The concept of death is terrifying to begin with — nobody knows what happens after. When a horrific accident happens, the first thing that pops in our head is “That’s it. This is how I die.” And when we survive, we see the opportunity to tell our near-death experience tale to those interested and emphasis on how precious life is. In this article, survivors talk about the moment they were going to die and what happened after.
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I was the passenger in a car when the driver started having a seizure. His foot was on the gas pedal and the car was going faster and faster, and we were flying through a downtown area. It’s a miracle we didn’t hit any people or buildings. Somehow I realized after about 5 blocks to push the gearshift into neutral (auto transmission, shifter in the middle) and was then able to steer the car into a pile of snow.
Driver was still seizing when the car stopped. Our daughter was in the back seat. I called 911 but gave the dispatcher the wrong cross streets in my panic. The ambulance came to two blocks away but I could hear it, fortunately the dispatcher had kept me on the phone.
sayingnothingatall
I was getting prepped for a neurosurgery that could wreck me in itself. I was getting an iv of antibiotics and waiting on the anesthesiologist to put me under.
My whole family was there, we were talking and trying to comfort my wife who was having a hard time with it. She’s holding my hand, crying, mom and dad trying to hold it together behind her.
She looks up at me and I see her go ghost white, first I thought she was going to faint. At the same point I notice my dad run out of the room rather quickly. And that’s when it started.
Super cold but start pouring sweat, followed by breathing problems. My throat is swelling shut, hives everywhere. All in a matter of 45 seconds.
In rush at least 5 nurses and 3 doctors plus anesthesiologist. Doc tells me I’m allergic to the IV so they have to put me out.. NOW!
I didn’t even get to tell her I loved her. I was trying to say the words but couldn’t and as the darkness crept in. It was the first time the fear of death set in.
Anonymous
Six years ago as I was laying in a hospital bed for 24 hours while the tests came back to tell me what kind of Leukaemia I had. I told my wife and my parents to go home and sleep that night. I’m very thankful for the nurse that was there when reality sunk in. She listened while I cried and said that I couldn’t go yet because my wife is disabled and I have a boy that needs to go to college. Thankfully it turned out to be Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and treatable by 1 pill per day. 90% chance to live into my 80’s. I’ve been considered in remission since 2013.
earnedmystripes
When I was a child I wanted to bungee jump, and I had a play set in my backyard with a climbing rope. Once on the second story of the play set I got the rope that led to the ground, but I couldnt get it properly tied around my waist so I tied it around my neck and jumped off. Luckily somehow I didnt snap my neck, but then I was left hanging there. My feet couldnt reach the ground, I remember trying to stretch my toes to reach and clawing trying to use my hands to get some room to breath but I couldnt. I realized I was going to die. Luckily I had a friend over who ran inside to get my mom, and she was able to get me down which I dont really remember. I do remember the rope burn I had around my neck for days though.
Fai1eBashere
I was struck by lightning. It blew me off my feet, paralyzed me and knocked me unconscious.
While I was unconscious I was semi-aware. Not in an awake and talking way, more of a lucid dreaming type of way. Peaceful and calm. All I could see was blackness and falling stars, kind of like the green scrolling numbers on The Matrix. Before I came to I honestly thought that was what death was.
LordofthePoles
I was roofied at a party. Besides not being able to move and vomiting uncontrollably, my blood pressure and body temperature tanked. It took an hour for me to get to a hospital, and God was that bad. I genuinely thought I was going to die and came to peace with it. This was a week ago.
PM-ME-YOUR-REPTILES
My uncle and I were swimming around a bunch of rocks at the edge of a beach one time and it was super choppy. This was a big mistake because it got to the point where we wanted out and we couldn’t swim the way we came because the tide was ripping way too much our way.
So we tried to get up on the rocks, my uncle got stuck in some fishing line that was left there and I was a bit further down, got dumped right into a deep rock pool, high sides and I couldn’t get out of it. After spending what felt like 5 minutes but it probably wasn’t, getting pushed under water when trying to scramble onto the rocks, not reaching anything worth grabbing onto and getting cut from them because of the heavy waves, I just resorted to screaming and thinking I was probably genuinely going to drown. I didn’t know what to do.
Then some random guy who happened to be in the area spear fishing came up and dragged me out.
there-goes-bill
I began choking on some gummy worms at a friend’s party. Everyone thought I was joking, and I was hopelessly trying to cough it out for a good minute or two before my friend karate chopped me on the back when he realized I was actually choking. I was so scared at the time, thought I was done for.
