scariest moment of your life?

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Some scary shit here. I’m cacking it reading some of them.

I’ve one. Crossing at a pedestrian crossing a decade ago (I had the green man), halfway across the road, I glance to my left to see a blatant crimson-dasher careening towards me in his van, talking furiously into his mobile. I jumped back and he missed me by mere inches. No way would I have survived being hit. He was so distracted, I bet the incident didn’t even register with him. But I learned something from it - the green man means cross with caution. Always look. There’s no point being in the right of you’re dead.

I’ve a few other traffic ones but... lazy.

Mad_maxx

Son stopped breathing after being born, didn't know for a half hour if things would be OK as the health professionals just grabbed him and took him to another room

Airyfairy12

When I was about 10 and my brother who was about 3 used to love when id push him really fast in his buggy and pretend it was a race car, He'd laugh so hard, he thought it was great fun so I did it all time.
One day, I was playing outside with him in his buggy and decided to play the race car game around the side of the house which was close enough to the road but being 10 I thought it was a safe enough distance and we played the game all the time and nothing ever went wrong. That was until this one day I pushed the buggy around the bend too fast and lost control of it, it fell to the side onto the road, my brother was strapped in and his head was lying sideways out a good bit onto the road, the road was usually busy enough and rural so cars would regularly fly up and down, terrified a car was going to come and hit him I started to panic and tried lifting the buggy back up but it was too heavy and I couldnt get his straps open to lift him out, I started screaming, ran into the house panicking screaming at my mam to come and help.
Thankfully a car didnt come and he was fine, just a bit upset from the fall but I stayed quiet for the whole week, I felt sick to my stomach that I could have potentially killed or injured my little brother. I still get anxiety when I think about it ad the fact that if a car had come he could potentially not be here today and that would have been my fault.
Safe to say we never played the race car game again.

Utter Consternation

I was feeding the baby around half three this morning and there was a flash of sheet lightening outside. I was totally disorientated and actually thought that someone was looking in the window and took a photo of me with the flash of their camera switched on.

Bear in mind that i was upstairs at the time.

Scared the sh1te out of me, but the clap of thunder after let me know that i wasn't the victim of levitating paparazzi.

Trigger Happy

Waking up with two burglars in my bedroom rifling through my stuff.

And doing a ride called the Kamikaze at a water park.

D13exile

It's the late 80's. I'm 18, I'm only driving two months and I'm out driving my Dad's car (without his permission as he was at a Dublin match in Croker) and I'm going mach one along the old N2 towards Ashbourne from Finglas with the radio blasting, the window open and I'm enjoying the scenery out the driver's window. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of red (a car's brake lights in front) and I stamp on the brakes while turning my head to look forward. I screech to a halt stopping only inches from the car that had stopped in front of me to turn right. The scary part was the two young kids aged around 3-5 standing in their fathers boot space in his estate with their little faces pressed up against the rear window looking at me. If I'd been a fraction of a second slower hitting the brake pedal, I'd had hit their car and killed them.

That was the scariest moment of my life and I learned at a very early age not to fcuk around on the roads. Never had an accident or penalty points since as I drive carefully due to that near life altering incident and hopefully there's now two 30 somethings walking around (perhaps with kids of their own) that didn't die that day due to my stupidity.

gerrybbadd

Capture.PNG

Just remembered one.

In the early 90s, myself, parents & brother and sister would go to Lough Key Forest Park almost every Sunday to spend a little family time together. We'd have a little picnic, and us kids could run around playing etc.

Now my mother had always warned us, if anybody offered you sweets, that you didn't know, run back to her immediately. There was a bit of a fear of child snatching at the time.

As you can see in the attached picture, the Forest park has several car parks, separated by rows of trees. We were playing in those trees, while my parents sat at a nearby picnic table. As we played, a car pulled up, the passenger window came down, and a hand came out, "come here kids, I have sweets". My 2 siblings started running down to the car, both are younger than me.

I started screaming for my parents, and immediately the car screeched off. My sister, who'd have been about 3 at the time, was within touching distance of the hand before the car took off.

My dad gave chase, but the car had too much of a headstart. We reported it to the Guards, but ultimately, nothing came of it

ArnoldJRimmer

Grew up near the border during the Troubles, and as I went to school in a different town to the one I lived in, used to often hitch lifts when going over to see my friends for a night out or whatever

One day a white van stopped and told me that there was room in the back. Reluctantly got in and all that was in there was a spilt can of petrol, and I had to balance myself to try and keep away from it. Became clear very quickly that the three lads in the front were quite drunk and all looked very rough

The oldest of them started talking to me very aggressively, asking me about my politics and religion. As I was in the republic, I took my chances and told him I supported Sinn Fein. He responded that they were in the UVF and were going to take me down a laneway and shoot me in the head. All the while gesturing that he was going to throw his lit cigarette towards the spilt petrol that was at my feet

Silence while the blood drained from my face. I was genuinely terrified given the sh!t that used to go on in the North at the time. Eventually the driver of the van said 'Ah don't mind that auld boll!x, he's only taking a hand at ya' to much laughter from the 3 lads. I've never been so relieved to step out of a vehicle

14dMoney

Farted during an interview. It was silent but wet. When I mercifully finished, I went out to check. It seems that I was that nervous, that the sweat had travelled down my ass-crack, and when I farted it caused my cheeks to flap, like beef-curtains in a gale. When they hit together it created a spray, much like a sneeze, and this was the jet of moisture that I had felt.

