Ever had a near death experience?

It was around this same time of the year more than 50 years ago that my dad and I came very close to drowning during a fishing trip. But it wasn't until I read of the tragic drowning of young 17-year-old that the enormity of the grace of God hit me hard. I must have been no more than 12 or 13 at the time but still remember how I had to hold my dad up in the 50-degree water until help could arrive. He soon when into shock from hypothermia and became unable to hold onto his life preserver. My dad would later tell me he had already considered himself a goner and hoped that I would be able to survive so my mom would be left without us both. You learn a lot from a near death experience but realizing all that all those things you would have never enjoyed probably won't hit you until after you've had the chance to look back on them. I know that's what hit me most after learning of this young man's tragic death. He will never get married and have kids, be able to start and end a life-long career and enjoy all life as to offer along the way. Sure, there will be scars and a lot of tears along the way. But even the scars and tears can leave lessons that point to way God's grace is such a wonderful gift.

Yes. Shared it on here years back. Just glad the good Lord had different plans for me that day.

Yes! I shared it a while back. They said I died “but we got you back”. I was only 16, with so much life ahead of me.

I almost drowned in the Trinity River below the Lake Worth dam when I was a young teen. Hanging with a group of older boys that decided to swim across the river when the water was coming over the spillway. I made it about half ways when I went under. a couple of times Luckily, one of the older guys was able to save me. Think about it every time I hear about a drowning.
Second was with my cancer treatment. The radiation and chemo were so devastating on my body, and mind, that I tried to stop treatment. My fiancée was traumatized with my decision and got the radiation Oncologist to sit me down for a come to Jesus talk. Told me, in no uncertain ways, that I was making an unwise decision and that he only had one other person do that at this stage and that person died in a most gruesome way. After a lot of tears, I immediately in to get zapped again That happened 13 years ago this week. I guess God has other plans for me.

I had 2 when I was just a kid. The first one was when I was at a neighbor's stock tank and tried pulling up a fish basket. The bank was very steep and I slipped and fell into water way over my head. All I remember was my dad saw me and was able to get me out before I drowned. The second one was about the same time. My dad farmed peanuts and had a 50 gallon barrel for gas in his truck to fill up his tractor during harvest. I had seen him syphon gas and thought I`d give it a try. It didn`t work out very good either. I ended up swallowing and then getting gasoline in my lungs immediately. I ran to get water from our well house but passed out before I could get any water and later woke up in the emergency room while they were pumping out my stomach. I spent about 5 days in the hospital and was sent home. I was about 5 or 6 years old both times. I like to tell the story about the gas where I ran for water but never got to the well house. I always say that I just ran out of gas. I guess I lived to laugh about it later on. I`m pretty sure that I probably would have died both times if someone hadn`t been there.

I used to ride motorcycles a lot and crash a lot. Have woken up in the back of an ambulance many times.

Brought back twice.

Wow lots of near death on here. I love hearing your stories.

Not me but my daughter almost bit it.

Went to a buddy's house to play water volleyball, he had a killer setup. Upper level was a wade pool with a jacuzzi next to it separated by about 5', below that was a true rectangular pool built specific for water volleyball.
Victoria was probably around 3 years old and wanted to go, my buddy was going with his daughter who was around 12 and said she would watch Victoria while I was in the lower pool playing.

My turn in the game, look back and Vic and sitter are in the wade pool all good. I get through the first game which we lost, was asked to stay in the pool by the incoming challenging team and normally would accept every time, this time I declined so I could be with my little girl. Walk up the steps and see the sitter on the other end of the wade pool but no Victoria, asked where she was and sitter said no clue?

Looked around the pool area to no avail then walked up a few steps and looked into the jacuzzi and there she was laying motionless at the bottom. Jumped in pulled her out and she started heaving water but was okay Thank God!
I went over to a private area and sat in the grass with her in my arms tears flowing freely of joy and disbelief of what almost happened..

