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Thread: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

  1. Link to Post #21
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    Seems like we all have at least one, if not more.

    I was on an innertube in a river - didn't get to the shore in time before the rapids. The inner tube flipped over and I was turned over and found myself on the bottom being bashed on the rocks - my back and my head.

    Next thing the rapids subside and i am drifting along the bottom looking up through the water at the sun shining through the water - i was thinking how beautiful it looked and having no pain and being completely comfortable I had no thought to getting out. Next thing I know i am being carried to the shore. I was puking water and i had the worst headache and back ache ever . I don't know who it was that pulled me out, but they saved my life.
    Last edited by Patient; 22nd June 2019 at 14:12.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    All your stories collected in one place offer an amazing picture! How vulnerable we are at any second in our 3D-existence, and how lasting and enduring at the same time.

    At 19, 20 I always walked in the streets reading a book. Walking on city streets without reading I considered lost time. And it was cool! I only looked up briefly at crossings. Once, lost in my book, when I crossed a vast, almost empty square, I heard a man shout sharply: Stop! I looked up reflexively and the tramway that crossed the square flashed by in front of my nose and the book was snatched from my hand. I looked around me in amazement to thank the man who had warned me but there was nobody except a few people in the distance.
    I‘ve heard / read similar things happen to many other people. It seems to be a common thing

    Until my 40s I suffered from asthma, but it was easily managable, never got too bad. Though once the situation got out of hand when I renovated my apartment and had to deal with a lot of dust and dirt. I was out of breath for two days and nights and finally I could only breathe very shallowly while I was on a mattress on my hands and knees, head down. Needed all my remaining strength to get in a bit of oxygen. My two cats raged around the room and I couldn‘t do anything about it.

    What is so amazing in hindsight is that there was no fear, no panic, not even the slightest concern. I felt so calm, happy and peaceful, had no wish to get out of this. Everything was alright. Then, something inside me (?) made me get up to the telephone and call the emergency number. As it was Sunday evening, I told the lady that I was a bit out of breath, but nothing to worry about. I told her I knew the emergency doctors were busy on Sunday evenings and maybe she could send a doctor to look after me somewhere during the next days. Or at least I tried to say that.

    Ten minutes later the emergency team were at my door and treated me with oxygen and infusions. The oxygen level in my blood was lifethreatening low.

    Life on earth, in an earthly body is truly a miracle.
    Last edited by Iloveyou; 23rd June 2019 at 00:36. Reason: spelling

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    With every story I've heard, my gratefulness and gratitude (that you are all still here to tell your story) continues to grow

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    As a little boy I was on a holiday in Portugal with my family. I could not swim yet, but snorkling was easy with my head down and flippers on my feet.
    I had been zigzagging away from shore for a long time when my snorkel got cut off because my head bobbed too deep. That had me flailing in panic, not being able to keep my head above water. I did not know where I was. When I managed to get a look, my father was standing on a rock out here and managed to reach out.

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    United States Avalon Member jagman's Avatar
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    Wow.... A lot of you should be dead! My latest dance
    with the reaper took place about a month ago when
    I was driving to work in north central Texas. My brother was actually driving. We were about 20 miles
    from work when a storm hit us. We had nowhere to run. We were looking at a F2 tornado no more than150 yards from our vehicle. We were on a farm rd that didn't even have so much as a drainage ditch to get out and lay in. So we made a decision to drive thru it. So with golf ball and baseball size hail hitting our windshield our ears popping we drove straight for this monster. When we got in the middle of it i felt the car lift up and come back down several times. It was so hard to breathe. It felt like my lungs were collapsing. Then all at once the funnel cloud lifted back up into the sky sparing me and my brothers life.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    I've had several similar brushes, and, so far I can say it was all close calls...nothing hit.

    One was similar to Bill's first one, except it was in the Ozarks, not Norway, and it was a canoe, not a kayak. And it was really my bad judgement or loss of control in trying to pick up speed from a mini-rapid beside a fallen tree. Well, the canoe got folded in half like a piece of paper around the tree. We recovered, except we could not get our boat back and had to ride with someone else.

    Been through several car incidents involving high rates of speed and other peoples' driving, almost ate a mailbox that way. Another one was like the tornado story but, I've never seen one, there are too many trees, so I was going down a rain-soaked highway trying to follow what I thought might be a funnel. Then a Datsun B10 goes flying past, hydroplanes, spins, and bounced off the guard rail several times into my lane, but then the spin flipped it back out of the way. The last one was a lot closer than I'd call "observational purposes".