Gwen Cooper

Actually I remembered one more...

I'm not Irish and go visit my parents in my home country about twice a year. My parents and siblings always give me lifts to the train/bus station if I want to go visit friends. I suffer from bad anxiety and one of the biggest fears I have is when people are driving me somewhere or collecting me, basically if I am the reason for them to get in the car, that something will happen to them. It would be automatically my fault. I'm tearing up just writing this, and I had this fear even as a little girl, ever since I can remember. I don't think I ever said it to any friends or family members though for some reason.

Anyway, last summer I was there and went to visit my friend. My mom said she will collect me at the train station after. Our house is less than 5 minutes drive on a straight, quiet road, so it's enough to text my mom as the train is pulling into the station. I was chatting with her on Facebook when I was on the train and when the station was near, I told her that I'm nearly in and that she can collect me. She said "ok I'm getting into the car now and I'll be there in a moment."

Two minutes later I got off the train, walked through the train station, waked outside and sat on a bench and waited for my mom to show up. Ten minutes later she still wasn't there. Fifteen minutes, nothing. I was sh***ing myself, especially when I saw an ambulance going up in the direction my mom was supposed to come from.

I tried calling her, but she wouldn't answer. I tried calling my brother who was in the house with her, he wasn't answering either. Finally my mom's phone was answered. A man was on the other side and said "Hello, this is police officer John Doe, who am I speaking to?" in a very monotonous serious voice. I could feel myself go pale. I could feel the anxiety attack coming on. I felt like there's no oxygen around me and I couldn't breathe.

Then I heard my mom in the background "oh my god you're so stupid, give me the phone" and then two guys laughing. Turned out that as my mom was getting into the car, my brother stopped her and asked her if she can drop him and his friend to town since she's going there anyway. Then she drove to collect his friend, he was late coming out of his house so they had to wait for a few minutes, both their phones were on silent, so they didn't hear me. When they were about a minute away, my mom noticed that her phone is ringing, and asked my brother to answer it and tell me that she's on the way. My brother just handed the phone to his friend and told him what to say.

Lads I've never been more relieved to get pranked.

Mam of 4

When my six month old stopping breathing in a paediatric assessment room and was rushed to theatre . Standing outside the theatre doors not knowing what was happening , and then being told they weren't too sure what was wrong either , so were transferring him to Crumlin .
And not being allowed go in the ambulance with him , poor child had a squad car in front of the ambulance clearing the road to get him there as quick as possible .
Scary , horrifying , ventilated , few surgeries , but home a few weeks later .

Wouldn't wish that helpless , awful feeling on anyone .

Dawido

Visiting my friends house in Tallaght

mfceiling

Went swimming off a fairly remote beach on the west coast of Australia years ago. Myself, my cousin and my mate all got caught in a rip tide. I saw my mate get out and get closer to the shore. My cousin seemed to get taken further out and I was joining him. The waves kept crashing on my head and I didn't seem to have enough time to get a decent breath of air.
I was fully exhausted and thought "fcuk it this is how I'm going to die"....I got hit by one big wave and hadn't drawn a breath. Went under for what I thought would be the last time and suddenly felt sand at my feet. That was enough to give me a jolt and to fight on. I managed to swim towards the shore and finally made the beach. My cousin was taken out further but outside the rip and he was able to swim to safety as well. We sat on the beach for ages after that in silence reflecting on how lucky we both made it out without drowning.

Pauliedragon

A gun pointed at me twice. Once by a junkie who's hands were shaking as his fingers were on the trigger.

Hector Savage

circadian wrote: »

As a passenger on a bus hurtling through the mountains of Laos, driven by a man clearly on amphetamines.

Was that the guy the police then took to a nearby field and just shot ?

hgfj

Some of these posts here have brought tears to my eyes. Heart breaking. I wasn't expecting that when I opened the thread.

My wife died 13 years ago. It was a suicide. She was in a coma for five days before life support was turned off. Like banie01 said, praying like an atheist in a foxhole for those 5 days. After she died I spent a lot of time just hating God. But now I don't believe in God anymore anyway. So that's that.

On a more light hearted note - I've had so many scary moments during the course of my life that I don't know which one was the scariest.

