sting for overweight dump trucks. I explained what happened (or they looked at me) and they called the ambulence. Well, off to facial surgery I go. Now I have a nice strip of Titanium in my face.

After my surgery, I finally realized things had to change. I went back to school, eventually getting by degree and attending law school. I am a happily married attorney now, and it all started by nearly getting killed.

64

So many people are having near death experiences from driving!

Well, I was driving, but that wasn’t what almost killed me. It was the gang banger that pulled up next to me (while I was driving at about 50mph) and shot a 9mm through my driver side window. The bullet probably flew an inch in front of my face and went out the other side of the car.

The cops, by the way, never took my report. They’ll write me a ticket, but they won’t come and help me when someone shoots at me. I** HATE **cops!

Other than that, I have probably suffered a dozen incidents throughout my life already described by other people above. Poisoning, electricution, planting my face into the ground going at a high rate of speed, while falling to boot, being hit head-on by a car while I was riding my bike, almost falling while rock climbing (thrilling), falling while trying to climb down off of a rock (painful). The list goes on. No dangerous car accidents though… oh wait, I was hit by a dump truck. Almost forgot that one. And people wonder why I scoff when I say the universe is out to get me.

65

I flipped a tractor onto my chest last April. Not a mower or garden tractor but a 3200 pound farm tractor. In the brief time it took to flip backward, pinning me on my back underneath, I had forever to think. I considered jumping backward, but that was where the thing was going to land. I pressed the clutch with no response. I became aware that people die this way. I thought about my daughter; it was her 7th birthday that day. I thought about what a stupid thing I had done. I jumped partially to the side. All in a few short seconds. All those thoughts were clear. Time seemed to freeze.

The rear fender landed on my leg which was folded across my chest. The steering wheel landed on my arm, crushing it. I couldn’t move or breathe. My wife was there and called 911 and my two pre-teen boys came running outside. They ran and got a spud bar (a six-foot pry bar) and some boards and pried the tractor up the tiniest amount but I could just suck in a bit of air. Not enough to replace all I put out but a bit. I could feel it sinking back down and couldn’t breathe again. My 6 yr old daughter had run to the neighbor who was outside and he helped the boys pry the tractor up a bit more. It was wet and the tractor just kept sinking onto me. I knew with certainty that if I relaxed I’d pass out and die.

Another neighbor, a volunteer fireman, came and helped pry but it was not enough. I begged him to pull the tractor off but he and I knew he shouldn’t in case of internal injuries. One syllable at a time I said: I’m…Nau…seous…gonna…vomit…will…drown… and I KNEW ABSOLUTELY that would going to happen if I relaxed the least little bit, then I would just pass out and die. Every word cost more air than I could recover. All I could think was Not on my daughters birthday. Not today. Don’t let this be what she thinks of every birthday.

They used a chain and a truck to pull it off me then, just as the ambulance arrived. Even with a full O2 mask on it took me several minutes to get enough air in to talk at all and get my color back. The arm was severely broken in five places but otherwise I had only minor injuries.

The whole thing took around 15 minutes, from flipping to being freed. It seemed like a lot longer, but it also seemed a lot shorter. I look back and still get emotional about the people who saved my life. My middle daughter turns eight in two months and I get to celebrate with her. I can’t express what a great feeling that is.

One more thing. There was no white light, or tunnel, or black shadows coming for me. Nothing like that. Just the certain knowledge that I would die if I didn’t mentally fight it. It could have gone either way, I’m positive. I came within moments of losing that fight. I don’t ever want to go there again, and I never want my kids to go there either.

66

That describes my experience too.
Different scenario (drowning in my case), but the same mental struggle.

67

I’m living proof that a sedate life doesn’t help. I was a bookworm when I was a kid, then I was a mild-mannered college student, and now I’m an engineer with a quiet desk job. In the course of pursuing those lifestyles, I’ve been shot at, shot in the head, knifed (just a shallow cut), knocked from high places, electrocuted (my heart was stopped for some seconds, and the black roses were in full bloom before it unclenched). I’ve also come black-rose close to drowning in the midst of rescuing some canoers, and had closer encounters with angry snakes than Derleth. By my count, at least three suicidal cats must have willed me their unwanted extra lives to get me this far. I’ve told some of the stories elsewhere on the boards. Oddly enough, I’ve never been in a car accident.

Aside from various thoughts of vengeance, the only “final thoughts” I remember are:

Nearly drowning: I had done all I could, and couldn’t tell if I had reached the surface or not, but I knew the two kids were safe, and I thought, “It was worth it.” Then I got my first lungful of air.

Electrocuted: Something like, “Well, I’ve owed Fate a death all my life. I guess it’s time to pay.” (To this day, I believe I heard someone answer, “Not yet.”)

68

When I was young I thought I was immortal. I’ve had many near misses: cliff climbing, cliff diving, skateboarding, mountain biking, climbing buildings, etc. Many, many scrapes, cuts, bruises, stitches, etc., although strangely no broken bones. None of this made an impression.

What really freaked me out is when, about five years ago, I was getting nitrous oxide at the dentist. The #$%^& assistant forgot to turn on the oxygen and left the room. I was slowly asphyxiating, I knew it, I was watching the whole process with the cool detachment you get from nitrous, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Fortunately, the dentist came in the room right about then and noticed that I was choking. (Did I mention that the assistant is his daughter?)