# Have you ever saved the life of another person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 7, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895 "2014-05-07T17:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/1 "2014-05-07T17:13:03Z")
Share! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/2 "2014-05-07T17:30:36Z")
When I was a kid, I was swimming with my aunt - she was barely older than I was and mentally handicapped. She slipped off her inner tube in water over her head. I grabbed her arm and pulled it to her tube. I’m pretty sure I saved her from drowning because she couldn’t swim. And we immediately got back to shallow water. Not particularly dramatic. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/3 "2014-05-07T17:53:24Z")
My story is similar to **FairyChatMom** ’s, only in a lake and not with her aunt. Much more interesting is the number of lives I haved spared… ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/4 "2014-05-07T18:14:49Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > ::: snip :::: > > Much more interesting is the number of lives I haved spared… This ↑↑↑ ---
**Author:** ![Oreo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c57346/32.png) [@Oreo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oreo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/5 "2014-05-07T18:23:52Z")
Last summer my little boy (age 3) fell into the deep end of the pool. I jumped in and saved him. Wouldn’t be any big deal except I broke my leg in the process. I admit I was a little panicked seeing him floundering there (the whole event probably took less than 10 seconds but at the time it was like slow motion), so I came running from the shallow side of the pool and jumped too soon…had my knee locked, was expecting to sink down into the deep end, instead hit the bottom of the shallow end. My femur slammed into the top of my tibia, shattering the tip of the bone there. Had to have surgery, a plate and screws, the whole works. Anyhoo, I’m all better now, and my son is fine (the pain didn’t stop me from being able to grab him and get him to safety). I always joke that I’m going to hold this over his head for the rest of his life. Instead of 48 hours of labor or whatever, it’ll be “I broke my leg to save your life, young man, and this is how you repay me?” ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/6 "2014-05-07T18:43:19Z")
Indirectly, I suppose. I have twice been involved in making a phone call (once to a relative, once to 911) after someone I was close to has told me they had just taken pills to commit suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/7 "2014-05-07T18:43:28Z")
Only in the sense that I’m a blood donor, so maybe, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/8 "2014-05-07T18:58:59Z")
Yes. One night a couple years ago we were sitting home having dinner (me, my wife, our two kids), and my wife started coughing. Then she stopped coughing, got up and ran over to the sink, and looked back at me with bulging eyes that said, “I’m dying over here”. I jumped up and started pounding on her back (I was used to doing this for our kids when they were little, but I guess it has no effect on an adult). She started shaking her head ‘no!’ so I performed the Heimlich on her, and a few thrusts later managed to dislodge a piece of chicken from her trachea. She immediately collapsed in tears, then I did too. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/9 "2014-05-07T19:02:53Z")
Technically I suppose I have. I Heimliched a few folks but there were other people present so I doubt they would have died. Pulled a few kids out of swimming pools, but again there were plenty of other people around, I just happened to be closest. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/10 "2014-05-07T19:18:32Z")
Maybe a dozen. Of course, the woman I was doing chest compressions on didn’t survive, but I helped get her heart beating again so that she could be an organ donor. I feel like last time we did this, I had a more direct and dramatic story to share, but durned if I can remember it at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/11 "2014-05-07T19:25:04Z")
Friends little brother was in a large public pool and I was about 5 feet away when he wandered into deeper water over his head. By the panicked look on his face I could tell he was in trouble so I took a few steps toward him, grabbed his hand and yanked him into the shallow water. I thought nothing of it because it happened so quickly, took very little time, and hey lets play water tag. A few years later he mentioned to me that I saved his life. I was too stupid to realize it at the time I did it but apparently the whole thing made a very lasting impression on him. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/12 "2014-05-07T19:26:45Z")
