What was the scariest moment of your life?

[CHAPPERS]

I broke the zip on my trousers ahead of a meeting so had to spend the whole day tactically placing folders in front of my crotch or always being turned slightly away or sitting down behind a desk at every opportunity.

Never known fear like it.

I've got sweaty hands reading that.

 

[Frutos]

Sitting at home watching TV on an otherwise unremarkable Thursday evening in May 2005, when I suddenly felt severe chest pains and found myself struggling to breathe. I was 21 at the time and in generally decent health, so this was utterly out of the blue.

Luckily my Dad was at home and called for an ambulance, and it turned out that I'd suffered a spontaneous collapsed lung (pneumothorax) which was, in theory, easily fixable. Unfortunately when the procedure was carried out, they managed to rupture a blood vessel in my chest cavity and so caused a haemothorax, which is rather more severe. 24 hours in hospital later, they finally figured out what they'd done to me and set about fixing it. One chest drain and 4 nights in hospital later, the drain was removed and I was discharged. The problem, however, was not fixed and so less than a week later I found myself back in hospital with another chest drain for attempt number 2 at returning me to health.

This did work, although it also provided another scary moment when I woke up one morning in hospital to find that my chest drain had fallen out - I pressed the panic button and a nurse duly arrived who was all for shoving it back in there and then, but was thankfully dissuaded from doing so by a doctor who spotted what she was about to do and literally screamed down the ward at her to stop.

A couple of days later I was back home, and two months after the original incident I was back at work - not the most fun Summer I've ever had.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

The moment my 3 year old daughter nearly choked to death in my arms.

She choked at something she had eaten, and within seconds went blue so I hauled her out of her chair and tried to whack her back hard enough to dislodge whatever was in there - no joy.
I tried a mini Heimlich on her - no joy
I hit her again, nearly upside down - no joy
Even though I know it's not advisable, I carefully put my little finger in her mouth to sweep for anything - no joy

I held her in my arms as my wife (on the phone to 999) and eldest were screaming, and I also just screamed my wife's name... and then my baby went limp and lifeless, and nearly fell out of my arms..
I started crying, but had enough presence of mind to hit her back again - still no joy, so I though 'screw it' - in with my forefinger, and managed this time to dislodge a huge piece of chicken.
I held her up and she gasped a huge breath and burst into tears. I screamed at her to "say something..." - and she simply said "Daddy!"

At which point I collapsed with total and utter relief and felt like I'd never have any energy again.


The ambulance said "all's well them - just take her to hospital to get checked out" (the hospital staff were livid with that!), and the hospital staff actually initially gave me a bollocking for using my finger, but soon after congratulated me for saving her life.

Me and my wife cried for days at the thought of what might have happened...Truly the scariest moment of my life and I hope no-one ever has to go through it.

Right, so that's me eating my lunch with tears in my eyes, so glad it all turned out for the best and well done you!

 

[BNthree]

More of a thankful to be alive really.

I was at a party one Christmas, all friends of my dad's from his local. Obviously lots of drinking and as it got later my dad left and I stayed on. I ended up sleeping on the sofa.
While I was asleep, the mental ex-boyfriend of one of the women, broke in, found me asleep on the sofa and decided that I must have been there to sleep with his ex so proceeded to stamp all over my head, punch me every time I went to get up, rippedk the back of my ear where he tried to rip it off my head. I managed to get hold of his arm and twisted his wrist which made him run off.

Bizarrely enough I had a very similar experience to this but whilst I was on lsd. The lady whose ex it was happened to be a black belt in some martial art and there was an epic fight while I tripped out of my nut. Must have been about 30 years ago now.

 

[BNthree]

I've had a loaded gun drawn on me in anger and been threatened with a knife but 2 scariest moments were:

went to dr's with a really persistent headache and he advised i go to hospital for a scan. When I said I'd have to go home to get my wallet the dr called a cab for me and paid for it himself. That put the fear in me so much. Turned out I had some sort of meningitis which cleared up OK but the fact the Dr did that made me know it is very serious.

Scariest thing has to be my 3 year old son collapsing with pneumonia and then spending 9 days in intensive care at the Royal Alexandra. Nothing like seeing your little one suffering to mess with your head.

 

[banjo]

Opening one of HB&B's threads.

 

[whitelion]

Diving whilst drunk into an empty swimming pool in Dhahran Saudi Arabia - I remember being in mid-air when realising it wasn't going to end well and twisted my body so that I landed on my shoulder rather than my head. I woke at day break in a truck parked on the construction camp I lived on having no idea how I got there.

Having a gun pulled on me in a casino in Stateline Nevada by a casino employee as I was querying perhaps a little forcefully $50 I'd been cheated out of at a roulette table by the croupier. Tbf I wasn't really bothered by facing the gun - my first and only time ever.

Landing headfirst on my head having been catapulted from my mountain bike in Boundary Road on the hilly bit just south of Old Shoreham Road. Luckily I had a strong neck as I'd been training with the B52s US Football team. I got discharged from hospital with some painkillers. Years later an x-ray showed I'd crushed three vertebrae in my neck.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Blizzard from nowhere at the top of Snowdon, complete whiteout, you didn't want to move two feet in any direction for fear of going over a drop. We ended up descending through it literally on our backsides, hands behind us gripping the mountain, with no idea of where we were or what route we were on. We'd started up it in on a lovely sunny day as well - should have checked the forecast!

