I was 35… Im now 73."
Content warning: Discussions of near-death experiences, assault, and attempted homicide.
To be human is to endure, and sometimes endure the most extreme.
Here’s everything they shared:
1.
“My ‘one-in-a-million odds’ story happened when I sustained major injuries in a car crash three years ago.
Our daughter was being fussy, so I turned around to comfort her, and he did the same.
I screamed at him to turn around, but it was too late.”
Had I made it to the couch, I would not be here.
He quickly called 911, thinking I had passed out from a migraine.
“Twelve years ago, I had a severe aortic dissection with damage to the aorta and multiple valves.
The surgeon said it looked like a gunshot from a high-caliber weapon.
I survived long enough to receive my last rites and say goodbye to my family.
He told me I had less than 1%.”
“After a 7-hour surgery, I was placed in a coma.
It took two weeks in ICU, two more in critical care, and a month in recovery.
After 5 months of rehab, I returned to work on light duty.
At the one-year anniversary, my surgeon actually called me.
Anonymous
4.
“A friend of mine was run over by a tractor.
It caught her foot and ended up running over both of her legs.
Of course, she quit baling hay after that and got an office job.”
I’m now 73.
I’m sure the public health worker who told me my test results is long gone.
Surprise, I’m still here.”
It’s called ‘practicing’ medicine for a reason.
Don’t get me wrong.
I’m here because I followed the doctors' orders.
BUT… they’re NOT infallible.
I relish getting older and continuing to prove them wrong."
“When I was 17 and a senior in high school, I had a second stroke.
After some quick action by my doctor and the wonderful surgical team down there, my heart was restarted.
This was based on my epilepsy, learning patterns, and other things.”
I was recently diagnosed with a form of dyslexia at 51 years of age.
Not bad, huh?"
smellytortoise841
8.
“Not me, but my son had a slim chance to survive after birth.
At the time, he had a smallcoarctationin his heart that caused a decrease in beats.
When he was finally taken out of me, I didn’t hear him cry at all.
I was told that he swallowedmeconiumin the womb and that it filled his lungs.
While he was on life support, a little girl next to us who experienced that same thing died.
We were devastated for the parents and scared of what would happen to our son.”
marianmooret
9.
“My twin sister and I were born in 1993 at 26 weeks.
I was 750 grams (~1.65 lbs).
We both needed incubators for weeks and could not be touched.
They wrapped me in bubble wrap to keep me warm.
My sister and I are both neurodivergent, but survived with few lasting effects.
We are very lucky.
My dad still can’t talk about that time.
The doctors and nurses were amazing, and I met one 20 years later.
Thank goodness for the NHS.”
“I was born with a heart defect in 1971.
At 19, I had another heart surgery to repair a hole in my heart.
I was told I might make it to 30, but I would never have kids.
At 30, I had my first child and then another at 32.
They were surprised when I not only survived but had no brain damage.”
Just one week after myPICC linewas pulled, I lost my partner of 32 years in a hiking accident.
“I was in a motorcycle crash almost nine years ago.
A truck and trailer ran a stop sign, and I slammed into the side of the trailer.
I slid under the trailer, was dragged 80 ft, and became pinned under the trailer’s weight.
“My mother abandoned my sister and I with our drug dealer father when we were little.
Not only did I survive, but I somehow survived well.
Statistically, I definitely shouldn’t be here.”
When I started to skid on the ice, I overcorrected, which spun me the other way.
So here I am, watching this snowbank get a little closer and closer…
I knew I was going to hit it.
I even braced myself for it… then BOOM!
I tried to find my cellphone but couldn’t find it anywhere.
Sitting there, I realized no one was coming.
If I was going to get help, I had to do it myself.
They asked me where I was.
I had no idea where I walked, so I couldn’t tell them.
I thought they could track the phone, but apparently, that’s a common misconception.
They sent out an ambulance to the general area where I was driving.
I looked for some mail in the house to find an address but couldn’t find one.
Gotta love small towns, lol.”
And lastly:
14.
“My story is absolutely stranger than fiction.
In 2019, my then-husband had a psychotic break and tried to kill me.
He had been struggling for months and refused help.
I had a feeling something would happen, but not like this.”
“I came home on my lunch break, and he ambushed me with an 8-inch chef knife.
All in all, he stabbed me 26 times.
I fought as hard as I could, but he more than outmatched me in strength and size.
To this day, I believe that EMT is a huge factor as to why I’m alive.”
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
