I guess many who are smarter than me must have missed close calls like tripping and falling over a huge rattler one evening walking a stretch of RR track on my way back to the car after hunting one day. I guess it was just cool enough it couldnt get cranking until I got away.

Driving an old IH tank truck loaded with location water on the road and having the steering linkage come apart. Luckily, I thought at the time, high school summer job, the rains from a hurricane had filled the 5 ft deep highway ditches level banks and instead of ramming the tank load through the cab and me the truck barged through and out the other side and through the barbed wire fence and stopped on the hill in the pasture past it.

Oh, My!

I've had a few. I don't like to think about them.

Driving a 6 speed Mack with 2000 gallons of acid in a 6000 gallon front tank with the rear full of flush water.

Only going about 20 miles on some hair pin curves when the brakes went out and no trailer brakes.
The truck went up on the left side and when it level i went thru the pasture.

Made a shortcut to the well head.

Got back to the yard told the shop man no brakes and when he went out to check had a flat on the trailer.

He got a new driver to get it fixed while i was out to lunch.

Me and the treater stood out the front for him to come back.

It took him about 3 miles to slow it down.

all of drums were cracked and there was no brake shoe left.

Went off the outside of a curve on a motorcycle doing about 50 or 60 once, no helmet just leather jacket and jeans. Slid a ways in tall grass, got up without a scratch, bike was sorta bent and banged up tho.

Took a slide down the side of a mountain while mountain goat hunting. My buddy died the year after doing the exact same thing in the same area.

I know what you mean. Scarey.

In jr high i hiked a couple miles from town in south Texas brush country to hunt an oak timbered draw for squirrels in spring.

Stepped up to an oak and a freaking huge 5 foot rattler "jumped" out from the roots around the tree 2 feet away and was so pissed it was unreal. Ive never heard a snake buzz like that before or since, and ive heard many.
I was afraid to move my feet as it was raired back and ready to nail any movement. By the grace of GOD my 22 cal pellet caught it between the eyes.

A few minutes later i put the butt on its head and cut it off. The stump flew back and knocked heck out of the side of my foot, leaving a quarter sized blood stamp on the side of my off white tennis shoe.
No way i would have made it back to town.

We are glad you didnt, sir. PTL.

I'll just say this, I married the most wonderful woman in the world.

Fell asleep and sideswiped a tree. Another inch to the right I'd hit it head on at 70mph. Woke me up for sure. Ripped my ladder racks off!

You married my wife Wabi?!

Thank you Father for plainsman and Birdy.

Must be Jack.

PTL, JM. So glad you are here and made it.

I had a TC contender chambered in 357 Herrett. It went off while in my hand and the bullet went inches from my head. I had let the hammer down on a loaded chamber. The hammer extension caught on some brush. That was 39 years ago, and I remember it like yesterday.

I just finished popcorn, you good folks will have to make your own.

Been a volunteer firefighter since age 16. Gotten myself into situations that I didn't think I'd get out of. I was always able to complete the task at hand, no time to think about it. Afterwards, on the ride back to the station, that's when the shakes would sometimes set in.

God bless you, bro. Thanks. PTL you made it through.

Wabi, are you just almost worthless. Come on. We know you've had a few. No mad cows or husbands?

Our squad was guarding an abandoned village on the Iran-Iraq border that had a rarely used road running through it. Rarely except for weapons runners and terrorists. We were the overnight crew. Had a few humvees parked on each side of the road partially behind wrecked walls. We were on full duty with no one supposed to be sleeping. Our reserve unit was attached to a CA reserve outfit from the Bay Area. One guy was an Oakland PD patrol cop that thought he was hot shat. I was in the drivers seat, had a buddy in the turret on the 240, another in the passenger seat, and Super Trooper was on the hood. I tell the gang I was taking a piss and walk behind the hummer. Come back and I guess I startled Dirty Harry. Next thing I know there is an M-16 muzzle a few inches from my face shaking in the full moon. He tells me to stop. I start talking to him telling him to lower his weapon and calm down.

His response: “Shut up. Don’t talk.” Now my guy in the turret is literally tackling the moron.

When he finally realized what was going on I asked him how many hajis wear our helmets and speak with an Arkansas accent. He told me I should have told someone where I was going. The other guys lost it. They all heard me loud and clear and realized he must’ve been dozing. That was more scary that a firefight simply because I was calm before and no adrenaline was pumping prior to that.

I never did look at that turd the same again.

