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However, there are those among us who actually had a taste of what it's like to cross over to the other side, wherever that is, but managed to escape it.
Curious to hear from those who are lucky enough to have a second chance at life, Redditor Halloween-365 asked:
"How have you cheated death?"
You can't be responsible for the recklessness of others.
Car Crash
"I got in an accident with a drunk driver. Everyone that saw the car afterwards said the same thing, 'how are you alive?.'"
"The roof where I was sitting was damn near touching the seat. I couldn't have fit back in there if I tried."
"I got pretty f'ked up, for sure... but thankfully I didn't die."
– KingGuy420
Longterm Effect
"Had a friend who hit a puddle going 80 and lost control. He rolled his car 4 times. He crawled out of the car and called 911. Fire rescue arrived and pulled out the jaws of life. They didn't believe that he had survived and escaped. He only had one visible bruise of his arm from it, so he declined treatment."
"A few months later he started exhibiting signs of schizophrenia. Within a year he was completely dissociated from reality. About 7 years later they did an MRI and found very old brain trauma. They suspect that the car accident caused a TBI, which triggered/created his schizophrenia."
– toothofjustice
The Importance Of Safety Gear
"I was hit by a drunk driver while I was riding my bike at 13. If I hadn't been wearing my helmet, I would've died. The helmet was cracked all the way through on the back. Safety equipment has never been a joke to me since, and all any of my nieces or nephews need to do is call me saying they need a new helmet and they'll have one."
– TypeGreen51
Shove Of Death
"I got pushed into the other side of the highway by an 18-wheeler that suddenly merged into my lane. I still have nightmares seeing the oncoming cars."
– MedicusAthleticus
At Death's Door
"I was in a brutal car accident; my son was 5 at the time in the back seat."
"Our vehicle was hit 3 times like a ping pong ball during rush hour, pushed over 3 lanes into oncoming traffic. When we finally stopped, we had narrowly evaded being sandwiched between two transport trucks."
"My right arm was crushed and is now all titanium, but otherwise, we made it out alive; my son without a scratch thanks to a properly installed car seat."
"Hours later I went into another portal hopped up on a cocktail of ketamine, morphine, etc. I am convinced I entered the edge of life/death as it was a surreal experience."
– turtle-bird
These individuals experienced health scares...in time.
Early Detection
"I had a screening for something else, and my Doctor found very early-stage cancer at age 34. It was removed painlessly and completely in an afternoon. It’s a cancer that usually affects people over 60 and doesn’t have symptoms until it’s too late."
"If I didn’t have this other screening, I likely would have died a painful death from it in 10ish years. When the doctor first called to give me the results he said it was divine intervention, and never gave me the results of the test I came in for."
– BunsMunchHay
Timely Surgery
"I know a gentleman that had colon cancer found like this."
"At his semestral check-up, he says to his doctor that his stool hasn't been 'the same' for a couple of days. His dad and his grandad both had gastrointestinal problems, so his doctor decides to do further testing."
"It's colon cancer, but it's found so so early that they got it out with a small surgery and that was it."
– necromax13
Sound Advice
"Went in for bloody stool in my mid-20s. Turns out, it was just blood in the bowl from popping a hemorrhoid during pooping. Doc suggested a colonoscopy just to play it safe. Found a pre-cancerous polyp that would have 100% turned into cancer within the next few years. No way I would have gotten a colonoscopy in ever the next 10 years had that hemorrhoid not popped. I get a colonoscopy every three years now and will continue to do so for life. Saved my life. Could save yours. Get your colonoscopies, people!"
– jim182182
Blood Tests
"Same here. Getting my bloods done regularly and the doctor says come back in 3 months PSA is high. I do as I’m told and it’s gone higher, biopsy shows that I have an aggressive form of cancer and I’m told if it’s not removed I’ll be dead within 5 years. That’s 9 years ago. No symptoms, nothing out of the ordinary. Get your blood checked on a regular basis."
– Southernmanny
Game Night Goes South
"Congenital heart defect (WPW) is completely unknown until 35 years old. I was playing board games with a small group- vision narrowed until I came to looking up at EMT's. They had taken turns doing CPR for 14 minutes until medical arrived and shocked me 3x to bring me back."
"One surgery and defib install later and everything is pretty much normal with a cheap med. Had I been driving or at home alone that would have been it. Those 4 guys dont pay for beers ever when we go out."
– Desertrayne
The following examples have to do with extreme luck of the draw.
The Surviving Twin
"When I was still a fetus, my mother suffered a heavy injury to her stomach, causing the death of my twin, but I survived somehow."
"The doctors basically told her she must stay bedridden for the rest of the pregnancy or else she would lose me too. So my grandma got her a SNES, and she just played video games all day. I still have that SNES."
– Raemnant
Matter Of Timing
"In 1977, while I was rushing to catch a bus, a man stopped me for a change of a dollar to use a pay phone. I gave him change, missed my bus, and minutes later, it was in a horrible highway accident."
– ChovkaPasha
"Similar thing happened to me. I was babysat by my grandma a lot when I was a young kid and she was going to pick up McDonald’s with me, but as we were leaving, my dad pulled up and I wanted to stay with him instead of going to McDs. A few minutes later, she was hit by an 18-wheeler who ran a red light and smashed into her passenger side. My grandma survived, but it broke her back and both legs. I was 4 or 5 at the time; who’s to say I wouldn’t have been strapped in the back passenger side?"
– Ok_Giraffe_6396
The Right Diagnosis
"Don’t know if I can say I cheated death as much as had an amazing medical team that knew what they were doing. But when I was 19, I was diagnosed with stage 3 lymphoma. It was on my stomach in ulcers that equaled up to 5 pounds worth of tumors. Was told on Tuesday when they were trying to figure out what specific type I had so they could know how to treat it, that if I didn’t start a treatment plan by Friday it would be too far gone to save me."
"Cut to Friday morning and they basically flipped a coin and went with Burkett’s Lymphoma. Luckily, they were right because it has been nearly 20 years since my last round of chemo, and I’m still cancer-free. Had they been wrong, I wouldn’t be here typing this."
– B-Tron85
I still count my blessings after surviving a hit-and-run collision with an 18-wheeler unscathed.
The driver was probably drunk as they were swerving in and out of both lanes of traffic on a busy street. It was dark, and I was blinded by the headlights.
At the last minute, I swerved right, thinking crashing into parked cars was better than a head-on collision with the semi.
The truck smashed into the driver's side rear of my Nissan Maxima and I spun 180. Luckily, my car never hit any of the parked cars and I was not injured. My car was totaled in the back and completely inoperable, which was a small price to pay in exchange for living to tell my story.