When I was 15 I was shot at. That was in Houston, Texas. 1976. I was trespassing on someones land with four other kids. I say shot at but he probably shot into the air. To this day I still don't know because I had my back to him. We were all running away from this guy and he said, stop or I'll shoot. And the f*cker did. As soon as I heard the gunshot I froze and put my hands in the air like they do on tv. The other guys kept on running. I was terrified. I kept expecting to feel a bullet go into my back. I didn't know whether to lie on the ground or stay standing. So I had my hands in the air and I turned around and this guy wearing blue denim dungarees was walking towards me with a shotgun in his hand. I didn't know what he was going to do. He came up to me and said some words, I don't remember what, and when I said something back to him he said, where you from anyway? When I told him I was from Ireland he didn't know whether to believe me or not. By this time the other kids had stopped running and came back. When they verified that, yeah, I really was from Ireland his whole attitude changed. He was fascinated. He'd never met anyone from Ireland before. We continued chatting for maybe another ten minutes before he said, alright, off you go but don't ever trespass on my land again, (which was directed more towards my friends than me) and then he shook my hand!


When I was in my thirties, in the early nineties, I was held hostage by three thugs for three and a half hours. I had a part time job working in a nightclub. I used to come in in the mornings from 9 to about 1. My job was to do the cleaning. Sweep the floors, clean off the tables, mop out the toilets, **** like that. I had my own set of keys to let myself in.
So Monday morning after a busy weekend I turn up at 9am as usual. I put the key in the lock and as soon as I started to open the door three guys came up behind me and bundled me in through the doorway. My initial reaction was to laugh! I thought it was a joke. But that only lasted a couple of seconds until I realised these guys were for real and deadly serious.
My next reaction was to say to them they could take whatever they wanted. I was only a cleaner. I offered to show them where the safe was.
Two of them were wearing balaclavas and the third one just had a scarf or bandanna or something over his face. Turns out they had been casing the place for a while and were expecting the boss to show up at about 10am. Which was strange because he didn't usually come in till about 11am or thereabouts. Anyway this particular day he didn't arrive until half 12. The boss was the one who had the safe key. So, three and a half hours of sitting there waiting with these guys. Over the course of those three hours we got to talking.
One of the guys with the balaclava took his balaclava off after about half an hour. Every so often he would say something to me. And each time he addressed me I would automatically look at him and then he'd shout, "Don't f*ckin look at me". So I'd have to look at the ground. Then he'd say something again to me and instinctively I would look over at him when he addressed me and he'd shout it again at me. "Don't f*ckin look at me!" That went on for about half an hour, until eventually they all took off their masks and I'd seen this guys face so many times by this stage that he just gave up.
One of them asked me how much I was earning and when I told him I was getting 80 quid a week he said to me to tell my boss that they had taken 80 quid off me and get him to pay me compensation. I said, yeah, I'll do that.
They got quite chatty after a while although they were all still very, very tense and nervous, especially the guy who had been telling me not to look at him. At another point one of them came up to me and asked if I had any change for the cigarette machine. I gave him some loose change and he said he'd give it back to me afterwards!!! I mean he could have just taken money out of the till, or even smashed the machine open! One of them went behind the bar and opened a bottle of wine and offered me a glass. I politely refused because I didn't drink. They started telling me why they were robbing the place. Basically, no jobs, no money.
Anyway, to get to the end of the story, at about 12.30 we were all sitting in the bar when the front door started to open. They were very agitated at this stage because, like I said, they had been expecting the boss to turn up at 10.am and it was now two and a half hours later. At one point earlier one of them had said to me, Did you phone someone? Did you call the guards? (This was in the days before people had mobile phones.) And one of the other guys said he'd have seen me if i'd tried to use the phone. Anyway as soon as we all heard the door opening one of them grabbed me from behind and held a knife to my throat. He stood me if front of a door and the other two stood either side of it. One had a hammer and the other had a club or something. So when my boss came down the stairs and opened the door to the bar the first thing he saw was me standing there facing him with this guy holding the knife to my neck. His reaction was the exact same as mine had been when they had first bundled me in through the front door. He laughed. He didn't know what was happening. Then he noticed the other two guys on either side of the door and he reacted by putting his hands up or something. Then one of them clouted him on the head with the hammer. After that they got him to open the safe, took the money and tied both of us up and left us on the floor in the kitchen. Took us about 15 minutes to get a knife from a drawer and cut ourselves free. Cops were called and we ended up in Pearse St station looking at a book of mugshots. I thought I recognised one but wasn't sure.
Next day, Tuesday, which was meant to be my day off I had to come in and do the cleaning that hadn't been done that day!!
A final point, when I was tied up on the kitchen floor and as these guys were leaving I actually thought about mentioning the money the guy "borrowed" off me and asking for it back. I didn't do it but I actually thought about it for an instant. Mad.

Elemonator

Some of the replies here are heartbreaking...to think I'm sitting here worrying about a receding hairline. I needed that perspective.

Scariest one for me was when I was a kid and as part of some horrible joke a Spanish male room cleaner held me out over a fifth floor balcony in the hotel we were staying in, just outside the door of our apartment. I was good with heights before that and took me a while to realise how much it had affected me. Only got over the fear the past couple of years.

blinding

Someone tried to drive over and kill me once . But I escaped to a place of safety double lively .

I was very quickly in a safe place so not as bad as it could have been .