Two fortunate things happened or this would have been a tragedy that I could not imagine living with. One our team lost, if not I would have played until we did, next me doing the unheard of, declining to play another game.

Yes 99% blockage in my LAD. If I did not force schedule that appointment (difficult to get in due to Covid, elective procedure) Cardiologist said I would have been dead within 2-3 days, he was shocked when he came over to me while on operating room table after procedure.

Between bad car wrecks and fighting for control of guns, I had to take a minute to remember it all.

1084 blood sugar diabetic coma, 84.5 degree core temp when found, Kidneys shut down, Liver almost shutdown 84.5 degree core temp when found, Then heart attack and shocked to get the ticker going. Guess that might qualify

Near drowning here. Fell off my innertube as we crossed a rapid into a very deep hole and stupidly had tennis shoes on. Came within a trice struggling to get to a rock to hang onto. Probably 17.
Then there were the two divorces.

Nope, never.

Many times.

95% were on the job.

Water skiing, fell hard and went under with a burst and ear drum. Lost my equilibrium and couldn't tell up from down. Searing pain, screaming under water, panic, need to breath, crappy life vest did not do its job. Then something just calmed me and I floated to the surface face down....and rolled over. They had to pull me in the boat as the whole world was spinning. It is a totally debilitating condition and not something you want to experience in the water.

Too many to count. A few stick out more than others, drowning was one of them.

I’ve heard it said your entire life flashes before your eyes when you think you’re about to die. According to my dad, it really does.

If it happens real fast, like my dying (short term) did, there’s nothing flashing before your eyes. I was perfectly fine. They gave me a shot (dentist did, way back in my mouth). I woke up, all wet, surrounded by crash equipment and two very pale people, not knowing what I was waking up from. No memory of going to sleep or being drowsy, so waking up or regaining consciousness was unexplainable. So I asked what happened and was told that I had quit breathing and my heart had stopped beating. “But we got you back”.

Hard to put it in an understandable way. I was alive and then I was alive. Somewhere in the middle, and for how long I don’t know, I was not alive. If I eventually die like that (again), I suppose it’s a good way to go.

When I had a big head on car wreck, all I had time to do was say “Oh Sh__”. Coulda died then. I woke up later and was not dead.

Had a heart attack in 2013, let me just say that there is a light, a beautiful bright light!!

Motorcycle wreck in Arkansas. Hit a dog that came out of a bar ditch, at least I was told three days after. I have no memory of the accident until I woke up in a Little Rock hospital. Wife flew into Little Rock and for 12 hours thought I was a goner. Needless to say my riding days were over!

Yep, cat grabbed my balls once with both front claws and tried to eat them while I threw my wife off in an attempt to defend myself screaming like a little bitch, felt like near death at the moment. Have hated cats ever since...

True story.

Wife and I were going to meet some friends for dinner in town at a restaurant.

Per usual.....she was taking her time and was going to make us late (for the millionth time).

I knocked on the bathroom door and asked her if she was about ready.....because we were going to be LATE.

She said she was putting on her make-up. Another five minutes pass and I've lost all my patience by then. Asked again if she was about ready. Same reply "I'm putting on my makeup".

I blurted out "Come on! Godzilla could have been ready by now....!" Bathroom door opened and a 'near death' experience almost happened. I wisely retreated to the living room and waited in silence.

Slept with one eye open that night.

I am a necrotizing fasciitis, sepsis, and cdiff survivor. All at the same time. I should not be alive. Horrible miserable painful and out of mind experience. Those close to me say I returned a different person. A different personality.

A few, most were my own stupidity.

Yes. Mine occurred many years ago at my in-laws house when I saw my wife bent over, and my being a male, I am predisposed with the response to slap said wife on the rear.........turns out it was not my wife, but her sister.

When I was young I had a kid force my head underwater in a pool till I thought I was going to drown. After that no one could get near me in a pool.

