scariest moment of your life?

branie2

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

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

I did that around the same age, and nearly gave my playschool teacher a heart attack.

eurozonelady

Recently a similar situation - this spring I was on pelvic rest with a risk of miscarriage and my husband was reverse parking into a spot in a tiny Hyundai-i rental car. A driver of a VW Golf came cruising directly into us doing probably doing 40 -50km per hour. For 10 -15 seconds i could see that his speed wasn´t reducing. He was looking at his radio or doing something in that area and literally swerved and missed us in the last 1-3 seconds - he would have hit directly into me and I potentially would have lost the baby. Horrifying.

Hitchhiking as a stupid 13-14 year old teenager and realizing the driver was an old perv. He felt my knee and wanted to go off the main road through a forested area, I argued pretty intensively with him to stay on the main road. I remember pretending to be older than I was, telling the driver that I had a boyfriend studying to be a guard and was a boxer in his free time and that I was going to study law and making up lots of crap to try to put him off. Luckily everything ended up OK and I stopped hitchhiking after that.

When someone you love is suicidal and never knowing when it might happen.. every time certain phone numbers appear on your mobile, you hold your breath and hope it´s not the news you dread.

Sgt Hartman

Came within a whisker of being killed by the Limerick to Cork bus back in 2001 as I strolled across the road not realising that the new bypass road had been opened. I stood at the side of the road afterwards in shock while the motorist behind the bus gave me a volley of abuse for my stupidity. It still doesn't compare to this time 2 years ago however when I almost became homeless. I still don't think I'm fully over the stress of that period.

Recliner

banie01 wrote: »

Thanks ET, it's been quite a while now, 12yrs and I'm not trying to thanks whore.
More show that if the shít hits the fan, no matter how bad you think it may be.
We can prevail and life can be good again.

Reading your post I wouldn't have thought for a second that you were trying to be a thanks whore, but sweet Jesus, even after 12 yrs, I'm sorry for your loss. And fair play for the positive attitude.
I've heard today of a family who've lost their 4th son in tragic circumstances, and I always wonder how do people even bother going on when something so awful happens, but as you say, we can prevail and life can be good again.
Off topic I know, but I just wanted to say that.

freshpopcorn

Mainly moments on the road.
Some were due to other drivers dangerous overtaking/emerging from side roads.
One I really remember from when I was younger. I was with my mother and a lorry swerved over to our side of the road she had to go into the ditch to avoid him and we blew out a tyre.
I got myself into silly situations in cars when I was around 18 due to my own bad choices.

Nigel Fairservice

My mother passed away recently after a brain hemorrhage.

She was brought into A&E by ambulance and I remember running around A&E trying to find her after she was brought in. I found a white board near the admissions desk with patient's names on it and my mother's name written in a box in the middle of the board surrounded by red and resuscitation room written next to it. I thought she was dead when I saw that. A nurse eventually brought me and my father into a family room and told us a doctor would speak to us soon. After we were brought into a family room I definitely thought it would be to tell us the worst. The doctor came in and told us my mother was after having a brain hemorrhage and would need a procedure to stop the bleeding. After she took us in to see my mother. She was a bit zonked but she knew me and my father were there. I ran out for a few minutes to call my younger sister to tell her what happened. It was the worst phone call I ever had to make. I could hardly get the words out when trying to explain to her what happened. After the call I composed myself and went back in to my mother. They took her off for the procedure and after a few hours waiting we were told it was successful, the bleeding had been stopped.

We saw her that night in intensive care and she looked worse for wear but the nurse told us she'd be sitting up by tomorrow. I didn't believe her. We went in to visit my mother the following day and by god she was out of intensive care, sitting up in a chair and eating her lunch. We couldn't believe it. She had all her faculties. She was in good form and giving out to me for missing a concert I was meant to go to the previous day. There was talk of discharging her in a couple of days. We were relieved.

Over the course of a few days her condition started to worsen. She was starting to get confused, started trailing off when speaking. One evening we went to visit her. She picked up her phone and started aimlessly scrolling through it. She was confused and wasn't responding to any questions from us about what she wanted to do with the phone (on reflection she was having a stroke right in front of us).

The next day she was back in intensive care. She was sleeping a lot and alternating between being lucid and confused when she was awake. We went home to sleep for a while and when we went back in the morning we discovered she had been put on a ventilator overnight. The doctors weren't saying a whole lot. We sat by her bedside all day and all night willing her to get through it. In intensive care they dim most of the lights during the night. In the middle of the night a nurse came round and did a pupillary reflex test. I remember the nurse opening my mother's eye and it was looking right at me. The room was quite dark but I was close to my mother and I could see her eye quite well. The nurse shone the pen light into her eye and I could see it wasn't reacting and I knew then she was gone. I can still feel the terror I had at that moment.