    My friend that had a similar Datsun, which he spun off the highway with me one time when someone pulled in front of us, was killed shortly thereafter around 4 a. m. on a dirt road in the country because a milk truck stopped in the road and turned off the lights. Smash.

    Someone trying to show me an "unloaded" automatic pistol fired it right beside me and missed by inches, in a room full of people. It does put them in a "slow motion" moment.

    I just try to be as safety aware as possible, no one is promised another day.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    One thing I find interesting...water, how precious it is to our lives. About 70% of the Earth is covered in water, yet it is water that has almost taken many of our lives.

    Too much of a good thing is not always a good thing.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    I was playing Ice Hockey and started itching. I also started to wheeze . I stood there on the ice and started to remove my jersey and saw big hives on my arms. i felt faint and started off the ice and towards the waiting room where some girlfriends of the other players were watching. as i approached them, i started to see flickering lights and my vision seemed to narrow and I couldn't breath . they ask am I ok and I said call an ambulance. I then remember feeling very calm and another me, a voice behind me in my head mused, so this is how your going to die. they told me i fell on the floor and threw up and was out. the ambulance came, got me to the hospital and the doc gave me steroids and intravenous and pulled me thru. well it turned out to be anaphylactic shock from , believe it or not a squirrel being in my hockey bag which i left out back. he got in there , left his acorns on the bottom and most likely pissed on my hockey gear, and i guess i soaked it in when i started sweating. the doc said he thought they almost lost me.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    Quote Posted by Patient (here)
    One thing I find interesting...water, how precious it is to our lives. About 70% of the Earth is covered in water, yet it is water that has almost taken many of our lives.

    Too much of a good thing is not always a good thing.
    Right ! As snow is a form of water.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    When I was a British student on university vacation, I spent a summer hitch-hiking in North America. At the end of my long adventure, I'd made my way from Canada all the way down to Mexico, and had finally arrived in Mazatlan, after not having changed my clothes for about a week. I was a real mess.

    So I just tore off my clothes to my underpants and dived into the ocean. I've got fair skin, so I figured all I had to do was stay in the water and I'd not get burned. (I was just 21. What did I know?! )

    I was in the ocean pretty much all day.

    By the end of that day, I was quite red. A few hours later, I was like a lobster.

    In huge discomfort, I crawled under a big palm tree on the beach, where I had my backpack and a 2 gallon container of fresh water. I stayed there for 2 nights.

    By the third day I was hallucinating, and my entire body was cramping up. I was really sick, and seriously burned just about all over. I just kept on sipping the water, but I could barely move.

    Then, out of nowhere, came a moment of crystal clarity:
    If I didn't have salt, I would die.
    I've never forgotten that. It was either a message from a concerned spirit guide, or my Higher Self intervening. But it was practically like a voice in my head.

    I literally crawled to find a tourist with his family on the beach. I had no need to explain: they all stared at me in horror. The guy supported me into his car. I refused to go to hospital, so he left me in a cheap cockroach-ridden hostel where I lay in the dark drinking salt water.

    My skin peeled like a snake, and it was painful to move, but within a week I was a lot better, and could continue my journey. I never went back into the ocean again that summer.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    In October of 1985, myself, my husband and our six month old son were traveling from Colorado to Louisiana in a two door Datsun Nissan. We were young so we were driving the 24 hour or so drive, straight through, taking turns driving.

    I was at the wheel and had taken, mistakenly, a two lane highway outside of Amarillo, Texas. Dumas, Texas to be exact. Of course there were no cell phones, no GPS and nothing but tumbleweeds and sky. We were the only ones on this highway. I had no seatbelt on and had just taken my son out of his car seat directly behind me and made him a soft bed on the back seat. I had stuffed pillows and blankets in between the back of the front seat and the back seat, in case my son rolled or moved. I didn't want him falling on the floor.

    It was pitch black and I was hurtling along at 65 miles an hour. Suddenly, coming toward me were two headlights, seemingly out of nowhere. My last thought was "Jesus Christ, what is this guy doing?"

    I woke up in a burr encrusted field many, many feet away, on my back. There was an ambulance and lights and someone was holding my son.

    I had shattered my left hip into pieces and lost teeth, bleeding from below my mouth where there was now a lovely split. I still have the scar.

    This tiny car was totaled and we were told later that no one understood how we were alive.

    For all of my life, I could never understand how I got out of the car and walked into that field with a shattered hip.

    Many years later I had some kind of a breakthrough to God and my question was answered, rippling and wordlessly by the most benevolent presence I have ever felt. "I pulled you out" is what this loving presence said.