Yep I audibly SSHHH’d my wife at the AT&T phone store once

In the early 2000s I was with my gf in the woman's clothing section of some department store. I wandered off and came back about 10 or 15 minutes later. Saw my gf and decided to sneak up on her and goose her backside. I came up from behind and got her really deep, low, and in the middle. She shot upright and it wasn't my gf. Fortunately a fraction of a second later I saw my gf one rack over and she had seen the entire thing. I was instantly apologizing profusely and the lady I grabbed understood and thought it was funny. They both were wearing the same style and color of clothes and both had the same shaped rear end, hair style and color. Not on topic but your post reminded me of the incident and it makes for a good laugh today.

Closest was a bout of tachycardia that but me in the ER with a pulse of 215. I was in real danger of going into Arterial Fibrillation which would of killed me outside of a hospital setting. I ended up having a Catheter Ablation to deal with it.

For some it’s a brilliant white light…..for others it’s more of a fiery orange glow….

Pretty sure that's me.

Been whitewater kayaking all my life since 18 and 59 now. Spent 25 years chasing the perfect line on every continent except Antarctica. Well running the Cotahuasi in the Andes from source to Pacific I almost found it. Put in at 9000 feet and all downhill from there. That river is epic with continuous class 4 to 5+ rapids the whole way. Got sucked out of my kayak in a 5+ hydraulic. Came within seconds of flush drowning. Was getting dragged on the bottom and bounced off rocks and popped up periodically to grab a breath before getting submerged and beat on again. Besides remembering to breath at the correct moments had to scan for a rescue rope my buddies were trying to throw. At 4:45 after being ejected I caught the rope. Reason I know it was 4:45 is my buddy had a GoPro on his helmet and filmed the whole thing.

I 44 years old at the time. I still run whitewater but have not attempted a class 5 since that trip. Everytime I get the urge I watch the video and change my mind. Had to rest for 2 days in a tent an the bank of the river as I was pretty bruised and cut up. That canyon is up to 12000 feet deep so no way out except the river so had to run a bunch more before I got to place where I could evac.

5 years ago, my colon busted. In surgery an hour after going to.hospital. Surgeon said I almost flat lined twice but they brought me back.

Hey blkt2.......you've met your match brother.

No cars that can approach the sound barrier, no sex with famous women, no fighting for survival in a foreign civil war, meh, no comparison really

I had lightning hit a yard from me when I was a kid. It knocked me on my arse and burned my hair. Why didn’t it hit me? I’ll never know.

I’ve done 4’s and 5’s quite a few times in a raft, attempted it once in a kayak. Pretty sure I walked on water to get out of that river. I can’t swim for [censored] and have a terrible fear of drowning. I’ll take on any river in a raft, I won’t take on a kiddie pool in a kayak.

5 yrs ago in hospital for hip replacement. Came thru surgery and recovery fine, but was being put in my room for night and had a complete cardiac failure. Fortunately, nurse was still in room called code and started CPR. Still had to be shocked twice and ended up w/4 cracked ribs. Doing good now for a 75 yr old and give the good Lord 100% credit every day. He is good!!

Yep, @53yo beaten unconscious by a 2000# Longhorn bull with nobody around. Left my body, had life flash, and was then sent back, into a twisted and mangled body spending a month in hospital. Took over three years for my brain to fully recover allthewhile not knowing if the damage was going to be permanent. Was like going thru alzeheimers and coming back!

Tuesday, April 10, 1979 about 6:15 PM in my home town of Wichita Falls, Texas. I could post an entire page describing our attempt to outrun the tornado. 3-5 seconds made the difference. If I had a video camera and filmed what I saw looking out the back window of the car I was a passenger in no one would believe we lived through it.

My wife, also from WF and 7-years-old then, talks about that twister all the time. She remembers her dad holding her hand as they were racing to the car and due to the wind, her feet weren't touching the ground.

Seen it many times. Still amazing... one mile wide.