The doctors told us the following morning she was brain dead. They needed another doctor to confirm it and we decided to donate my mother's organs so by the time it was all said and done we had been up for 2 days straight. I don't think I ever felt so drained in my life. I went from taking a few weeks off work to be there when she got home to getting ready for her funeral.

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few years ago. I went to hospital for 10 days because one side of my body had stopped working. I was treated for it in hospital and things really improved. I remember the day I was released I was sitting on the edge of my bed with my bag packed when a doctor came into the ward, pulled the curtain and told me I had MS. Nobody had thought to tell me on any of the previous 10 days I'd spent in hospital. I clearly remember the feelings of fear and uncertainty I felt when he told me but it was nothing compared to what I felt with my mother.

Stovepipe

I seem to have a talent for it.....one plane crash, one near plane crash; one car crash in snow, fell asleep at the wheel after a tough night shift and wrecked another car; almost shot with a nail gun when a guy turned towards me in a store room where he was nailing crates and fired the last nail, which missed me by a hair and ricochetted around the stores. Most of my other near death experiences have been in cars, where I have been narrowly missed by other vehicles. fast moving trucks on country lanes have caused me to run into the ditch on at least two occasions. I also got "delhi belly" in Syria and thought I was going to die, by day three.

punisher5112

Nearly drowned in money, lifeguard went absolutely nuts at me for not coming back up to the surface.....

Hey brain wave I took on water and also got pulled under so then didn't know which way was up you fooking dumb asss

Graces7

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

My dad broke his neck a few years ago and was in a coma for several weeks, he was abroad on holidays at the time. Getting the call to say that he'd contracted a ventilator associated bacterial infection and gone into septic shock, and then being informed that the chances of survival were less than 50% (with almost certain paralysis from the shoulders down even if he did survive) was probably the coldest I've ever felt my blood run in a single moment. Every minute of the next few days was a constant battle to stay optimistic and positive despite the cold clutch of fear which literally felt, overly poetic as this might sound, like someone with a hand made of ice squeezing your heart on every single beat.

He made it, but those few days were just terrifying. Not sure if that's the kind of fear OP is looking for, but it's certainly the biggest moment of terror which comes immediately to mind for me.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

I’m not sure I agree. Our experiences are different of course. But I’ve been able to say so many things I really wanted to say to loved ones in the last few years and I’ve been amazed by how much it meant to some of them. Some have told me.

I’m gearing up to writing letters soon.

Sudden deaths are hard. I never had a chance to talk, to say goodbye, to my mother, killed by a car, except to ID her, nor to my only brother who drowned at 19. It leaves a huge, huge space that nothing can ever fill... Makes other folk in your life more precious but never can be filled.

You are blessed, ironic as that must seem ... thankful for thee. and you are doing right..

gmisk

Very nearly hit by a car crossing the road in Dublin.
Almost drowned in a pool in Spain (I am a terrible swimmer - sudden drop in depth - lifeguard did feck all I saved myself - I can now swim thankfully!).
Las Vegas i spent most of the morning drinking these smoothies from starbucks - its turns out they were insanely high in caffeine (I dont drink tea or coffee) and had added whey protein...I was having severe palpitations and literally running to the loo all day in 45 degree heat.
A very bumpy plane trip to Jersey when I was young....lots of opened luggage holders and falling out bags.
I have been in about 4 bomb scares...but none really scary at the time.
Oh and a very horrible assault where I had my face slashed.....kinda blanked that one out!

Deebles McBeebles

punisher5112 wrote: »

Nearly drowned in money, lifeguard went absolutely nuts at me for not coming back up to the surface.....

Hey brain wave I took on water and also got pulled under so then didn't know which way was up you fooking dumb asss

Is that you, Scrooge McDuck?

storker

Dónal wrote: »

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.

I remember doing the exact same thing when I was in the exact same situation...wife gone to ICU to stop the bleeding, baby finally crying after a few minutes of midwives saying "Come on, baby...breathe...", then off to the baby unit, leaving me at a loose end so I wandered up to the baby unit to take a look at my new daughter, but it was all a daze.

Later, when everything was more stable...it might have been the following day... I bought her one of those pink "Baby Girl" teddy bears in the hospital shop. That little baby is 15 years old now and still cuddles "Pinkie" at night.

Airyfairy12

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

My mother passed away recently after a brain hemorrhage.

