So, when a Reddit user asked people with near-death experiences, 'How did you almost die?' people everywhere were ready to share the tale.
T-boned by a cement truck. Guy at the tow yard couldn’t believe I was still alive. - psharp203
Double murder robbery I missed because I was smoking with my ride. Ruby Tuesday's, 1998, July 4. If I'd been on time to work that day instead of 10 minutes late, I'd be dead, too. - snuFaluFagus040
When we were getting in the car to go to school, my little brother had this habit of turning on the ignition. One day, he forgot to open the garage door. Our mom wasn't very quick to get her bag that day. I remember talking to him and how we both agreed we were still tired, and I remember waking up to the sound of the garage door opening and my mom being pissed - TheMermaidHarmony
Sepsis. Because I was basically abusing Advil for pain relief, I developed 2 extremely large kidney stones, one in each kidney. We're talking half a fist size stones which were never going to pass.
Anyways, I developed an infection from some of the bacteria that built up. I thought it was the flu so I called in sick on a Friday. Was sick all weekend too. Come Monday, I thought I felt better so I stubbornly decided to go to work.
Once at work, my co-workers looked at me and told me I had to go to the doctor. They made a same day appointment and one drove me in my car to the doctor. Another followed along so the person who drove me would have a ride back to work.
By the time the doctor saw me, my breathing was becoming labored. The doctor looked at me and said I needed to go to the ER. So, off to the ER we went. By the time I got to the ER, I was starting to go delirious. My co-worker friend had to help me fill out the paperwork because I couldn't write anymore.
At the ER, due to my breathing issues, I got triaged to the front of the line. After running some tests, the doctor's determined that I was going into septic shock.
From there, I got transferred to intensive care and eventually recovered. Had I not stubbornly gone to work that day, I probably would have died alone at home - Thalionalfirin
Drunk at a train station, realised I was on the wrong platform and jumped onto the tracks to quickly get to the right platform - got hit by the train I wanted to catch! Thankfully it was going very slowly at this point... - No_MoreNails
Rip tide in Malibu. I was knee deep and decided to float on my back because there weren’t waves crashing in that area. I close my eyes floating for a bit, stop floating and look to see the beach was so. far. away…
I tried to swim back, but I kept getting farther and farther away. I eventually get tired and float on my back again, then tried swimming again, floating again, until I see a surfer nearby and yell/wave my arms for help. He comes by, tells me to grab onto his board.
Huffing and puffing, arms so tired, I weakly grab onto the board as he asks me ‘is this your first rip tide?’ I asked back ‘what is a rip tide?’ Guy educated me the whole way back to the beach. - seriouslysteph
I have severe asthma. When I was a child, I woke up barely able to breathe. Just a trickle of air, which didn't even allow me to speak. I shook my parents awake. Fortunately, they soon realised and called an ambulance. I finally stopped breathing and was resuscitated by my parents on the dining table. It was a terrifying experience
Fun fact: the evening before I had eaten potatoes for the first time. I was convinced it was because of that and didn't eat potatoes until I understood what asthma was. - Random-stranger_
Got a tattoo on my leg, not my first tattoo so i figured it would be a simple heal like the others were... apparently not.
First couple of days were a breeze, after day 2 I couldn't stretch my calf to walk so i had a limp, but I wasn't really concerned at this point.
Day 4 rolls round, and by this point, it's a deep shade of red and burning hot, so I described what was going on to the artist and got told that it was okay and leg tattoos usually end up like that, in hindsight I should've gone to the Dr's for it but I trusted the artist and figured it was okay and it's just freaking me out cause it was my first leg tat.
I still had an inkling of doubt in the artists response so I'd asked my mate to take a look and see what she reckons, and naturally she flipped out and told me to get it checked.
But I'm an idiot, so I didn't listen to her right away, but by that night, it had gone from red to dark purple with pus blisters forming so I went to a&e. I would've died had I not gone to the hospital that night. It was my own fault cause I should've gone on day 4, but it's over now. - lieonthefloor
I died during gall bladder surgery when the surgeon accidentally nicked my liver and I bled out. Thankfully, he managed to realive me and I'm still here 22 years on!- Nonbinary_Cryptid
A tooth almost got me. Got infected and got into my blood stream: got a nice stay in ICU - Sechrest26
I went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled and almost died from an allergic reaction to laughing gas. I embedded my fingers into the metal of the chair arms during my convulsions from over gripping.
The whole time it was happening, I was hallucinating that I was falling down a hole, but the walls were rainbow colored. - Single-Spinach-3178
Was skiing down a mountain and some lady snowboarder stopped abruptly in front of me. I swerved to avoid her and flew towards the side of the mountain. This was at a ski resort, but for some reason they used orange construction site nets (the ones with holes in them) and not actual sturdy fencing for this part of the mountain.
My legs slid under the net and I was stuck there, with my legs attached to heavy skis and dangling off a mountain slope. I was clinging onto the ground for dear life and praying that the net could hold up my body weight, shouting for help. Everyone ignored me and I was eventually rescued by a ski instructor coming down the slope. - raisin-in-a-box
This actually happened to me recently, July 20th 2023, I was hit by a truck while riding my bicycle, multiple compound fractures in my leg, and a cracked pelvis, luckily walked away with my life and no head injuries. - BruceFlockaWayne
Appendicitis. I thought it was the flu, then Covid, then through the retching and rolling on the floor in delirium realized that I should get to hospital. On that 20 min drive, pain went from 3 to like 8+. The surgeon said the organ 'ripped like a soggy cardboard box' when he tried to remove it. - johnnydecameron
For a laugh, i took a big lungful of helium from the tank at work as i was leaving, walked out back to where my friends were waiting for me, was going to say something in a funny helium voice when i saw them, but i apparently blacked out out once i got outside, walked across the road and faceplanted in the dirt.
Scraped my ear on a piece of rebar that was sticking out of the ground about 18 inches. Had i been a bit to the left, it would have gone straight through my head. My friends said i went in to convulsions for a bit, and then i stood up confused. - Joranthalus