Not like y’all’s near death experiences, but I was hunting with a friend and he stopped to get Taco Bell the night before and let one rip. Closed I’ve ever come to death

Put up pre-fab houses in my younger years, got in a hurry putting shingles on, staples/sidestep, staples/sidestep…..etc. took a sidestep and there was no roof there. Landed flat on my back on freshly plowed ground, walked away without a bruise but saw some of my life on the way down.

Leaving a dove hunt at a buddies family land in southern Ellis County. 2011 or 2012, can't remember anymore. I was a passenger in a Chevy Trailblazer being driven by said buddy, and his girlfriend was in the back. I did not have my seatbelt on. Northbound on 35 headed back to Waxahachie come up on black car at night in front of us with no taillights that was maybe doing 45 mph. My buddy swerved to miss it and over corrected, we went into a broadside slide up 35 that felt like it last 30 seconds. (Probably 5) started sliding off 35 and the soft shoulder caught the tires causing us to roll 2.5 times ending up on the roof. I went from the front passenger seat to behind the driver's seat. Had to kick the back door open to get out. None of us were injured other than I had a few pieces of windshield glass in my leg. When it started to roll I thought I was a goner. I think the broadside slide slowed us down just enough that the rollover wasn't more violent. Truck driver that was behind us and saw it happen was amazed none of us were hurt.

That happed to me early one morning at the Alsups in Jacksboro many years ago.
Needed to drop a load, someone was in there already. When the big Mexican worker finally came out, the funk rushed right out with him, no way I could stay.

Dialed 911 and requested a HazMat team, still traumatized by that to this date

Several most memorable was staring down the barrel of a big ole hog leg around 1am in Galveston Texas.

I grew up Mormon and we have an aversion to waters. Would not catch me going down a river like that.

Looks like many of us have been close to dead, and more than once. I think we should keep our affairs in order, just in case. Probably 5 instances over my life could have been terminal easily. I have just been lucky. Looks like about the same for a bunch of you.

Sooner or later death will find all of us. Ever since I retired I think more about the consequences of doing dangerous things though.

The sirens went off right about the time the local Weather came on and broadcasted that a tornado was confirmed on the ground at Memorial Stadium, headed in the direction of our house. My dad (a police officer), brother and I went outside and looked in the direction towards the stadium and saw it. A massive cloud that took up the entire horizon with a cylindrical mass to the ground. It was not shaped like a funnel at all. It was maybe 2 miles away at this time. We could see large pieces of debris in the air and the roof tops of houses hundreds of feet in the air spinning like leaves. Dad looked at me and said, "Get your keys and your Mother". My car was at the end of the driveway, had everyone blocked. In less than 30 seconds we were in the car hauling [censored]. My brother and I were in the back of my 2 door Buick Regal, Dad driving and mom in the front. We headed up McNiel St. towards SW Parkway, made it and hit a left to try and outrun it. There was traffic and Dad was doing all he could to get us out of it. Between McNiel and Rhea Road is when we started getting hit. It sounded like we were getting hit by a hundred shotgun blasts all at once, I looked behind me and to this day get chills thinking about it. The funnel cloud was on the ground, spinning about 200 yards behind us. About 100 yards behind us houses along the drainage ditch houses were going up in the air as if a bomb was hitting them. Houses shredded and flying into the air like the grass clippings I blow off the sidewalk. I'm calling out to Dad the distance, 200 yards Dad, go, go.....my Momn is screaming like a hysterical child, Dad like a laser looking straight ahead and getting us through traffic. Things got really scary at Kemp and SW. Pkwy. it was closer but seemed to take a very slight curve and in a straight line towards Sikes Mall. We nearly got caught up in at at this intersection, electric lines down in front of us sparking as they hit the ground, heavier debris is hitting the car and the windows on the passenger side knocked out, we were down low in the seats and not hit by the glass, a trash dumpster hits the side of the car, some contact with other cars as I saw the roof come off of a furniture store right behind us. From a distance of 100 or so yards I saw buildings, houses, cars flying in the air like toys, all as my car was taking a pounding, the noise was like a roaring wave. We headed out of town, the turn the storm took sent it to Sikes Mall where my brother was in the Movie Theater taking cover, and a friend of mine since the 1st grade lost her life at the other end of the Mall. Five minutes later, we drive back. In the parking lot of K Mart was a liquor store that sat very close to the road. We drove right by it as we neared the intersection where we were nearly stuck. It was flattened, probably a second or two after we got through. We had to park my beat up car a mile from the house and walk the rest of the way. The neighborhood that I grew up in and had seen a few minutes earlier looked like a mile wide dozer path had been through. Houses one block from us, levelled. Ours, in tact with roof damage. Huge trees in the front yard down.