She was brought into A&E by ambulance and I remember running around A&E trying to find her after she was brought in. I found a white board near the admissions desk with patient's names on it and my mother's name written in a box in the middle of the board surrounded by red and resuscitation room written next to it. I thought she was dead when I saw that. A nurse eventually brought me and my father into a family room and told us a doctor would speak to us soon. After we were brought into a family room I definitely thought it would be to tell us the worst. The doctor came in and told us my mother was after having a brain hemorrhage and would need a procedure to stop the bleeding. After she took us in to see my mother. She was a bit zonked but she knew me and my father were there. I ran out for a few minutes to call my younger sister to tell her what happened. It was the worst phone call I ever had to make. I could hardly get the words out when trying to explain to her what happened. After the call I composed myself and went back in to my mother. They took her off for the procedure and after a few hours waiting we were told it was successful, the bleeding had been stopped.

We saw her that night in intensive care and she looked worse for wear but the nurse told us she'd be sitting up by tomorrow. I didn't believe her. We went in to visit my mother the following day and by god she was out of intensive care, sitting up in a chair and eating her lunch. We couldn't believe it. She had all her faculties. She was in good form and giving out to me for missing a concert I was meant to go to the previous day. There was talk of discharging her in a couple of days. We were relieved.

Over the course of a few days her condition started to worsen. She was starting to get confused, started trailing off when speaking. One evening we went to visit her. She picked up her phone and stated aimlessly scrolling through it. She was confused and wasn't responding to any questions from us about what she wanted to do with the phone (on reflection she was having a stroke right in front of us).

The next day she was back in intensive care. She was sleeping a lot and alternating between being lucid and confused when she was awake. We went home to sleep for a while and when we went back in the morning we discovered she had been put on a ventilator overnight. The doctors weren't saying a whole lot. We sat by her bedside all day and all night willing her to get through it. In intensive care they dim most of the lights during the night. In the middle of the night a nurse came round and did a pupillary reflex test. I remember the nurse opening my mother's eye and it was looking right at me. The room was quite dark but I was close to my mother and I could see her eye quite well. The nurse shone the pen light into her eye and I could see it wasn't reacting and I knew then she was gone. I can still feel the terror I had at that moment.

The doctors told us the following morning she was brain dead. They needed another doctor to confirm it and we decided to donate my mother's organs so by the time it was all said and done we had been up for 2 days straight. I don't think I ever felt so drained in my life. I went from taking a few weeks off work to be there when she got home to getting ready for her funeral.

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few years ago. I went to hospital for 10 days because one side of my body had stopped working. I was treated for it in hospital and things really improved. I remember the day I was released I was sitting on the edge of my bed with my bag packed when a doctor came into the ward, pulled the curtain and told me I had MS. Nobody had thought to tell me on any of the previous 10 days I'd spent in hospital. I clearly remember the feelings of fear and uncertainty I felt when he told me but it was nothing compared to what I felt with my mother.

So sorry to hear about your mother, this hits home for me as my mother also had a brain hemorrhage but by pure luck she survived and suffered no long term consequences. It was incredibly scary though and I cant even begin to imagine what it would have felt like to be in your shoes. An absolute nightmare.
Life is so transient and we never know when our time is up or when we'll last speak to a loved one,
sounds very cheesy but it is so important to cherish everyday.

Nigel Fairservice

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

So sorry to hear about your mother, this hits home for me as my mother also had a brain hemorrhage but by pure luck she survived and suffered no long term consequences. It was incredibly scary though and I cant even begin to imagine what it would have felt like to be in your shoes. An absolute nightmare.
Life is so transient and we never know when our time is up or when we'll last speak to a loved one,
sounds very cheesy but it is so important to cherish everyday.

Thanks, glad your mother got through it.

It's very true though, never thought when I woke up that morning we'd have to deal with what we did. She waved my sister off that morning for her lectures and was in good form. 2 hours later she had the haemorrhage.

SlowBlowin

Wifes cancer diagnosis. When we got to the hospital and checked in at oncology reception the lady said "ahh yes, I will let them know you are here", I knew then. Wife knew 5 minutes later.

Airyfairy12

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

Thanks, glad your mother got through it.

It's very true though, never thought when I woke up that morning we'd have to deal with what we did. She waved my sister off that morning for her lectures and was in good form. 2 hours later she had the haemorrhage.

Its terrifying how suddenly it happens, with no warning at all.
I hope you and your sister get yourselves checked, just to be sure, sometimes these things can be hereditary and can lie dormant for years. Both of my mothers sisters went for scans and were both found to have cloths in there brains that were operated on. Im not trying to scare you but its worth looking into.

jmreire

gmisk wrote: »

Very nearly hit by a car crossing the road in Dublin.
Almost drowned in a pool in Spain (I am a terrible swimmer - sudden drop in depth - lifeguard did feck all I saved myself - I can now swim thankfully!).
Las Vegas i spent most of the morning drinking these smoothies from starbucks - its turns out they were insanely high in caffeine (I dont drink tea or coffee) and had added whey protein...I was having severe palpitations and literally running to the loo all day in 45 degree heat.
A very bumpy plane trip to Jersey when I was young....lots of opened luggage holders and falling out bags.
I have been in about 4 bomb scares...but none really scary at the time.
Oh and a very horrible assault where I had my face slashed.....kinda blanked that one out!

