re: What Was Your Closest Brush With Death?

Carwreck Easter Sunday my junior year. We were in a Toyota Corolla going the speedlimit down Airline headed to an evening church service and a Ford Excursion ran a red-light. We broadside them at speed.

The Excursion took a good dent but everyone inside was able to walk away without medical treatment. The Corolla I was in the back seat of was absolutely destroyed, looked like it was just pulled out of a crusher. My girlfriend driving at the time was not seriously injured, her friend in the front passenger had a few broken ribs and a really nasty laceration at her hairline.

I broke almost 20 bones and had internal bleeding. I'm damned lucky to still be here now.

The two I know about are:

Being hit by a car leaving a bar in Georgetown in 1995. Had there been any traffic going eastbound on M Street I would have been killed lying in the street.

In 1997 after an angioplasty I was given a drug that I was the one in a bazillion who had an allergic reaction. It shut down my immune system. I was told I would need a bone marrow transplant and would probably not survive it. Well, the absence of the drug; the presence of a new drug they gave me; the excellent medical care I received; my body; and the hand of God worked in concert and I was able to generate white blood cells again. I am one of two people in the world (the other man was in France) who survived without a bone marrow transplant.

For all I know there were other events of which I am not aware. I'm a pretty lucky/fortunate/blessed human being.

Stepped over a power takeoff shaft on a grain auger and had my pant leg torn off from the crotch down.

I drowned at about 5 years old, at our July 4 river outing. I was standing on the bank looking at fish in the water and the next thing I knew I was under the water looking up trying to get back on top. That first and only breath of water sucked, but afterwad the light just faded out, and I then came back to with my rowdy Aunt holding me by the ankles and shaking the crap out of me. It worked.

At about 12 years ole, I walked into the 'milk room' of our dairy barn barefooted, and plugged in a circular saw my Daddy had 'rewired'. Grabbed the saw to cut a board and locked to it like a vise. Started screaming for my Brother or anybody and the vice (contraction of muscles) choked my voice down until it sounded like grunting frog. Brother had heard the death scream and came running with his rubber boots on. Said I was curled up to the saw and he just jerked it out of my grip. I staggered outside and realized what happened. Don't like to be shocked no more.

Third time at about 22 years old and on my way back from a rock band concert at the Warehouse in NO. Put my new Chevy El Camino in the ditch at 65 mph and stopped at a culvert. What was left of the car was upside down and smoking and I was standing on the hood about 20 feet away. Neck broke, but the doctors would not give me any pain meds, as they said I had too much already.

Fourth...working in a plant process tower full of H2S on 'fresh air', and was almost at the bottom of the next manway when my air 'hiccupped'. It was 20 feet up and only a greasy rope to pull up the redwood tower trays. Spooked me, but then it went vacuum. I jerked the rope hard to my buddy who was pulling the trays out and he pulled me up the 20 feet, but if I let go with one hand to grab the manway, the other hand slipped down. I had to go all the way back down and take a wrap on the rope hand, and then he pulled me up again. I knew that one breath was all it took to go down, for keeps, and had zero time left to hold it as I finally got my head out and jerked off the mask.

Fourth time I riding Hwy. 16 to Port Vincent at about 55mph and looking at the light on flowers in the ditch. Looked up and saw the car in front at a dead stop with left turn blinker on about 30 feet ahead. Jerked the wheel left at an instant and was looking into the eyes of the oncoming car's driver. Whipped back right, and it was all over in the space of a couple of seconds. I really felt bad about that for a while, and rode shotgun on my flower/light watching to this day. Though I still slip sometimes.

Life is so fragile. I believe that my 'guardian angel' or Jesus helped out. I like to believe that, and hope to be someone's guardian angel some day. If I make it there.

Im a catfish farmer I brush with death almost daily to the point it doesn’t bother me.

There’s no reason I should be alive from the sheer number of times I’ve been electrocuted from a 480 volt panel box alone

Too many to rank. Almost hit another plane as a passenger on an L1011 landing in Chicago Ohara one night. Pilot took back off and we saw our jet pass over the one that pulled out in front of us.

Friend and I were in his boat on Norfork Lake outside of Mt. Home, AR one night going about 50 MPH in his bass boat, when we hit a peninsula going full speed. The boat did a Dukes of Hazard and fell back into the water on the other side of the point.

Got robbed one night at FT. Sam when I was stationed there. When the first guy showed me his gun, I spun to run and there was a guy behind me, also armed with a gun. I was probably one step from dead.

Couple of other times back then at Ft. Bragg.

Grace of God and the love of a good woman my wife never decided to kill me in the 53 years she has put up with me.

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What Was Your Closest Brush With Death?

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Probably my teeth any number of mornings after a bender

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Hope she doesn't post here

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She does not but I do.

Would you like me to tell her next time I am banging her?

Was riding in the back of a pickup truck in 1989, I was 15. Starting raining hard and my brother was hauling arse and started hydroplaning. We did three 360’s in the road, ran off the road and came to a stop. If the ground wouldn’t have been saturated, we would have flipped and I probably would be dead. We also missed going into the bayou by about 5 feet. I almost killed him after that happened, cause he thought it was funny.