I was once chasing someone and they pulled out a gun and fired at me . It turned out to be a blank but I did not know that at the time . As I knew I wasn’t hit I was worried that my fellow chasers had been hit . Obviously nobody hurt from a blank .

I didn’t really have enough time to be scared in either case so maybe they don’t count .

I was not concentrating ( looking nosily at something else ) as I should once on a building site and I was one ( half step prob ) step from a big fall .

That was probably the three times I came nearest to death .

One time when I was a kid I ran across at a corner after a really fast car had passed not expecting ( I was a kid ) another really fast car coming just as fast if not faster . I had a damn good look ( time slow down thing ) at that bonnet but escaped .

Supercell

Out jogging in September 2017 training for the Dublin Marathon, got literally rear ended by a car, felt the cold steel of the bonnet against my skin, flew through the air and landed on the road thinking "is he going to follow through now?, I don't want to die here". Thankfully he swerved and narrowly missed me. Still remember it like it was yesterday.

Potential-Monke

Easy enough one for me. It wasn't until afterwards that I realised how scared I was, having found out more information, but here goes:

In my last year as a Garda, myself and my female colleague got a call to an apartment complex of a drunk couple fighting. We proceeded to the area (oooooh, Garda speak) and we buzzed into the complex. It was a triangular shape with a garden in the middle for everyone, so each door was on a walkway with railing. The couple fighting were on the 3rd floor.

Up we went and approached the 2. We could immediately tell they were a couple of sorts, both in their 40s and both hammered. Usual domestic between alcoholics. So we separated them, she wanted to kill him, he wanted her to **** off. I spoke to him, my colleague spoke to her. After a bit of back and forth and threats of being arrested, he started to go on his way. I went to go back over to my colleague and the one she was dealing with went off on one and started swinging.

I was about to run and jump in, but then my left shoulder was grabbed, I was spun and got a box into the face. I reeled back into the balcony and he followed. He was right up against me, holding me by the throat, my right arm pinned to my body he was leaning on. I felt my feet leave the ground and I panicked. As all my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment, ie: ASP and pepper spray) were inaccessible (pinned between my body and his), I only have my left arm free, so I started to box him square in the face, nowhere else would have worked.

After 5 or 6 digs, I managed to get him to leave go, my feet hit the ground. I pushed him back, pepper spray out, warning and spray. He didn't go down immediately, so I took out my ASP and started swiping at his his thigh (thigh and upper arms are the targets). He eventually went down, I tried to handcuff him but he was still rolling around being uncooperative. Backup came, he was cuffed, transported and procedure then took over.

It wasn't until I spoke to my colleague and she had genuine fear in her eyes. While she was wrestling with yer one, she glanced over and said I was 50/50 about going over the railing, 3 floors down to solid concrete. That's when it hit me. I needed about 15 minutes to get over that I was very close to going over, with death as a good possibility. It's not a feeling I ever want again, and I quit not too long after this (many reasons, but this was certainly one).

I've been in traveller feuds, estates where it's full of scumbags hopping everything and anything off the van/cars, even had someone drive at me at a checkpoint, but none of them came close of the fear of that moment. It may not sound like much, but I'll never forget looking over the railing after it all and realising how far down it actually was. Scary stuff that pops into my head every now and then and reminds me just how fragile life could be.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Waking up with two burglars in my bedroom rifling through my stuff.

And doing a ride called the Kamikaze at a water park.

Oh man. An apartment I lived in was burgled. They broke in through my bedroom. Luckily I wasn’t in the apartment that night. I was so glad.

That must have been scary.

Daughter born not breathing and rushed off to be resuscitated and brought to ICU, then an hour later wife taken away as she needed surgery as she kept bleeding. I remember standing there in the delivery room, numb, alone, no idea what to do, where to go. A nurse very kindly brought me to a room and gave me a cup of tea and some toast.

When I went down to see my new daughter the staff in ICU (brilliant again) were talking to me but I was still numb and could barely take anything in.

Everyone ended up fine but Christ those first few hours were scary as hell.

the14thwarrior

It was the mid-80s. I was in a group that did promotion nights, think Heiniken etc. We did the can-can, and another dance can't remember the song. We drove down in two cars to Limerick. Me, my friend and two guys in one car, the other car full of girls. After the gig we hurried into the cars to head home. A guy jumped out in front of us in town somewhere, banged on the car and the windows and we drove off quickly. Thought nothing of it.
Bear in mind we were dressed in fish net tights, false eye lashes, tulle short skirts and high heels etc. Full face of make up. We headed home (few motorways then) and noticed a cop car behind us. We slowed down, they slowed down. We sped up, they sped up. No clue where we where, easily an hour out of Limerick.

Finally they pull us over. Asked me and my mate to get into the cop car, and they two lads they made drive on ahead, and after a while another cop car came and escorted the lads up the road. Middle of the night, pitch black and not one word of explanation. We were about 19 and terrifed enough.

me and my mate were brought to the police station, to this day i don't know where. We looked completely out of place and they spent the whole time asking questions and making insinuations. They started questioning us about the lad that we "knocked" down in Limerick, said he was paralysed etc. and in intensive care. I was so sacred, and knew my parents would be worried, but i was worried they were going to charge us with a hit and run, and he hinted at prostitution.