    I've had quite a few near brushes. One was with a man who was holding me hostage in a car with the most wicked knife I have ever seen and another time when a misogynist pulled a gun on my friend and I. Both times, there was an inexplicable instinct and action that got me out of certain death.
    "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone when we are uncool." From the movie "Almost Famous""l "Let yourself stand cool and composed before a million universes." Walt Whitman

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    Quote Posted by thepainterdoug (here)
    I was playing Ice Hockey and started itching . . .
    Forgive me, thepainterdoug, I was laughing so hard. Thank God you were rescued and seem to be doing okay now Actually I waited for anyone else to make this comment: I guess you‘re one of the rare people - if not the only one - who survived an almost deadly attack with squirrel piss
    Last edited by Iloveyou; 23rd June 2019 at 14:52. Reason: added quote

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    Quote Posted by thepainterdoug (here)
    ... the doc said he thought they almost lost me.
    Yeah, death by allergy to squirrel piss? ... that'd be a bad way to go. Glad you lived.
    Last edited by DeDukshyn; 23rd June 2019 at 15:09.
    When you are one step ahead of the crowd, you are a genius.
    Two steps ahead, and you are deemed a crackpot.

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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    I always loved motorcycles. My Uncle introduced my brother and me to his 2 stroke by letting us ride down his long driveway when we were about 10 or 11 years old. That was back in the fifties. I did get to have three MCs in my life.
    After retiring I did finally get what I wanted, a modern day Indian MC.

    I chose a winding country road with curves and up and down hills to ride on as many motorcyclists did in this area. After I had done this rout countless times, one day I came down a hill to a 90 degree turn at around 45 or 50 mph. Suddenly I realized I was not going to make the turn. I went off the pavement onto gravel, the bike went down. I landed on my elbow and hip and went head first like a rocket straight forward. Time slowed down and I looked over at my bike sliding at the same speed I was going.

    If I had hit the guard rail I would certainly have gone over down about 40 feet to hugh boulders below.
    I can not figure why it happened after having done that turn so many times.

    Maybe it was a warning that I needed to heed.
    I still rode for 12 yrs after that, but a little more carefully.
    Question Everything, always speak truth... Make the best of today, for there may not be a tomorrow!!! But, that's OK because tomorrow never comes, so we have nothing to worry about!!!

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  29. Link to Post #35
    United States Avalon Member Dennis Leahy's Avatar
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    Mountains, oceans, rivers, streams, explosives, guns, drugs, cars... ah, which story to tell...

    The middle of winter in Colorado, I was driving with my girlfriend in the mountains (between Eldora and Boulder), and saw a picture-postcard road leading off into the unknown. Impulsively, I turned down that road. The state of Colorado is well-equipped for snow removal and does a great job on their highways, but the idyllic-looking side road I took was covered in snow (but had been plowed.) Almost immediately upon turning onto that road, I remarked to my girlfriend that it was a mistake, traction was bad, and that I would turn around as soon as I could find a spot to turn around. The snow plow had cut a swath too narrow to turn the long car I was driving around, and so I kept going. We went up a hill, and I noted that I'd have to be very careful coming back down that hill...

    I found a spot where it looked like the snow plow had lost traction and had spun a bit, creating a wider swath. I jockeyed the car back and forth and was able to turn around - and started heading back to the highway. When I got to the crest of the hill we needed to descend, I was going just 5 MPH, and tapping on the brakes, but had no traction at all. At the bottom of the hill, the road curved, and there was a wall of granite on the left side, and a cliff (very steep slope) on the right side. In slow-motion, we slid down the hill, bounced off the granite wall, and careened over the cliff on the right. The first thing we impacted was the tops of tall trees, and they smashed out the windows on the right side of the car. Playing Pink Floyd on 8-track tape (), the lyrics while we were going over the cliff were, "Life is a short warm moment, and death is a long cold rest." We landed, like a dart, car vertical in snow, with the front half of the car buried in the snow. I had instinctively grabbed my girlfriend and pulled her to me, and we ended up standing with all 4 feet on the accelerator pedal, with the engine winding at full RPM. Did I forget to mention that we weren't wearing seatbelts?

    Once the car had come to rest, my girlfriend's dog (a beautiful but dumb-as-a-rock Afghan hound) jumped out through one of the broken window openings, and my girlfriend and I climbed up the steep slope to the road. No seatbelts, no airbags (c'mon, there were no airbags when cars had 8-track tape players), and yet somehow, we were all entirely unhurt and unscratched. Once back up standing on the road, realizing we had escaped injury, I started laughing. The drop was 75 feet.


