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Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1569
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 12:46pm | IP Logged | 1
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When I was eight, I was on a family holiday when my older brother decided to drag me into the deep end of a swimming pool.
I panicked, pulling him under, and then he did the same to me before kicking me away. I sank to the bottom of the pool and blacked out.
I woke up on the side of the pool, having been rescued by a girl who told me off for trying to swim out of my depth. I was completely out of it, dizzy from lack of oxygen for the next few hours before finally recovering.
This remains my closest brush with death (and something that I constantly remind my brother about).
Anyone else cheated the reaper?
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 31736
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | 2
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I’ve been struck by lightning
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135063
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 2:05pm | IP Logged | 3
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I wonder if this counts?When I was 12/13 my family lived in a planned community called Sherwood Park. Ours was one of the first houses in a new area that was being opened up, so there was constant construction all around us. For a few friends and me these soon-to-be-houses were like giant playgrounds. We climbed all over them, unattended. On one occasion I was doing my Spider-Man impression (not literally, the character didn’t exist yet) across the highest roof of a new split-level house. So I was two stories up. Plus, the basement was still excavated, so the total drop was about three stories, plus the height of the roof. I slipped and started sliding down the roof. My first thought was that if I grabbed in an effort to save myself I would certainly hurt my fingers. My second thought was that if I didn’t grab I would certainly suffer a lot worse. So I grabbed. As it turned out I didn’t hurt my fingers and I clambered back to the hole out of which I had come, and back into the attic. Don’t really know how serious my injuries might have been. Three story fall. Couple of broken legs at the very least. To emphasize how dangerous these adventures were, tho, a week or so later the younger brother of one of my classmates was playing in the excavation around the concrete wall of a new basement when the dirt collapsed on him and he was crushed to death.
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16653
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | 4
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JB: "...I slipped and started sliding down the roof. My first thought was that if I grabbed in an effort to save myself I would certainly hurt my fingers. My second thought was that if I didn’t grab I would certainly suffer a lot worse. So I grabbed...."
It's crazy how fast one's mind can work in such a situation.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 36431
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | 5
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When I was probably 6 or 7 my family went tubing down a river in Minnesota. It was fairly uneventful until the end. The water turned into rapids. The fast moving water dumped people off of inner tubes. That wasn’t a big deal for adults, but for a kid that young that activity coupled with the water churning pulled me under. I remember not being able to breathe and trying to find some way to surface when a hand reached out to pull me up. It was not my dad, but a stranger. I don’t remember the face at all considering it was over 50 years ago, but I’ll never forget that hand. Felt like I cheated death in that moment, so I’m forever grateful to that stranger helping a struggling kid.
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Doug Centers
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5723
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 3:34pm | IP Logged | 6
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About 20 years ago, maybe less, I was sitting at a stop sign when in my periphery I noticed movement. I looked to my left just in time to see a truckless semi tire bouncing towards me at a high speed. Time enough for me to clench the steering wheel and close my eyes. The wheel hit the A-pillar of the car about 2 feet from my head, shoved my car onto the curb as the tire caromed back the way it came and landing about 20 feet away.Seconds after that the semi that lost the wheel from its trailer came over the hill and parked in the gas station next to where my smashed car was sitting. By then I was looking at the damage when he came over to me practically frantic. He had seen the wheel break loose and roll past him after he had made a sudden stop, he was hoping it didn't kill anyone. It didn't.
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Shaun Barry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 December 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 7055
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 4:31pm | IP Logged | 7
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I can actually think of 4 big instances (one time wandering into traffic at 2--too young to remember; one involving a near drowning at 4; another falling out the passenger side of my mother's car, a few years later!); but I'll go with the "latest," for brevity:
Back in 2003, only a week or two before my wedding, I was traveling on the interstate for work, in the fast lane, when someone almost side-swiped me on the right (most likely distracted driving)--in order to avoid being hit, I swerved hard to the left, but lost control on my car in the process (going at least 70mph at that moment). I instinctively turned into the serves, which more than likely kept me from either flipping into the median, or across the 3-lane highway pavement. I had to do this about 3 or 4 times, in quick succession, all the while swerving all over the interstate lanes. However, when my car finally came to a stop, I was facing directly into the oncoming interstate traffic (and a huge diesel truck!). Thankfully, there was enough time and space for them to slow to a crawl, while I moved my car over to the right, and was able to back a couple hundred yards into a rest stop that I had just passed.
I don't mind saying I had the shakes and was practically in tears for the next 10 minutes. That was the scariest & closest I ever came in my adult life to thinking, "I'm gonna die." And too many split-second variables that could have ended badly.
Got off the next exit and came straight home... took all day to come down from that one!
Edited by Shaun Barry on 15 August 2025 at 4:41pm
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Trevor Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 3609
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | 8
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Hmm. I had to give this some thought, then had an "oh
yeah, that" moment. For a blink of my life, I worked in
a textile mill, in the knitting department, not as
innocuous as it sounds. Basically, cloth knitted from
umpteen rows of yarn winds down into a big, caged machine
and wraps around a bar until a big roll is finished.
Then you open the cage, unhook the bar with the roll,
take the roll off the bar, put the bar back in place,
close the cage and start all over again. And the holder
of the bar *really* whips around. Well somehow (to this
day, I still don't know how), the machine started up
while I was in it, but the bar was still inside and
jammed in between the cage and and the big whirling
frame, stopping it cold. That would have gone very, VERY
badly (and very messy) for me.
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Robin Taylor
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1274
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 8:36pm | IP Logged | 9
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As a child I choked on a candy while the babysitter dealt with the trouble my brother was making. I got it out but sometimes I wonder if this is all what happened right before I died.
In my 20's I swerved to avoid a coyote, lost control and spun down the icy road until I landed sideways in a snow bank, within inches of wrapping my tiny car around a telephone pole. It was pure luck that it didnt go worse.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135063
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| Posted: 15 August 2025 at 10:39pm | IP Logged | 10
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Oh—I have heart problems. A few years back the doctors stopped and restarted my heart to try to get its rhythms normal. I was technically dead for three minutes.
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ron bailey
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 October 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 1271
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| Posted: 16 August 2025 at 12:12am | IP Logged | 11
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You win.
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Brian Hughes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 June 2015
Location: United States
Posts: 370
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| Posted: 16 August 2025 at 12:40am | IP Logged | 12
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John Byrne - Ressurected. What day? We must celebrate your rebirth!
Just kidding. At least I am.
A few months ago, I had a very bad drug interaction. I honestly thought I was going to die. My heart was on overdrive so I had my Wife call an ambulance. It seemed to take forever for them to get there, to get me out of the house and into the Ambulance. And it seemed to take forever to leave and get to the hospital. I found speaking every word an effort.
As I was in the ambualnce, all that was really in front of me was a huge red digital clock. It seemed that every minute was taking two or three minutes to pass. Time was crawling. I actually thought that the clock was going to be the last thing I see. I actually thought I was going to die.
They got me to a hospital and got some meds in me, then told me I just had to ride this out. They also told me I had to make sure I was breathing as I was doing it too slow.
I lost some time after that, but wounded up back home in bed by morning. It took two days for me to feel even close to normal.
From the time the reaction started to the time I got back home was nine hours, but I really felt like four days had passed before I started to lose time. I was twitching and looking every direction. Really scared the crap outta my wife and son, who I could not even talk to.
If this is anything like what poeple who take drugs on purpose experience, I am glad I never dabbled.
Now I need to punch someone at the Insurance company that wanted me to switch meds.
Edited to correct the work of fat finger, or shrinking keys.
Edited by Brian Hughes on 16 August 2025 at 12:43am
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