Nonsense of course. After about two hours, another cop came in, took one look at us and started laughing. "State of ya" and all that. After about an hour, we started taking off our make up, and were allowed to go to the loo to change into track suit. We were just two young girls, in the middle of nowhere,

finally they let us go, telling us our mates would be outside and we should wait for them. Our mates finally came after an hour, and it turns out they were in the next town over. The police seperated us till they confirmed our stories. The police in Limerick said the man got up and walked away when confronted, and the police in the middle of nowhere finally let us go.

I was really frightened, for something we hadn't done, and the fact that we were made a spectacle of with lots of threats.
We finally made it back to Dublin by 10 o clock the next morning, and my parents were fit to be tied with the worry. (yeah, no mobile in those days)_

Mac-Chops

On a sun holiday with my folks when I was 14 odd and we went out on one of those group excursions on a boat for the day.

At one of the stops out on the ocean for swimming, snorkeling, etc. there was a guy that followed us out in his speedboat and banana boat in tow which I thought of course would be an ideal bit of craic.

Up a group of us got and my resilient self managed to hang on as the last one to fall thinking I was a great fella. For anyone unfamiliar with banana boat proceedings, this usually means that the driver will circle a few times and speed off, generally guaranteeing that any stragglers will be hurtled off in to the air.
Away he went then but unfortunately for me, I didn't get completely hurtled off as intended as my ankle ended up caught in a rope handle. I ended up being dragged at a decent speed for what seemed like a never ending amount of time bouncing along the waves desperately trying to keep my head above water with the driver and the crowd on the boat (parents included) thinking I was deliberately hanging on and having the time of my life.
I eventually managed to get the driver's attention by waving my arms and he came to a stop just in time I suppose.

It took a bit of convincing for the driver to cut his precious rope handle to free me and I got a nice rope burn and indent around the bottom of my calf for my troubles.

I remember feeling really guilty for having to end the boat trip early so I could make it back to shore but the holiday rep that was there probably felt worse thinking back.

Life lesson: Check for rigid handles before you get on a banana boat!

corner of hells

xzanti wrote: »

Waiting for my newborn son to cry.


His oxygen levels were low. He was fine after a few mins.

Jaysus, one of mine was an emergency section and she didn't help but getting into difficulty herself.

ambro25

Thank you to posters sharing earlier in the thread, some truly touching and inspiring posts.

4 big ones spring to mind.

In my misspent youth, enjoying my brainless invincibility and deciding to overtake a line of cars in thick fog at night, then realising a second into the manoeuvre, as I'm on the oncoming side and suddenly seeing short green plastic poles between me and the cars I'm overtaking, that I'm on the wrong side of a hard-bordered road junction island coming up, and now I can't pull over...then oncoming headlights appearing in the not-so-far distance in the fog.

Years later, my wife and I both working high-responsibility/-paying jobs in family-run niche legal firm, my wife getting unfairly dismissed after a spat with owner's Mrs, me getting unfairly dismissed a week later by owner getting a bad case of the paranoids...and on getting home to Mrs that day, she tells me we're expecting. That one eventually took us to Dublin, weeks after our little one was born (difficult birth, pre-eclampsia).

And a couple of years later in 'Dub, little one's poorly but diagnosed & treated as a viral infection, one night her skin slips right off her through my fingers as I was bathing her: she'd been developing a really bad staph infection, getting into toxic shock syndrome by that stage (1/500000 chance of catching or somesuch, last resort bottom draw meds).

We'll never be grateful enough to the Australian intern in A&E that night, who clocked the condition right away after seeing it before in 'exotic' countries he'd worked in. We must have had the entire country's contingent of paediatricians and trainees visit her during her hospital stay for a training look-see.

Last one was the following summer, holidaying, splashing about in medium waves with little one. Freak wave caught us, she was coated in sun lotion head to toe, we're both rolling within the breaking wave and I'm eating gobfuls of sands and swallowing liters of sea water hanging on to her for dear life, and still she slipped away from me. Only shallow water by then, about a foot, but lots of spray, and as I get up as quickly as humanly possible, I can't see her anywhere near and scan frantically. About 2-3 seconds later, I spot her costume in the spray and grab her for all I can.

Those 2-3 seconds were the longest in my life, ever.

You take the knocks, you learn from them, you count your blessings for being able to -and when you can, for only having to- learn from them, and you roll on.

EllieB

Being put on a drip during labour that made me hyper-contract (no break between contractions which stops oxygen getting to the baby),over-hearing one midwife say to another that she thought the baby’s heartbeat had stopped.
The dash down a long corridor with a porter, midwife and my husband running as they pushed my bed... as the lift doors open, the porter and midwife shouting at people to get out of the lift for an emergency.... the scary silence once my son was lifted out until his big healthy cry filled the room... longest minute ever!

Thankfully all ok but I suffered PTSD and post natal depression after that. All because of that f*****g drip!!!