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  31. Link to Post #36
    Finland Avalon Member rgray222's Avatar
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    I was on a trip from Asia to Europe via the Middle East back in 1978. We stopped in Iran for a few days on our way to London. We knew that the country was having some trouble but had no idea to what extent until we arrived. One of the guys I was traveling with was a friend of the Iranian Ambassador based in Washington DC. The ambassador had set up a guy to meet us at the Tehran airport. Naive as I was back in those days I thought this guy that was going to show us around and act our tour guide for a few days. His name was Mr. Sugaman, a great guy with a very low key demeanor. Mr. Sugaman always wore the same clothes, baggy brown sports jacket, white shirt, no tie and crumple brown pants.

    We stayed in the Tehran Hilton, a beautiful property overlooking the desert with snow-capped mountains in the distance. We started to get a sense of how bad things were when we arrived at the hotel, the only people there seemed to be journalist from around the world. The three of us each had a room at the Hilton on the same floor. That night Mr. Sugaman sat in an uncomfortable chair strategically placed so he could easily see the doors of each of our rooms.

    The next day Mr. Sugaman reluctantly but graciously acted as our tour guide. He took us around showing us some of the historical and beautiful parts of Tehran. On the way back to the hotel I told him I wanted to buy a puzzle ring. He didn't say a word but on the way to the hotel he stopped and told my two companions to stay in the car. He escorted me into a very large bizarre bustling with people and activity. He presented me to a vendor and told him what I wanted.

    Mr. Sugaman silently disappeared as the vendor pulled out several trays of rings. I was finalizing the purchase when something just did not seem right. As the vendor was handling the money he was not looking directly at me but behind me. Before I knew what was happening Mr. Sugaman grabbed me by the shirt collar right behind my neck and gave me an alarming tug without letting go. As soon as he had me turned around and still hanging on to the back of my shirt I could see that there were about 40-50 men intently staring at me (the foreigner). The men were between the nearest door to our car and the vendor's booth where we were standing. Mr. Sugaman and I stood there for a second (which seemed to be an eternity) before he pulled back his baggy sports jacket and produced a pistol with a barrel that must have been two feet long that was obviously down his pant leg. It was such a bizarre and unexpected sight that I actually found it somewhat comical. Mr. Sugaman marched me forward with one hand while pointing the gun at the men with his other hand. They backed up enough to open a clear passage to the door. We both ran to and jumped in the car and he sped away.

    Mr. Sugaman was not our tour guide he was our bodyguard.
    I probably owe my life to him.
    Thank you Mr. Sugaman

    Just as a foot note, someone broke into my home (I was living in Ireland at the time) and stole the puzze ring along with other stuff. I think about the ring once in a very great while, not for the value but for the memory and especially Mr. Sugaman.

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  33. Link to Post #37
    Avalon Member Carmody's Avatar
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    We sure are a crazy bunch....
    Interdimensional Civil Servant

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  35. Link to Post #38
    United States Avalon Member thepainterdoug's Avatar
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    yes indeed ILOVE YOU, and lived to tell about it. of course we hockey players like to tell war stories of almost dying by getting checked into the boards, or hit with a slap shot. With me, it was potential death by squirrel piss, add some squirrel dander for good measure .

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  37. Link to Post #39
    UK Avalon Founder Bill Ryan's Avatar
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    One more.

    About 25 years ago, I was living in the Scottish Borders, near Biggar. When driving from the south, I always used to take the A701 from Moffat, a fast road with many long curves and bends in it as it rolled through the Scottish hills.

    One day heading home, I rounded one bend, and immediately in front of me were two cars heading straight for me, one overtaking the other. They were seconds away. There was nowhere to go.

    I braked and swerved violently, and veered right up a 45º steep grassy bank at the side of the road before veering back to rejoin the road, all at 60 mph. I'd thought I'd be in a head-on collision, for sure. But somehow I just managed to swerve past the car heading directly at me. It all happened in a split second.

    A minute later, a car behind me started honking and flashing at me. I stopped. The other driver got out. He was white and shaking.

    He'd seen all this — from about 100 yds away — and had himself just avoided hitting the overtaking car as well. He told me what he'd seen me do was unbelievable, and asked if I was okay. (I was.)

    He'd been unable to see any daylight at ALL between my car and the one I just missed.
    Last edited by Bill Ryan; 24th June 2019 at 03:31.

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  39. Link to Post #40
    United States Avalon Member thepainterdoug's Avatar
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    Default Re: I shouldn't actually be alive now... :)

    Bill / you couldn't have done that, saved yourself.
    Some orchestrator had that planned and played it out. you were meant to be here to continue what you are doing, and so strongly the other participants, not random, were meant to continue on as well.

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