Definitely some one looking out for you.....where ( when) did the bomb scare's happen???

baldshin

Flipped my car at about 80kmph, car in front had totally stopped on a bend and by the time I realised it wasn't moving I tried to go around it....they decided to start a u-turn and clipped me as I went by,. My car flipped and landed on the roof, skidded for a good 30 metres...the noise of the roof on the ground, smashing glass, waiting for it to stop moving and not knowing where or how it was going to stop was absolutely terrifying.

Bigmac1euro

Losing my mother out of the blue not long after turning 20.
Heart attack which triggered an aneurysm and I hadn’t seen her for a day or so because I was out partying.
Never felt shock like that in my life. Never even really seen her sick. I then ended up in hospital 2 weeks later in a pretty bad way and this followed a dark year or so which felt like 10 years.
I now look back and realise as a human being we are far more resilient than I ever realised. Living a good life now and extremely happy.
I went from being a child to an adult in a click.

Bigmac1euro

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

My mother passed away recently after a brain hemorrhage.

She was brought into A&E by ambulance and I remember running around A&E trying to find her after she was brought in. I found a white board near the admissions desk with patient's names on it and my mother's name written in a box in the middle of the board surrounded by red and resuscitation room written next to it. I thought she was dead when I saw that. A nurse eventually brought me and my father into a family room and told us a doctor would speak to us soon. After we were brought into a family room I definitely thought it would be to tell us the worst. The doctor came in and told us my mother was after having a brain hemorrhage and would need a procedure to stop the bleeding. After she took us in to see my mother. She was a bit zonked but she knew me and my father were there. I ran out for a few minutes to call my younger sister to tell her what happened. It was the worst phone call I ever had to make. I could hardly get the words out when trying to explain to her what happened. After the call I composed myself and went back in to my mother. They took her off for the procedure and after a few hours waiting we were told it was successful, the bleeding had been stopped.

We saw her that night in intensive care and she looked worse for wear but the nurse told us she'd be sitting up by tomorrow. I didn't believe her. We went in to visit my mother the following day and by god she was out of intensive care, sitting up in a chair and eating her lunch. We couldn't believe it. She had all her faculties. She was in good form and giving out to me for missing a concert I was meant to go to the previous day. There was talk of discharging her in a couple of days. We were relieved.

Over the course of a few days her condition started to worsen. She was starting to get confused, started trailing off when speaking. One evening we went to visit her. She picked up her phone and started aimlessly scrolling through it. She was confused and wasn't responding to any questions from us about what she wanted to do with the phone (on reflection she was having a stroke right in front of us).

The next day she was back in intensive care. She was sleeping a lot and alternating between being lucid and confused when she was awake. We went home to sleep for a while and when we went back in the morning we discovered she had been put on a ventilator overnight. The doctors weren't saying a whole lot. We sat by her bedside all day and all night willing her to get through it. In intensive care they dim most of the lights during the night. In the middle of the night a nurse came round and did a pupillary reflex test. I remember the nurse opening my mother's eye and it was looking right at me. The room was quite dark but I was close to my mother and I could see her eye quite well. The nurse shone the pen light into her eye and I could see it wasn't reacting and I knew then she was gone. I can still feel the terror I had at that moment.

The doctors told us the following morning she was brain dead. They needed another doctor to confirm it and we decided to donate my mother's organs so by the time it was all said and done we had been up for 2 days straight. I don't think I ever felt so drained in my life. I went from taking a few weeks off work to be there when she got home to getting ready for her funeral.

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few years ago. I went to hospital for 10 days because one side of my body had stopped working. I was treated for it in hospital and things really improved. I remember the day I was released I was sitting on the edge of my bed with my bag packed when a doctor came into the ward, pulled the curtain and told me I had MS. Nobody had thought to tell me on any of the previous 10 days I'd spent in hospital. I clearly remember the feelings of fear and uncertainty I felt when he told me but it was nothing compared to what I felt with my mother.

My own mother passed this way pretty much except she never regained consciousness. Heart attack causing Aneurysm burst causing a haemorrhage.

The same thing happened to my OH’s mother back in October just gone. I rang an ambulance as the OH’s elder sister was panicking and thought she had taken something or been spiked or food poisoned because she just started getting sick and making no sense couldn’t stand etc. We went to 3 hospitals chasing ambulances in the same night only to discover she had an aneurysm which burst.