Cody montana

Getting piles and having to get up on a camel.

discobeaker

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

My granny had MS and died at the age of 79. And that was twenty years ago, I’m sure so much more research has happened since then.

Feel free to tell me if the above isn’t comforting and I’ll zip it.

Haha,no, you're grand Obvious Yeah there are LOTS of new meds and research popping up all the time including the likes of Stem Cells and new tablets or injections/infusions etc so it's a million miles better than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

The injection I'm on was founded in the mid 90s I believe and thankfully it seems to be keeping me steady and I've had zero progression the last 5 or 6 years since starting treatment thankfully.

JohnCleary

When a car drove over me and broke my spine. If that wasn't bad enough, then being told I may never walk again.

I was 17.

Big Nasty

Smoked from the age of 13 up until 38 when my daughter was born. We had a hard time conceiving / carrying so the months leading up to her birth were anxious. Born healthy and happy and just when I thought I was off the hook I realised the anxiety would last the rest of my life!

Like every smoker you know you need to give up, you just don't want to. Well my girl was getting her final examination before she was discharged and they discovered something wrong with her heart. Panic stations and off to Crumlin. We were waiting to be seen and I went out for a smoke, then thought to myself what dafuq are you at? Box of cigarettes in the bin and that was the end of it.

Turns out all it was was a heart murmur, one or two tiny little holes in the walls in the middle of the heart that generally close up as the muscle grows. One in every hundred kids are born that way. She's near five now and flying it and I haven't even thought of smoking since.

True what someone said earlier - up to the point you have kids it's all about yourself. Then they come in to the world and you would gladly give up your life to save theirs.

mr_fegelien

Big Nasty wrote: »

Smoked from the age of 13 up until 38 when my daughter was born. We had a hard time conceiving / carrying so the months leading up to her birth were anxious. Born healthy and happy and just when I thought I was off the hook I realised the anxiety would last the rest of my life!

Like every smoker you know you need to give up, you just don't want to. Well my girl was getting her final examination before she was discharged and they discovered something wrong with her heart. Panic stations and off to Crumlin. We were waiting to be seen and I went out for a smoke, then thought to myself what dafuq are you at? Box of cigarettes in the bin and that was the end of it.

Turns out all it was was a heart murmur, one or two tiny little holes in the walls in the middle of the heart that generally close up as the muscle grows. One in every hundred kids are born that way. She's near five now and flying it and I haven't even thought of smoking since.

True what someone said earlier - up to the point you have kids it's all about yourself. Then they come in to the world and you would gladly give up your life to save theirs.

Truth be told, smoking is interestingly not completely harmful. Biology is a funny thing and I've seen studies that show genetics determines whether you'll get smoking related illnesses as opposed to simply smoking itself. There've been two twins who smoke the same amount for decades and one is vastly healthier than the other.

Big Nasty

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Truth be told, smoking is interestingly not completely harmful. Biology is a funny thing and I've seen studies that show genetics determines whether you'll get smoking related illnesses as opposed to simply smoking itself. There've been two twins who smoke the same amount for decades and one is vastly healthier than the other.

Inhaling smoke is bad for your health. You know it, I know it, dog on the street knows it. C**t of an addiction though. Imagine paying €12 or whatever ever it is now for a pack of dried leaves wrapped up in paper that you ignite and inhale so you can slowly kill yourself?

Graces7

The day I was driving home in rural Kerry, down the usual narrow,single track lane, high hedged and ditched.

At my usual crawl... Then round a blind bend roared an oil tanker, so fast neither of us saw the other until we were literally inches away. All I could see were the wheels and bottom half of the front in minute detail.to Tiny car; huge truck. speed of light reaction and I veered ditchwards by the great wheels, seeing every nut and bolt on the thing, just missing.

Only thought in my head was who would tell my family overseas I was dead.

Drove so fast the ditch could not claim me and drove off... lorry did not stop of course.

I was so shocked I drove almost all the way home without a flicker before reaction set in, then had to pull off as I was shaking so much.

Been driving well over fifty years and that was the only near death. I owe that to honed skills and instincts and the loud prayer I uttered.

bladespin

Mrs spin and baby in distress (our first baby), monitors dropping all round; emergency c section, the wait felt like hours but both were fine in the end.
I've been in a bike crash, car crash, bungeed and had a knife pointed at me but nothing came near that.

Dramatik

This probably doesn't seem as bad as some of the others on here but when I was about 17 or 18 I was kind of messing around and getting into trouble. I think I had been arrested once before and my parents were called to the Garda station to collect me and obviously give me a well deserved talking too. My parents warned me that if I was arrested again they would throw me out of the house. Fastforward a couple of months and I'm heading home from a party and had a fair amount to drink, enough to impair my ability to walk in a straight line and I attract the attention of some nearby Gardaí. I plead with the Gardaí not to take me in but they insisted that I was too drunk and was a danger to myself and others. So I spend the morning in a cell until I sober up and head home with a court appearance date for drunk and disorderly.