As I recall, four classmates from my highschool lost their lives that day, I can recall the names of three........Had school been in session, the loss of life at the Jr. High I had previously attended would have been numerous. It was totally shredded. My brother that survived the tornado in the mall would be killed in a construction accident two years later on the site of a building destroyed in the tornado.

At least two.

Took a friend shooting with me once and while we were loading up to leave,he pointed his shotgun at me at chest level
at chest level without thinking of what was doing. Thought I was about to checkout right then and there.
He was not invited back!

Second time was 3 years ago.

Was in my boss’s big [censored] Dodge pickup heading up the highway at about 65 mph.
Started feeling and hearing a violent thumping coming from what I thought was the right tire.
Wasn’t able to pull off the highway because there wasn’t a suitable place to go without taking a chance of getting run over and hoped I could make it to the exit.

Well…..I made it to the exit just in time for the left rim and tire to come completely off.
Did about a 100 yard skid on the right brake rotor while hanging onto the steering wheel and hoping the damn truck
wouldn’t start to go sideways and flip or cart wheel.

Guess it wasn’t my time to go at either point to leave this earthly realm.

Another Wichita Falls one. 1964. I was at Shephard AFB for training. I was on KP and people started running down the street. I looked outside and saw that over sized Whirlwind coming. Some guy yelled tornado. Lots of guys ran to the windows to see it. I started yelling to get away from the windows but nobody paid any attention. I grabbed an NCO and told him what was going to happen. He believed me and we cleared the eating room and got everyone crammed in interior rooms. Every window shattered with glass everywhere. It only lasted about a long 5 minutes. Then a huge clean up started. We also went into town to help with cleaning there.

Saw several a long way off when I was a kid living outside of Muleshoe. None were coming in my direction so I stayed on the tractor.

Wow. Lots of scars remain to this day.

Giles tell the story about the lawn mower, clown, and one armed stripper!!!!

In 2020 we had a 3 vehicle accident on I-10 15 miles west of town. Page went out as MVA with injuries. I was not on call so was about to go drink coffee with the crowd. Second page came over and said had 11 injuries. Being one of the 2 paramedics there, I responded. I was on the 2nd unit of 3. On scene my boss told me to get in the 1st unit and take off, had one critical, one that reported was ejected and one walking. On the road I called boss and asked if I could put the critical on AirMed 1. He responded, no, had another critical. When we were 22 miles from San Angelo, started having tightness in my chest. Thought it was stressed, went away. About 10 minutes later it came back and I knew what was going on. Had a EMT in back with me. Asked him to take over bagging my patient. Once at hospital, unloaded my patient, my EMT asked what was wrong, told him chest pain and he cried out "Man having heart attack". To end it, I had 100% blockage of the LAD (Widow Maker). ER dr told me the cardiac team was already coming in for another patient but was going to take me first. Lost 50% of ejection factor. If I had not been on unit, all three units were gone as well as helicopter service. I give God the credit by putting me where I needed to be at the right time.

I highly recommend everyone to read "IMAGINE HEAVEN". It is an eye opening account of people that actually died and came back.