 

[greyseagull]

My twin sons being born at 26wks both weighing 1lbs 8oz. A frightening period in my life. Coupled with when they were diagnosed with twin to twin transfusion syndrome at Week 20.

 

[Southern Scouse]

Details please?

I was stopped at a traffic light in São Paulo when a guy pointed a gun through the passenger window. I was stuck in traffic so couldn't get away. He made me open the door and he jumped in. He made me drive north out of the city under gunpoint where he told me he needed to buy some crack.
After about four hours I was running out of petrol and it was dark so he made me pull into the gas station. After I filled up he made me park in the car park. He then told me he was going to shoot me as I was a foreigner and that would make things difficult for him. By this time I couldn't give a monkeys and accepted the inevitable. However he took the car keys and saw that I had a São Paulo football club key ring, his team apparently. Because of that he said I could get out of the car and walk towards the gas station. As it was dark I put my arms above my head and decided to dive behind a car. No shots, and I managed to escape as he drove my car away.
End of part one......

 

[Charles 'Charley' Charles]

Last year when we were given our son's leukaemia diagnosis. As [MENTION=139]Jam The Man[/MENTION] says above there is nothing like fear until one of your children are fighting for their lives.

 

[whitelion]

I was stopped at a traffic light in São Paulo when a guy pointed a gun through the passenger window. I was stuck in traffic so couldn't get away. He made me open the door and he jumped in. He made me drive north out of the city under gunpoint where he told me he needed to buy some crack.
After about four hours I was running out of petrol and it was dark so he made me pull into the gas station. After I filled up he made me park in the car park. He then told me he was going to shoot me as I was a foreigner and that would make things difficult for him. By this time I couldn't give a monkeys and accepted the inevitable. However he took the car keys and saw that I had a São Paulo football club key ring, his team apparently. Because of that he said I could get out of the car and walk towards the gas station. As it was dark I put my arms above my head and decided to dive behind a car. No shots, and I managed to escape as he drove my car away.
End of part one......

That must have been genuinely an end of life situation. I've often wondered how I'd feel in such a situation.

 

[Jam The Man]

Last year when we were given our son's leukaemia diagnosis. As [MENTION=139]Jam The Man[/MENTION] says above there is nothing like fear until one of your children are fighting for their lives.

Yep I can vouch that you've definitely had more than your fair share of scare.

 

[wallyback]

two weeks after having a motorbike slam into my drivers side car door, where i needed stitches for a head wound, a young guy was driving at speed along along New Church Road on the other side of the road. As he approached my car I heard the loud squeal of brakes, as the young guy did a hand brake turn to end up directly behind me.

It seems his mates on the pavement nearby. They all cheered and laughed.

whilst I was turned into a gibbering wreck!

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Front wheel wobble on my lambretta doing 73 mph round the bend at the bottom of Snakey, two up, at 2 in the morning. More than a bit concerned for my mate on the back. Pile of bricks at the end of it. It was a good lesson as I never took any chances on a bike after that.

 

[Deleted member 22389]

In naples Italy, two guys on a vespa snatched the bag from a man walking along the pavement. Next thing the vespa cuts across the front of our car, the man pulls out a gun a starts firing at them as they escape. We nearly got hit.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

This reminds me of a poster I saw in a doctors surgery that said "The first ten minutes of life are the most dangerous" Someone had written underneath "The last 10 minutes aren't great, either"

 

[Thunder Bolt]

We were on a carousel in one of the four seater carriages, with me on the inside, our two children in the middle and my husband on the outside. It seemed to go a lot faster than previously experienced, which was pushing me out with centrifugal force. This is turn was pushing my daughter (6 or 7) downwards under the bar. I grabbed her but she was slipping further and further down. I was holding onto the carriage with my right hand trying to stay upright, whilst clinging onto her with my left. I screamed at the attendant to stop the ride, but he refused. At the end of the ride, I literally only had her wrist and cardigan in my hand. My husband couldn't reach her.
As the ride stopped, I was shaking like a leaf, and had a go at the attendant, who just shrugged his shoulders and said people had paid for 5 minutes worth of ride, so he wouldn't stop it. I screamed back at him, he could have stopped it, and restarted it for those people, whilst we got off. I didn't report it as it was a travelling funfair, but I didn't go on any of those rides for a long long time. It even brought back memories on the pier, with the horses with my grandson, but I managed to overcome it.
I can still feel those moments of terror, thinking that she was going to get thrown into the barrier.

 

[sydney]

stuck up a tree , pissed in zambia 4 o'clock in the morning with two lions trying to get me....all i had as defence was a bottle of black flag fly repellent , thank eff they hated it.........weeks later body surfing in mossel baai east of cape town , very large dark shape went under me numerous times,,,,turned out to be a big seal......shittingtons massive.......final do was in capetown when some looney let loose with a shot gun in rondebosch...****ing mad house that country but i love it.

 

[Fred Oliver - Legend]

Flying over the Rockys and the piliot comes on and says we cant land as there is a terrible storm below but he only had 15 minutes of fuel left and 'he didnt know what to do'. would of been better if he hadnt said anything, landed safely after 10 minutes.