The next few months are spent vigilantly checking the letterbox every day to make sure I intercept the court summons letter before my parents see it. Everything goes as planned and I intercept the letter before suspicion is aroused. I attend court and I am hit with a fine of 250 euro and a return date on which I will return to court and pay off the fine.

A couple of days later I'm sitting in the kitchen and my ma turns to me and says sternly "Dramatik I've something to tell you and I've been doing my best to keep it a secret from you" the heart starts pumping and I'm racking my brains trying to think of how she has managed to find out about my court date. Then she blurts out "we're all going on holidays !" To say I was relieved was an understatement. Holidays abroad were rare in my family and the farthest abroad we had been up till then was getting the boat to England for a long weekend. She told me that we would be travelling to Italy as my sister was going on Erasmus as part of college and we could spend some time over there helping her get settled as it was her first time living away from home.

I'm thinking to myself great I could do with a holiday after all the stress I've put myself through lately and at least it will keep me out of trouble for a week. Then it dawns on me, sh!t my final court appearance is some time around the date when I am supposed to be going on holidays. I check my court date and my heart drops, it's during the holiday! What am I going to do? I formed a plan that I would pay my friend to go in and pay the fine for me. I asked a friend and they agreed to do it for me (thank god) As the time got closer to the court date I started to get more and more paranoid about my parents finding out, I started to think in my head that if you were due in court wouldn't you be put on some kind of list so that you would not be allowed to travel abroad until the matter had been dealt with? Otherwise wouldn't everyone just leave the country to avoid the penalty?

As the days counted down I started to have a reoccurring nightmare where I would get to the gates to board the plane and the computer would beep and the flight attendant would tell me on front of my parents that I wouldn't be able to board as I was due in court, my parents would freak out and then to make things worse a gardaí would appear and arrest me for trying to abscond. I would then be marched out of the airport in cuffs, the mother would be in tears and everyone in the airport would point and whisper about me.

Anyway the day came I was due to travel, I'm feeling totally rattled as I barely slept I was worrying so much. I get to the airport, my ma asks me if there is anything wrong but I just tell her that I'm nervous because I've never flown before. At at one point I had to leg it to the jacks because I started getting light headed, this only added to my guilty feelings as my parents thought I might be scared of flying and were trying to comfort me. At this point I really just wanted to confess but I couldn't as I knew it would totally ruin a rare family holiday.

It's finally time to board the plane and at this point I'm beyond rattled, my face is pale, I'm shaking and there's sweat on my brow. I'm now more concerned that due to my appearance I might attract the attention of security, they might think I'm trying to smuggle drugs or something. Suddenly I snap out of my daymare to the sound of the flight attendant asking for my passport and before I knew it I was out on the runway about to board the plane, the relief was immense, bare in mind that I had to go through this whole process once before for the security check.

So in the end I had gotten away with it, now all there was to worry about was that my mate would arrive in court on time and pay the fine, which they did thankfully. I was free! And surely now after all this stress, I have learned my lesson, I would never get in trouble with the Gardaí ever again for the rest of my life...well maybe for a few years anyway...

Comhrá

Being told I needed a bone biopsy (two years ago)

Three week wait for results (mercifully negative)

Words can't describe the agony of the wait.

Cody montana

One of them happen a few minutes ago.
My mother went to wake my father for the lotto numbers.
He didn’t respond after she called him several times, so she shook him.
He didn’t wake.
She started screaming, I called my brother to ring an ambulance.
He then woke up from his deep sleep.

I am not able.

L1011

During the long severe snow spell in 2011 I had a customer in New Ross insist that the weather was fine to go down to them and get quite angry at the idea they might have to wait for a visit. As an aside, the Mother Hubbards on the N25 had only defrosted the water to the kitchens that day after a few days of it being frozen solid; and the customer toilets still had limited to no running water - that's how cold Wexford was. We had proper snow further up

Car went in to an uncontrollable side to side wobble on the N11 and despite taking off the power and not braking/steering to any real extent, hit something that put it in to a spin - my memory is it was two or more full circles but in reality it was probably less.

Ended up with it buried in a snowdrift in the grass off the side of the hard shoulder. After a few minutes just sitting there I managed to dig it out enough to limp in to Rathnew and survey the damage... of which there was absolutely none. Had to hack impacted snow off the inside of the wheels because they were out of balance but the car was somehow fine.

The visit was for a misaligned printer. Would have been a particularly good example of how little my employers valued their staffs lives if I'd gone in to the barrier not the shoulder!

SEPT 23 1989

Threre is a thread about the best horror films of all time in the film forum

But they are best when watched when you are ten

It’s scary then

But the true moments of terror happen much later in life

Galwayguy35

Ran across the road when I was 4 and was nearly killed by a car.

IamtheWalrus

banie01 wrote: »

When my 1st wife collapsed, she never woke up.
Everything, and I mean everything I thought I valued, every plan we'd made and every hope we had for our future.

Gone, in the snap of a finger.
That scariest moment was then rinsed and repeated for a few years, as every single morning...
I'd wake up forgetting what had happened, roll over notice her side that of the bed hadn't been slept in...
And then get scared all over again wondering howd I get through the day without her.