Another blood donor. I’m O neg, so it’s a tad more likely to have been used for an emergency than for the manufacture of blood products. > [@Asimovian](#): > > Indirectly, I suppose. I have twice been involved in making a phone call (once to a relative, once to 911) after someone I was close to has told me they had just taken pills to commit suicide. I’d forgotten that. A new friend of one of my sons called him and said they’d swallowed a bottle of - I think it was tylenol - back when they were in high school. When Son insisted that they tell someone or call someone, they hung up and unplugged the phone. He didn’t have an address and the phone number was unlisted, so he couldn’t get the address that way. And maybe the kid hadn’t taken enough for it to be dangerous or was lying about taking it. So he asked if it would be all right to call 911. If I hadn’t been there to ask, he’d probably have decided to call anyway. But I said, oh, definitely. This requires a call. If it turns out to be a false alarm, that’s not your fault. And I offered to make the call for him, which he accepted with relief. Oddly, PD called back to ask if this was _really_ a break down the door if necessary situation and did we _really_ have no address. So maybe it was good to have an adult make the call. We’re all still in contact. After a few weeks of family drama (with police, locked doors, activated charcoal, stomach pumping, and a stay at a medical facility) things settled down and it turned out to be a teenage thing that never came up again. Kudos to everyone with actual, in person saves. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/13 "2014-05-07T19:28:31Z")
I was an EMT. It was my job… ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/14 "2014-05-07T19:41:04Z")
I called 911 for my husband when he went into anaphylactic shock and fainted. He thinks of it as saving his life because he definitely was in deep trouble, but I think the emt’s are the ones who really did that. I’m so glad I was home though, and awake! ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/15 "2014-05-07T19:41:27Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’d forgotten that. A new friend of one of my sons called him and said they’d swallowed a bottle of - I think it was tylenol - back when they were in high school. When Son insisted that they tell someone or call someone, they hung up and unplugged the phone. He didn’t have an address and the phone number was unlisted, so he couldn’t get the address that way. And maybe the kid hadn’t taken enough for it to be dangerous or was lying about taking it. So he asked if it would be all right to call 911. > > If I hadn’t been there to ask, he’d probably have decided to call anyway. But I said, oh, definitely. This requires a call. If it turns out to be a false alarm, that’s not your fault. Interesting. For my second situation, I was a blend of you and your son. I was about 20 or 21, wasn’t sure what to do, and called a friend first to consult, who wisely said that if I took the statement seriously, I should call 911. Which I did. > [@](#): > > We’re all still in contact. After a few weeks of family drama (with police, locked doors, **activated charcoal, stomach pumping, and a stay at a medical facility) things settled down** and it turned out to be a teenage thing that never came up again. My friend went through the same bolded part, but we remained friends for many, many years thereafter. > [@](#): > > Kudos to everyone with actual, in person saves. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/16 "2014-05-07T19:49:02Z")
I used to work in a clinical laboratory. I helped diagnose thousands of peoples’ cancer and help doctors figure out which treatments would be most effective. Not very dramatic or exciting, though. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/17 "2014-05-07T19:58:19Z")
Twice. I gave my mom mouth-to-mouth after a bad reaction to a narcotic painkiller she was taking that caused her to stop breathing. Second time was as a life guard. I resuscitated a four year old after she jumped in the pool over her head. I was on break, and the on duty guard (who I had reported multiple times) hadn’t noticed. I got to her and started rescue breathing and she started breathing again. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/18 "2014-05-07T20:10:09Z")
Aye, I have. A few people actually. Saved a guy from being crushed by a couple of tons of steel scaffolding back in about 1992. Saved my girlfriend from drowning/hypothermia when her kayak capsized on the Green River during a spring trip back in 2008 (she hadn’t yet perfected the roll). Saved my friend’s father when he drank poison back in 1979. I’ve gotten help to strangers who needed it more times than I can count, including pulling two guys out of a vehicle after they drove it into a 80’ tall light pole hard enough to knock it completely off the ground and throw it about 20 feet down the road; both guys were pretty banged up, one was unconscious until after I was able to get him out of the car and on the ground a safe distance away (did I mention the car was on fire?). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/19 "2014-05-07T21:22:38Z")
Perhaps. I intervened with my son, who was addicted to painkillers. He was in dire straits at the time. He’s been through rehab and had a relapse (with alcohol) since, but he’s sober again and alive. My wife tripped and twisted her ankle on the way down the steps at the [Voortrekker Monument](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Voortrekker_Monument.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voortrekker_Monument&h=259&w=194&tbnid=KowQ5WKtKptzXM:&zoom=1&tbnh=160&tbnw=119&usg=__qO5SAczKaYUoJO6BdF46SBGlcAs=&docid=eI7eHSSShjQFNM&itg=1&sa=X&ei=AKRqU8_RHIbioAS02YCwDA&ved=0CKgBEPwdMA8) in South Africa. As she pitched forward, I managed to grab her arm and kept her from going headfirst down the steps. The fall may or may not have killed her, but it would have seriously fucked her up. As it was, she ended up with a cast on her lower leg. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895/20 "2014-05-07T21:39:47Z")
Closest I’ve come is I saved a yellow lab that had been shot and left for dead in a dumpster. Took him to the pet hospital, then my mom’s rescue shelter and a few short weeks later he found a forever home. (Sweet dog too) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-saved-the-life-of-another-person/687895.md?page=2)