To cut a long story short she got the operation the following morning as soon as she stabilised and within 2 weeks she was out of hospital and made a full recovery.
She thanks me all the time for potentially saving her life and calling the ambulance.
So if there’s anything positive that came from my own mothers death maybe I saved my OH’s mother.
The things life throws at you.

Snotty

During the delivery of our 3rd child, wife started saying she was feeling odd, then very cold, eventually passing out and not responding. The midwife was a very experienced lady, well into her 50s, I looked at her and I could see the blood draining from her face, she ran out to the hallway and shouted "get EVERYONE", I'll never forget this words, she was actually panicking and of course so was I. Within minutes the room was filled with 20 doctors and nurses, there was about 4 of them around me cause I probably looked like I was having a heart attack.
Differnt doctors would come in and get a status and kind of say "OK, it's not me you need" and then just stand around.
It was surreal and although I thought it was about 5 minutes before the right doctor arrived, I later found out he came the whole way from home, about 15 minutes drive away.
In the end mother and baby were both well, but jesus was I scared.

kowloon

Not in the same league as m0ost of these posts, but I got my eyelid stuck in a zipper once.

Metroid diorteM

Mac-Chops wrote: »

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!

I had a similar experience as a kid. F*_k banana boats.

gmisk

jmreire wrote: »

Definitely some one looking out for you.....where ( when) did the bomb scare's happen???

All in northern ireland - 1 in ballymena and i think the others in belfast.
I honestly cannot remember when I would have been youngish for all but one, there were a lot of hoaxes thankfully in among the real ones.

the beer revolu

Not so much a moment of fear but a slowly creeping sense of dread.

Last year my father-in-law and my father both died. 89 and 91 - so a good long life for both of them.

I watched my FIL lose his mind over the space of 2 years and gradually lose his independence, to the point where he couldn't really do anything for himself.

I watched my father over a similar time period lose physical independence to the point where he couldn't stand up without a hoist. As we couldn't manage him in his home he had to go into a nursing home for the last few months of his life. Despite the home being wonderful and the staff being beyond wonderful (Douglas Nursing Home, Cork), he was beyond miserable and was extremely vocal about it.
It was a very difficult time for all involved.

I now look at my almost 90 year old mother left alone and lonely with no sense of purpose.


I am fcuking terrified of growing old.
I am fcuking terrified of being left alone.


Woh, perhaps I needed to write that. Thank you

fattymuatty

Blazer wrote: »

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

My son had a febrile convulsion at about the same age and that's what immediately sprung to mind when I read the thread title.
He was beside me in a bed and suddenly started having a fit, then he just went limp. I had no idea humans could be so limp, I was holding him and he nearly slid through my arms. I have never felt fear and panic like it.

the beer revolu

This one has to be up there.

Was driving through Kilrush on a sunny summer's evening.

Guy steps out in font of the car (traveling slowly), I stop and before I know it, three very drunk , em, gentlemen were in my car. The two in the back were extremely drunk, huge and bloodied, Panicking and not knowing what to do, I drive off. Half a minute later I come to a roundabout and inform my passengers that I need to go straight ahead.
The lad in the front seat leaned towards me and said "if you don't turn right, things won't work out well for you, at all, lad". I turned right.

It worked out fine, though. Turned out that they wanted to go to the golf club, a few minutes down the road.

rainbow kirby

Going from sitting on the edge of a bed waiting for an epidural to be placed when in labour with my second child, to being practically slammed back against the bed, to pushing, to the emergency cord being pulled, to 15 people suddenly appearing in the room and manoeuvres for shoulder dystocia starting to delivering a grey, lifeless baby boy in the space of about fifteen minutes. He had to be resuscitated and brought to the NICU in an incubator while I had a relatively big bleed and was confined to the bed for hours on a drip. First feed down an NG tube which he had to have because I had too much fluid in the last few weeks, X-rays to check for broken collarbone or arms. He had to start treatment for neonatal sepsis the next day and we were six nights in hospital after he was born.

Thankfully he's a thriving, energetic, funny 18 month old now but holy ****. That day and that first week. I'm still medicated for postnatal depression and have PTSD symptoms.

the beer revolu

Thought of another one.

I was 18 or 19, driving my dad's Opel Kadett. I was fast and cool on a country road. It was dark.
Came around a corner and there was a labrador in the middle of the road, in my headlights. I swerved, only to then see two teenagers, terrified, in my headlights. Swerved again to see a stone wall getting closer. Stopped befor hitting the wall.
In my shock and fear, I just drove away without checking on the kids. I didn't hit anyone or anything but I still should have stopped and engaged.
Put manners on me for a while!

Voodoomelon

Last year, San Diego, Mission Beach, went out bodyboarding in the sea for a good 15 minutes, had been there the day before.

There was a big line of maybe 15 surfers in wetsuits all waiting for big waves about 150 metres from shore. There was no one beyond them.