But I did, so did our little guy and we are still here and the fear has, I'm glad to say gone
For the most part at least :P

The end of your story is the most hopeful thing I've seen in a long time.

Blazer

My 2 year old son going into a febrile convulsion while we were out shopping.
I'll never forget how his eyes just went back and he just collapsed in the trolley.
I had absolutely no idea what to do bar tell the missus to ring an ambulance.
I was full sure he was dying in my arms and never felt so helpless in my life.
Luckily this couple was walking past and the girl was a nurse. She came straight over, took charge and massaged his chest while speaking to him.
It calmed us down a lot until the ambulance arrived. Never got a chance to thank her and I couldn't even tell you what she looked like but she was a live saver.

About a year later he got another one at home and I was as cool as a breeze about it

Gael23

Boom_Bap wrote: »

when the bag of Chilli Heatwave Dorito's I was buying from a vending machine got stuck.

How about when the reminants of said Chilli Heatwave Doritos were exiting your anal canal? The burning must have been scary

BoroMan32

L1011 wrote: »

During the long severe snow spell in 2011 I had a customer in New Ross insist that the weather was fine to go down to them and get quite angry at the idea they might have to wait for a visit. As an aside, the Mother Hubbards on the N25 had only defrosted the water to the kitchens that day after a few days of it being frozen solid; and the customer toilets still had limited to no running water - that's how cold Wexford was. We had proper snow further up

Car went in to an uncontrollable side to side wobble on the N11 and despite taking off the power and not braking/steering to any real extent, hit something that put it in to a spin - my memory is it was two or more full circles but in reality it was probably less.

Ended up with it buried in a snowdrift in the grass off the side of the hard shoulder. After a few minutes just sitting there I managed to dig it out enough to limp in to Rathnew and survey the damage... of which there was absolutely none. Had to hack impacted snow off the inside of the wheels because they were out of balance but the car was somehow fine.

The visit was for a misaligned printer. Would have been a particularly good example of how little my employers valued their staffs lives if I'd gone in to the barrier not the shoulder!

Did you get the printer sorted in the end?

Bobblehats

Nearly fell out of a fairground attraction. Clinging on by my fingernails :eek: little legs flailing while it was going full tilt!

L1011

BoroMan32 wrote: »

Did you get the printer sorted in the end?

Yes. And billed them two hours chargeable as it wasn't the printer on the support contract! eBay job they were trying to pull a fast one on...

katiek102010

Hospital checkup when pregnant and them telling me my baby was coming out now by C section and going straight into nicu without seeing him or being allowed hold him.

Being in UK in a shopping centre with my 9 year old and his friend. There was a massive explosion and security and Litterly 1000 people ran screaming bomb bomb towards us. We were in the food court by an exit. Knocked my son away from me. Absolutely terrifying, more so as he has autism. It was nearly 2 years ago and I still have nightmares. It wasn't a bomb it was a gas cooker exploded in a restaurant.

My husband was working in London Bridge the night of the terror attack. He had literally left the area less than 5 mins beforehand. It came on the news and I couldn't contact him as mobiles were clogged.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

As a kid with my brother. Brought dog for a walk and dog ran off. We lived in the country. We were walking through fields looking for the dog, when it became apparent we weren’t alone. We were in a field with cattle but more specifically, a bull. He was about 7, i was 8 or 9. Half way across the field these cattle start galloping towards us, there was so many but I couldn’t see the rest of them for fear of seeing the bull, bounding twice the size of the others. My brother started to cry and the two of us ran. We were almost to the fence but they were right up behind us and he was traumatized by now, he was bawling and not running. So, I told him to keep running and get under the fence, I turned back at the cattle and started shouting and running at them, which startled them and they scattered and ran away, and I turned and ran and got under the fence myself.


Probably not that scary now, but I’ve never felt fear like it!!! I was so scared they’d have killed him.

harry Bailey esq

Gwen Big Savannah wrote: »

As a kid with my brother. Brought dog for a walk and dog ran off. We lived in the country. We were walking through fields looking for the dog, when it became apparent we weren’t alone. We were in a field with cattle but more specifically, a bull. He was about 7, i was 8 or 9. Half way across the field these cattle start galloping towards us, there was so many but I couldn’t see the rest of them for fear of seeing the bull, bounding twice the size of the others. My brother started to cry and the two of us ran. We were almost to the fence but they were right up behind us and he was traumatized by now, he was bawling and not running. So, I told him to keep running and get under the fence, I turned back at the cattle and started shouting and running at them, which startled them and they scattered and ran away, and I turned and ran and got under the fence myself.


Probably not that scary now, but I’ve never felt fear like it!!! I was so scared they’d have killed him.

Similar, but switch the bull for an Alsatian dog. I was about 7 or 8 and there was a building site beside where we lived at the time, all of us used to sneak in and have a doss in it on the way home from school and one day unbeknownst to us they put two allers in there, the security guard wouldn't bother chasing us. The aller chased us out as far as clontarf though. I thought me number was up that day. Went home bawlin