TheOnePheeph
I fell three stories, due to freezing rain on the roof that night. On the way down I was certain I was going to die. I went out there to talk on the phone since my bedroom was above my parents. I fell at about a 45 degree angle onto my feet, the impact caused my T9 vertebrae to fracture, and once I fell from that angle to flat, my right lung collapsed and I had a brain bleed on the front and back of my brain. Luckily my father had heard me scream and found me within a couple minutes, coughing up blood into the grass. He then drove me to the hospital and nearly passed out a few times on the way there figuring that it was already too late for me. Spent the whole ride trying to calm him down as I felt the pressure increase in my chest from the amount of blood filling my chest due to the collapsed lung. When I arrived at the hospital I blacked out as nurses and my parents and family doctor were around me looking worried sick.
PhilthyIV
I was 15 and walking across a railroad bridge over a creek when I heard the train coming from around the curve. The bridge was not wide enough to stand to the side. I ran back the way I came, as fast as I could, with the train coming from behind. The railroad ties were the perfect length for my stride. As I got near the embankment, the ties suddenly became further apart and I tripped, banged my shin, and couldnt get back up. I crawled the last 30 feet on my hands and knees, rolling off the track at the earliest point possible.
A solid 90 seconds later the train came by. I had LOTS more time than I feared, but I was terrified during the run.
aecarol1
I drank a whole house cup of straight up whiskey at once. I was born with spinal muscular atrophy type two so I have a really weak respiratory system. Not too long after I finished that drink I needed to cough but quickly lost consciousness. As I was blacking out though I was fully aware of what was going on and could feel myself slowly losing the ability to breathe and how painful it was. All I could think about was what was going to come next.
CharlesButtlet
I stepped out of the shower and fainted. I hit my head on the sink counter. As I laid on my bathroom floor with blood oozing from my head, I tried my hardest to scream for help but my body wasn’t responding. I was still conscious for some reason and was scared to death. I woke up soon after realizing that it was a night terror. It felt so real.
ericluser
I woke up one morning unable to breathe without severe pain in one lung and coughing up blood. I called the NHS advice number for over- the-phone check up, and they were going to send me an ambulance. But I live a 10 minute walk from a hospital so still walked instead.
They did an X-ray and found a massive infection in the affected lung. I got amoxicillin and anti inflammatory drugs.
Also I couldn’t sleep in my bed for a whole week because it put too much pressure and caused too much pain in the affected lung, so I had to try sitting in the single seat couch with legrest every night.
bhavv
I was walking around New York with my headphones in. In the distance I heard someone screaming “Aye you stop!” I thought it was for someone else, until a car zoomed past me barely hitting me by mere centimeters. There was a cute girl next to me so I kept my emotional overload completely internal and walked away with a straight face.
GivMeJuice
I took a raft across this giant abandoned lake in Southeast Kansas, with no life jacket. One of my oars snapped in two and I was like Oh NO! Rowing with only one oar and it slipped into the water. Jumped in to grab it and the wind carried my raft away from me so fast I couldn’t get it. I was bobbing up and down in the middle of an abandoned lake a mile and a half from shore watching my raft float away was the worst feeling I ever had on my life. I said, well, this is it. Today is the Day I Die.
Ask_me_4_a_story
I was cliff diving in Indonesia. I couldnt find the proper place that was listed everywhere so we jumped somewhere that looked like a clear jump. My friend jumped in, I jumped in and we couldnt get back up the cliff anymore due to massive waves beating us back towards the big cliff behind us. The cliff we wanted to get back up on was made of sharp volcanic rock so that didnt help. Eventually, exhausted, we got up at a calm moment. I couldnt stand any more, legs dead from keeping me from drowning. Not a very exciting story but one I hope others wont experience.
UristUrist
I have experienced sleep paralysis many times before, but this time it was way different so I didn’t recognize it. I honestly thought I was dying. I felt this immense pressure weighing down on me, and I couldn’t breathe. As the pressure increased I felt myself slipping away under it if that makes sense. So that’s when I thought “Ok, this is it then. I’m dying.
Foolxumo
I was 14 and I had just finished skateboarding with friends, and was skating back to my house. On the way, a car passed me, parked directly in my path, and three guys (mid-twenties) hopped out.
One of them walked right up to me, pistol in hand, and says “let mesee your wallet.” Of course, being the terrified child I was, I emptied everything out of my pockets to prove that I had no cash.
He took one step back, and in broad daylight, pointed the gun at me from his hip and said, “We’re good right?” That was the moment I knew I was toast.
I guess I answered correctly. As he turned away, he said, in a morbidly chipper tone, “Cool, thanks little dude!” They got back in the car and drove away.
That was the first time I found myself on the business end of a firearm. The second time was equally terrifying. I didn’t grow up in the best area.
Hey_its_Ferg
One 4th of July when I was 14, I was at a party in a marina. The parents were taking everyone out on their jetskis and I was the last to go out when the tide started coming in.