I was catching the waves, having fun and then all of a sudden noticed how quiet it was. No more waves crashing, no more people. I was a good 50 metres past the surfers. I'd say in 30 seconds flat i'd been swept 100 metres out to where I was in a rip current.

I never in my life felt so terrified and alone, the beach looked so far away and it was just me, my swim shorts and a small little body board. My first though was ****, I have no phone to call anyone!

I started micro panicking after 60 seconds of stupidly trying to swim back against the current, pointless. Then started proper panicking them I realised there was no where to go but down. My mate was a good 100 metres way from me, he wouldn't make it out and even if he could, what would he do? My board was so small all I could do was use one arm to swim, using the other to hold the board under me which kept slipping out. Absolutely exhausting.

I spotted a lifeguard on the beach running towards the water full pelt with a surfboard, I thought "yep, that's for me". Having him on the way out made me relax a bit straight away and when he reached me he told me to grab onto the board and rest for a minute. Then directed me to swim horizontal to the shore which you should always to with a rip current and then swim back in around it. I even knew this but forgot it all in the moment.

That feeling of vulnerability i'll never forgot, essentially all but naked in the ocean with the seabed 10 metres below and no one about to help you. Another minute of panicking and I was dead. I think about it every week.

bodhrandude

My old man almost got killed in the mid seventies, he was driving an Avery truck, he was doing weights and measures in Scotland, checking weighbridges and the like. Anyways he is driving around Loch Ness on a narrow mountainside road when a car coming the opposite way veered into his path, he was forced to swerve as his truck went down the side of the mountain toward the loch. He remembers the weights crashing through his back window and missing his head by inches, luckily the truck came to a stop before he hit water. He only had a few cuts in the end.

Graces7

the beer revolu wrote: »

Not so much a moment of fear but a slowly creeping sense of dread.

Last year my father-in-law and my father both died. 89 and 91 - so a good long life for both of them.

I watched my FIL lose his mind over the space of 2 years and gradually lose his independence, to the point where he couldn't really do anything for himself.

I watched my father over a similar time period lose physical independence to the point where he couldn't stand up without a hoist. As we couldn't manage him in his home he had to go into a nursing home for the last few months of his life. Despite the home being wonderful and the staff being beyond wonderful (Douglas Nursing Home, Cork), he was beyond miserable and was extremely vocal about it.
It was a very difficult time for all involved.

I now look at my almost 90 year old mother left alone and lonely with no sense of purpose.


I am fcuking terrified of growing old.
I am fcuking terrified of being left alone.


Woh, perhaps I needed to write that. Thank you

Hugs from here,,, assuring that as you get older that fear diminishes, . I used t be so scared but now at nearly 80, that has eased. Seems to be our system;s preparation. I am alone in the physical sense, on a small isolated island with no close neightbours, as lost all my family decades ago but I enjoy the peace of it, and the changes of old age tend to be gradual. Hang on in there! Your awareness and the fear itself will help

Henry Ford III

A few years ago myself and my brother were spectating in the Clare Stages Rally very close to my folks house. We were on the inside of a corner (as per instructions). A car lost control and went airborne and hit a telegraph pole just in front of us.

Had it not I wouldn't have fancied our chances.

bladespin

the beer revolu wrote: »

I am fcuking terrified of growing old.
I am fcuking terrified of being left alone.


Woh, perhaps I needed to write that. Thank you

I can definitely empathize with you on this, I hit 45 last week and for the first time I realised that I was half-way through :eek: the more I thought about it the more afraid I get.

the beer revolu

bladespin wrote: »

I can definitely empathize with you on this, I hit 45 last week and for the first time I realised that I was half-way through :eek: the more I thought about it the more afraid I get.

Oh I'm not afraid of dying, it's what happens before that that worries me.

bladespin

the beer revolu wrote: »

Oh I'm not afraid of dying, it's what happens before that that worries me.

Same, it's not the end I fear, it's how I get there.

Redneck Reject

Running into an Iraqi platoon during Desert Shield who unloaded everything they had. And watching my spotter freeze in the commotion. Luckily he wasn't hit but I definitely fcuked him out of it when it was over.

gmisk

Redneck Reject wrote: »

Running into an Iraqi platoon during Desert Shield who unloaded everything they had. And watching my spotter freeze in the commotion. Luckily he wasn't hit but I definitely fcuked him out of it when it was over.

My dad was actually a prisoner during that, well a human shield, he had been working as a plumber in Saddams palace......honestly.

Redneck Reject

gmisk wrote: »

My dad was actually a prisoner during that, well a human shield, he had been working as a plumber in Saddams palace......honestly.

