People Describe The Moment They Thought 'I’m Going To Die'

These Redditors thought they were seeing their watery graves.

Stuck In The Muck

"Put a ramp up on the side of a shallow pond. Raced my BMX bike up and hit the ramp. Flipped over and landed on my back in the water."

"Was immediately sucked into the sludge on the bottom about two feet down — just far enough to not be able to reach the air and still have the bike on top of me. My cousin was able to get to me in time and pull me out of that glue. F'king horrific."

– JonSmith12345

A Lesson Learned

"This is more or less a similar moment that i had."

"We were riding in the woods at night with a couple of buddies on motocross bikes and we came upon a ditch. It had some sort of a bridge which consisted of five small tree trunks. The first madman of our group went over the bridge with his bike while i followed and had my front wheel drop through the 'bridge.' I fell down to the freezing cold water and i was completely submerged. Things weren't bad enough because the 100kg bike followed soon after and held me underwater. This was the moment where i thought that 'i'm going to die.' My friends moved the bike over so that they could pull me up from the water."

"Safe to say that riding home from that trip in a 5°c weather in complete darkness felt like a fun experience."

"I'm never ever using closes motorcycle helmets again while riding in the woods."

– VACkizuu

Violent Waves

"Almost drown in the ocean. Got pulled out and couldn't get back in. Waves kept crashing over my head and pushing me down untol I couldn't figure down from up. I was so exhausted from fighting to get to shore and getting my head above water. I would just pop out and another wave would push me under."

"I just gave up at one point and I so clearly remember thinking, so this is how I die. And it didn't seem a bad way to go at that moment."

"Then suddenly I felt a hand around my arm and a jet skier pulled me up out of the water and gave me a lift back."

– Different_Bedroom_88

A Heat Wave

"First time with volunteer firefighters trying to knock down a small swamp wildfire off a rural road."

"Wind suddenly picked up and a wall of flame came racing toward us. Clung to the back of the fire truck and fled just as a giant wave of fire crossed the road literally a few feet behind us."

"Damn that was scary."

– QuackedUp99

Death was at their door but these Redditors were mercifully spared. This time.

Terror Storm

"I was driving home in a bad thunderstorm, when suddenly the wind became insane. I pulled my car off the highway onto an exit when suddenly a limb off a tree sailed through the air, and cracked my windshield, so I hit the brakes."

"A second later, the car began to lift slightly off the ground. I thought for sure I was going to die."

"Moments later, the storm had cleared. Windows in shops all around were blown out."

"I got home and turned on the local news. Apparently a tornado passed directly through where I was, in my car."

– ToBePacific

Sweet Danger

"I experienced the same thing when I got a sweet stuck in my throat, think I was about 13 years old. I was in the house on my own. I was running around like a headless chicken because I could only get about 10% of breath. After a while I just laid on the floor to try and calm down and that's when I just let go and could feel myself drifting off. It was like I had separated from myself and I felt completely calm, just slowly fading away. I can't remember who it was but somebody had come back into the house and found me on the floor. They kicked me in the back apparently and it dislodged the sweet."

– sutbags

Hanging By A Thread

"Fourth grade. Slipped on the side of a crowded slide and was hanging by the side. Somehow my jacket got stuck and was choking me as I hung from the thing. 10 y/o me thought 'this is it,' until a friend came to help."

– the_immovable

When Cancer Lost

"I got diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer in the emergency room this past summer and had to spend three weeks in palliative care, I lost 50 pounds and couldn't move. I bounced back, responded well the chemo and gained almost all of my weight back. I'm so insanely grateful for the extra time."

– TripGore

Getting The Pox Late

"Getting Chickenpox at 27 almost did me in. Shit was wild."

– SystemOnset

When In Maine...

"Septic shock from a ruptured appendix. Laying there on the hospital bed and the infectious disease specialist walked in, looked at my chart and noticed my white cell count, and asked 'have you had any gay sex'. Never go septic in rural Maine."

– Ekunstler

Threatening Ex

"My ex pointing a gun at me and saying 'I could kill you right now and no one would know it.'”

– ayyoowhatevr

The Thing About Withdrawals

"I was withdrawing from alcohol, hard. I was shaking, sweating, paranoid, hearing things that weren't there, and everytime I tried to sleep I would wake up to a hypnic jerk. It scared the everliving shit out of me, and I was convinced I'd have a seizure and die. Luckily, I didn't, but I should have gone to the hospital; alcohol and benzo withdrawals are dangerous. Luckily, have over four years sober now."

– angelsgirl2002

Allergic reactions and panic attacks are no joke.

Trauma In The Mediterranean

"Having an anaphylactic reaction for the first and only time in the middle of nowhere in Greece on a field trip. If one of the other kids would not have been highly allergic with emergency meds I would have probably died. Traumatized me deeply."

– Za_Paranoia

"Impending Sense Of Doom"

"16 days ago. Tried out a new insect repellent I’d bought."

"You can have an anaphylactic reaction at any age (never been allergic to anything, don’t even get hay fever)"

"Fortunately, an ambulance was called, but I honestly thought I was gonna die on my bathroom floor. The phrase ‘Impending sense of doom’ makes so much more sense to me now"

"Do not recommend."

– nurseofdeath

Struggling To Breathe

"I've had very bad panic attacks with impending doom and you honestly feel like you are going to die. Heart racing head getting dizzy short of breath and the more you think about it the worse it gets. It's an awful experience"

– edslerson

The Bee Sting

"Hey man. I was 7 years old and got stung by a bee on my thumb at a family get together. No one believe me but my throat hurt really badly. About twenty minutes later I was breathing through a hole the size of a straw. I had about 4 minutes left when I got to the hospital."

"I was probably traumatized for almost decade after that. I wouldn't trust any adults other than my mom. I also was terrified of being in nature or around barbecues or ice plant since bees tend to hang out around there. I carried my EpiPen with me and was bullied pretty badly for it too."

"I ended up just getting confident in my self with how I would handle the situation if I ever got stung and that made a huge difference. I've been stung three more times since then and Ive handled it pretty well. Oddly enough, those times have only made me even less traumatized because I've relived that day the more times and have walked myself through it instead of trusting others and being a confused/panicked seven year old."

– WatDaFuxRong

When I got "certified" for scuba diving in Cozumel, I followed a group that explored the reefs nearby.

Either I missed the part about adjusting buoyancy or it wasn't covered at all during the brief informal training, but I remember my body was dragging along just above the ocean floor as we followed our guide into a series of small caves.

I forced myself to float higher and in the process, I misjudged the distance from my head to the roof of the cave.

I smacked my head pretty hard and nearly blacked out. But at that moment, I thought "this is it."

Luckily, I didn't hit my head as hard as I thought. I managed to come to quickly and guided myself out of the cave and made it to the surface.

The sun never felt so good on my skin.