So I’m on the back of my friend’s uncle’s jetski, and we’re close to the shore moving towards an incoming wave that was way too big. We had to jump it, and there was no backside, so we fell about 15 feet and landed flat on the surface.
I fell off and hit my knee against the side. We managed to get back on but it stalled and the waves kicked it to shore. I was maybe 100 feet out and I can’t swim to save my life (literally). If I weren’t wearing a life jacket I have no doubt I would be dead.
Even with the life jacket I barely managed to get to shore and swallowed a lot of water. I ended up walking along the beach back to their house. When I got back I learned that the driver had broken his leg, and when I took off my wetsuit I realized I had a gash on my kneecap that required 9 stitches. I still have a pretty nasty picture of it and a sweet scar to prove it.
JPL47
I love experimenting with products like pens, staplers, some electrical appliances, opening them and fixing them back. One day, a few years ago, 14 year old me saw that a wire extension plug’s button is kind of loose. I pulled out the appliance connecting to it, and took out the cap of the button but the extension is still connected to the power source. There was a piece of metal in it, and I don’t know why my brain went “Oh maybe it’s a good idea to touch it!” even though I knew that the power is switched on. So I touched it and right away my arm went numb. I immediately pulled my hand back. I was like “Wow, I almost died but it makes me feel alive!
qwlee
I was 17 years old. I was watching a movie in my then girlfriend’s living room. Her parents were supposed to be out of town. Long story short… her father walks into the house as I was getting ready to “slide home.” Let me tell you… the last thing a 6 foot 4, 275 lbs (of solid muscles) man wants to walk in on is his naked daughter about to get penetrated by a guy.
30 years later… I still don’t have 100% hearing in my left ear and can’t breathe through my nose. Worst beating I’ve ever gotten in my entire life.
StevenArviv
Right after I gave birth to my daughter. I had a postpartum hemorrhage and they couldn’t stop the bleeding. I remember overhearing the doctor saying “I can’t stop this bleeding so we need to call a rapid response now in case she crashes.” Next thing I know my daughter was taken off me and whisked away. I heard alarm sound and then about 10-15 doctors suddenly appeared around me. To stop me from bleeding out and dying the doctor had to shove his whole arm up inside me and physically grab onto my uterus and squeeze it while a nurse pushed down on the outside of my stomach. I kept asking if I was going to die and nobody would give me an answer, I was absolutely certain I was going to die and I was screaming out to my partner to give our daughter a kiss and tell her I love her and that I loved him. The bleeding slowed down but I was taken straight to emergency surgery to stop it completely. I was fine but needed a few blood transfusions and an iron transfusion.
H3ll0KITTYBEC
I was scuba diving 3 years ago, doing my open water training course. The instructor told me to take off my mask (part of the course) in the sea. At 20 meters, I took off my mask and I panicked. I started breathing from my nose instead of my regulator (mouth), my mind stopped for 5 seconds and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t see anything which made things harder to understand. At that moment I knew I screwed up. It was my first time thinking “I’m going to die.” Luckily, I was telling myself not to panic, and stay calm, which made me understand what was happening.
luccyVeins
I had a heart attack at 21 the day after my kid was born. I watched the ER go from quiet and calm to swarming with activity. It was surreal. The crash cart being rolled out to me made it scary. I was fading to black and figured that this was it. I was happy I had fathered a child before I died, but wasn’t impressed that I was going to miss all their firsts. Probably what pulled me through. Too stubborn to die.
Username_was_used
It was my third time donating blood and everything went fine. All of a sudden I passed out. I peed myself and the nurses were standing over me putting my head back and making me drink juice. I recovered from that and drove home. On the way home I had to pull over and vomited everything I had eaten/drank that morning. I got super nervous because I had now just lost some blood, plus everything I drank to rehydrate, and I couldn’t even force myself to drink more water. I thought for sure EMS would find me dead in my apartment. But I slept it off and eventually was able to drink water.
redditnumber1fan
I went swimming in the ocean in Mexico awhile back. I see a guy a ways out just floating on a small intertube so I swim out to him to see if he’s okay. He says he’s fine so I start trying to swim back to shore but the current is keeping me from swimming back. I got very scared at this point so I go under water (it’s fairly shallow) and pull myself towards the shore using the rocks at the bottom.
Made it back to shore. They had to send a boat after the guy and rescue him.
hunter2ismypass
When I was 13 or so, I was riding my BMX bike in some old unused dirt lot near my place that had a few hills and jumps some people made. I came barreling down a hill and caught a decent amount of air over the side of a flat-top jump, only to find some dumped concrete rubble with rebar sticking out all around. I bailed off the side of my bike last second seeing a piece of metal moving towards my face. I caught myself, that bar sticking out scraped the side of my helmet. I walked away mostly unscathed (aside from minor scrapes), and my bike was unharmed as well. My pants, not so much.
ironfist221
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