I am truly fascinated as to how he ended up doing that. Was he prior military or a civilian who got caught up in it all?Saddam had about 12 palaces my platoon took over the one in Ahi Habu.Which one was your dad in?

gmisk

Redneck Reject wrote: »

I am truly fascinated as to how he ended up doing that. Was he prior military or a civilian who got caught up in it all?Saddam had about 12 palaces my platoon took over the one in Ahi Habu.Which one was your dad in?

He was a civilian.
I think he was working for a company called Rotary at the time.
He worked abroad for a long long time, he was also somewhere else where there was a coup and another when there was volcanic eruption after Iraq (Montserrat).
To be honest he doesn't really like to talk about it that much.
But he had some crazy stories.
Glad you made it out!

ZX7R

The scariest thing to happen to me was the realisation that you have no control over anything in life and the beautiful children you brought into this world will someday have to have this scariest realisation at some point in there lifes

beertons

Ran out in front of a car when I was 3, nearly killed me. Think I was on a life support machine for 3 days. They gave me no hope, then my uncle came in with a recording of Bosco on a tape, played it and I came through.

fattymuatty

fattymuatty wrote: »

My son had a febrile convulsion at about the same age and that's what immediately sprung to mind when I read the thread title.
He was beside me in a bed and suddenly started having a fit, then he just went limp. I had no idea humans could be so limp, I was holding him and he nearly slid through my arms. I have never felt fear and panic like it.

With you all on the febrile seizures. My daughter (who I mentioned earlier on in the thread who had to be resusitated at birth*) suffers from them. Has had 6 of them in the last 2 years.

In March just gone was the scariest one. She went into full seizure (but was only mildly shaking) for a good 25 minutes. The scariest thing was that she was unable to speak any words until we got to the hospital and said the word "yeah" in response to a question. Talk about relief. I spent the next 5 days in Tallaght hospital with her.

We carry medication that goes with her to bring her out of a seizure if it lasts over 5 minutes now. The common signs for my daughter that she's about to have a seizure are that she's off her food and not drinking much, and usually there's a temperature involved too.

Every time she has a cold, we're staring at her to see if she is going to go into seizure. She picked up loads of viruses in playschool this year too. Hard to relax about it, other than to try to just accept that it's just a thing that kids generally grow out of.

Way too much information but given the discussion about febrile seizures, some of the above information about seizures might be useful.

*Some of the doctors asked a lot of questions about whether her birth was normal or not, so there's a line of thinking that it could be related.

Toots

There have been a few, but one that sticks out is when my little sister went missing.

I've mentioned this a few times before, but she has Down Syndrome, and she wouldn't be capable of going out and about on her own. Her speech isn't great, and while the family can understand her fine, the general public wouldn't be able to in most cases.

So this happened about 10 or more years ago, she was about 14 at the time. She used to go to a social group every Saturday morning in the local community centre. Someone in the family would drop her off, but to try and foster her sense of independence, we wouldn't walk all the way in with her, we were encouraged to drop her at the door and let her come in herself (same went for all the kids who went, bar one who was in a wheelchair) So that day I was dropping her off. I pulled up outside the door, watched her go inside, waited a few minutes just to be sure, and then headed off.

Came back an hour later and collection was usually a reverse of drop off - she would come out to us. I decided to stand out of the car to make sure she saw me when she came out. So all the other kids come out, and no sign of my sister. I decided to go in and have a look in case she was in the bathroom or something. I went in through the main door, and then halfway down the corridor to the room where their group met, there was a security door. That door was new and hadn't been there the previous week.

I started to get a bad feeling, and then the lady who ran the group came out and asked why I was here and I said "I'm here to collect 'sister'." I swear I nearly felt my heart stop when she replied "but 'sister' didn't come to the group today" and I replied that she did, I dropped her at the door and watched her go inside. The woman's face just went white and she ran up to the security office to check the cameras. Sure enough, my sister goes in, but when she gets to the security door, she doesn't know what to do. She spends about 5 minutes trying to open it and then leaves.

I managed to stay calm long enough to ring my parents and tell them what happened, then I absolutely lost it. At the time my sister would have had no idea how to get around independently, would have had no idea about safely crossing roads etc and I just had visions of her lying on the side of the road, or in a hospital having been hit by a car and nobody had any idea who she was.

Gardai were called, and a huge group of volunteers were out looking for her for hours. My other sister and I wondered would she have gotten on the luas, but that idea was dismissed by everyone else because the luas was about a 40 minute walk from the community centre, and she walked incredibly slowly. It was also up a very steep hill. I kinda felt it was a possibility because she was gone an hour before anyone realised she was missing.

By about 6pm she'd been missing 7 hours and I was absolutely convinced we were going to be getting a call saying they'd found her either dead or badly injured. In desperation, my other sister got on the luas and headed in to the city, and asked the luas drivers to put the word out about her. She got off at Stephen's green (last stop in those days) walked across the road, and there's my little sister, sitting on the bench outside the gaiety. I was already heading in to town in the car, so we collected them and brought them home.

My sister didn't seem too bothered, meanwhile the rest of us were absolutely traumatised. As we were driving home, my middle sister got a call from the luas control room (the driver passed on her number) to say they saw my sister on the luas at about 11.45 and she got off at the green, but couldn't see where she went from there. Basically, what happened was when she couldn't get the new door open, she decided she was going to go home. She wasn't sure how to get there, but knew that my other sister came home from college on the luas, so she got on that. Obviously she didn't know where to get off, so she stayed on the whole way in. I assume she got off at Stephen's Green because at the time, everyone would have gotten off there. She told us she was waiting for the pantomime to start at the gaiety. Her school had gone there at Christmas. So it was basically a miracle that she decided to sit there and hang around, because if she'd wandered off through the city centre, god knows what would have happened.

So that's the story of (one of) the scariest moment of my life. My sister was completely unbothered by the whole thing. My other sister and I were utterly scarred, and none of the rest of the family slept for weeks afterwards.

Outlaw Pete

Jesus, Toots, I was just gonna to post a similar story about my sister and then I thought, wait a minute, this has happened before, major deja vu and so I searched and whatya know ... it's our ten year anniversary :P

Graces7

a moment of utter helpless terror as I was forced to stop running in a shop doorway to do up strappy sandals. Hot sun on bare arms and terror in every pore.
We were on holiday, my truncated family of my mother, my older brother, Peter, 19 and about to go up to Cambridge, and me, Just recovering from my father;s abandoning and managing a short break in the Lakes.

It was our last morning and I was engrossed in books, Peter and a 12 year old staying there had gone to the river. Lazy sister who could maybe have stopped the outcome.

!2 year old came back to the guest house and my mother ran off, followed by me.

That moment when I had to stop was the absolute of sheer terror as without knowing what had happened I knew it was something purely terrible i could do nothing about

By the river bank, Peter, drowned. Some American tourists working on him. My mother oblivious to me. Her arms reddening in the sun. Then the ambulance, pretending he was not dead. A crowd of sightseers gawping

Then the policeman, blood on his shirt sleeves, coming to tell us what we already knew.

Part of utter fear is the loss of the ability to avert or alleviate it. And the sudden unexpectedness of it,

I can still feel that moment when I had to stop to sort my sandals in every fibre of me, the utter terror. Life stopping, life changing. Helplessness.
Even over 60 years ago.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

This has brought back something I had all but forgotten.. THANK YOU.

The evening before he drowned, peter with my and the 12 year old John, had taken a rowing boat out on the lake, and the boatman had trusted us to stay out later and return the boat to its moorings. It was called "Magpie"

In those days, girls were... just girls, and Peter was always working hard at his studies to get to Cambridge and took little notice of his sister.

It was dark as we ran back along the lanes to the lodging house and suddenly, Peter reached out his hand and took mine, something he had never ever done before, and so kindly told me not to be afraid. It was so odd .

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

^ that’s really sad but oddly comforting

mr_fegelien

Surprised to not see more stories about going homeless, prison.

gibgodsman

In school, got hit with a bag and slapped my head of a wall. Was in the principles office with the fellow student who did the hitting, I was 11.

Felt sick so the principle rang my uncle at the time, my mum was in hospital with a big of stomach pain for the 2 days before so I was staying with my uncle.

Principle then goes and gets my 2 older brothers in the school and tells us, your uncles in the hospital visiting your mum so we will bring you to them, I was too young to realize, 10 minutes later I watched my mother take her last breath, apparently she had cancer for the past 2 years and no one knew, not even her, misdiagnosed 7 times by our local GP and the hospital had already sent her home the week before telling her nothing was wrong.

I will never see anything scarier and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy

CorkMan_

In 1996 myself and the brother had finished helping my Uncle out at his business. It was 2am and we were walking back to the house when this car pulls up beside us and a fella jumped out the back of the car. They hadn't seen my Uncle who had stopped for a piss behind us and he roared at him. The fella jumped in the car and it sped off. Uncle said to us when he caught up with us that the fella had a huge knife behind his back. That's when the frighteners hit in, thinking of what could have happened.

11 years ago witnessed a crash in the middle of the night, car landed on it's roof and knew going across it was a bad one as the A and B pillers had collapsed. Sure enough no signs of life. Can't really remember what he looked like but will never forget his name and how quiet everything was. Only sound was the hissing of the coolant escaping.

Then there was the time my girlfriend at the time decided to roll her car, anyone that's been in accident will tell, how everything happening seems to be in slow motion. Thankfully we were fine but the car was in sh!te.