Jesus has had his hand on my shoulder since before I could walk.....I can do a great top ten for you.
1) Ran a chevy Cavalier into a Fuel Tanker truck at 35 miles per hour in a white out and got 1000 stitches out of it. Popped my eyeball out of its socket and went through 10 units of blood and 2 of plasma. I was blind for a month yet I healed and now I see.
2) Fell into the main branch of the Copper River without a life jacket and ended going about 1/2 mile down in the main channel.
3) Stuck in a winter storm for 10 days in the Talkeetna Mts without a tent and with cotton clothes( i was 18).
4) Got into a gunfight with a mentally ill neighbor and buffaloed him but good.
5) Survived 4 years at Harvard probably being the only student since the 1600s who hunted Pigeons and squirrels for food and meat.
6) Made it across Kobuk Lake with my Bear Cat on April 16th. Several parts were over open water - water mobbing in a place that is not good to water mob.
7) Was stabbed 5 times by a 4 grader with an 8 inch shiv in the back in my lung area.
8) Stayed over night in the Chicago greyhound bus station during a gang fight while I was traveling from Grand parents in SD to MA.
9) Fell into a beaver dam with a hind quarter of a moose on my back in the dark in about 8 ft of water.
10) Took a header and fell about 70ft down an avalanche slide and hit a tree face first. I woke up about 2 AM with blood all over my face and wound up 1 inch shorter from the process.

I was way worse when I was younger.

I got T-boned by a drunk in an intersection, flipped a Blazer end over end at 60 mph and barrel rolled a a Mercury Montego down the shoulder of the road 5 or 6 times. All three totaled and I walked away from every one with only minor cuts and bruises. Had a shotgun slug hit the tree I was leaning against about 6 feet over my head one deer season and slipped on an icy 2 story roof as I stepped off a ladder. Would have fallen for sure if my buddy hadn't caught me under the arm and pulled me back. Luckily we were right next to a chimney he had a hold of and he is a quick, strong bastard. Also fell through a roof into the attic on a roofing job once. Luckily there was a solid floor in the attic. Came around a curve on my motorcycle and barely missed a German Shepherd in the road, felt it's tail hit my shin on the way by.

This is my 1972 Chevy shortbed 4x4 that I run up under a gasoline tanker that was jacknifed across the highway as I came around a curve in the dark. Luckily I hit the downriggers and that kept me from going completely under. This was 1977 Flagstaff AZ.

Not trying to best anyone. My crew of guardian angles must ride to work in Greyhound bus.

Had 100 AC Cobras blow right past me in a snow storm.
Happened so fast I couldn't even get a picture of one of em.


Unreal experience............

I'm writing a book on this subject.
There's so many times, that there's no doubt that the Lord's hand of protection was upon me every time.

Ill just say that life has been interesting.

The first close calls were from my mom's second husband. It wasn't enough that he'd try to drive a wedge between my mom, dad and I. When he'd get me alone, he'd look for ways to kill me and make it look like an accident. The first time that I can remember target practicing as a boy, he almost blew my head off with a 12 ga. I still remember the blast across my face......the exploding gasses from the end of that barrel. I can't explain why the load didn't catch me. It was likely a fraction of an inch from my eyes.
He was a genuine psychopath.

That guy with the shark eyes that just shot that little boy?
That was like him, except he was of Dutch ancestry.

PTL. Thank you FATHER and Glory to you for your wing of protection extended for our Happy Camper and Renegade. PTL. Amen.

Not an expert but I think you’re supposed to be sitting on top.

My wife and I were in my little '83 Toyota Tercel, stopped on a 55 mph stretch of road waiting for traffic to clear so I could make a left turn to go down our road. I heard screeching brakes and looked in my rear-view mirror to see a loaded dump truck bearing down on us. The traffic in the on-coming lane cleared just in time for the truck to go into that lane, fly by us, cross over the road we were trying to turn into and crash thru a horse fence, ending up in the horse pasture. No one was injured but it did scare the hell out of us and the horses in that pasture.

Thank you Father for saving our pals like Huntsman and Cooper, who grab the bull, or got almost grabbed.

Rode an atv without brakes down a big hill. Well almost. They found me with a gun strapped over my shoulder and my teeth knocked out and a broken hip. Good times.

Not wanting you to best anyone. Didnt the invalid who the Lord made free give his witness to everyone?

Did you hurt an innocent gun?

We probably all have close calls, and perhaps a lot more frequently than we even realize.

I can think of a few really astonishing ones, but consider that they would seem like bragging, and I think its probably better to just say that some of them involved both green and black mambas, bullets, tropical diseases, and leave it at that. And that's just Africa and Asia.

What I am thankful and blessed for is God (or his angels) who seems so far intent that I somehow muddle through, more or less unscathed. Not sure why, for sure, but that's the way I read it.

Now, push feed or CRF........? We are all blessed to be able to ponder this first world mystery.

I flipped a swing set when I was 5

Yes Jaguartx. Thanks for the kind prayer.

PTL and I thank Him for you and the others too.
Reading this thread reminds how special and fragile life is. I think that we all could write a book on our adventures in life. I just started journalling because I forgot most of those close calls. Then for anyone that might be encouraged and blessed, I decided to turn them into chapters and thank You letters to the Lord.

After all that we've seen and been through, it shows me that there's a reason why we're still around.

That explains it 😁

WAY too many to count!
I believe God sent a full platoon of guardian angels to watch over me!

Not really.

Been shot at a few times, wrecked some vehicles......went to AA for drunk school at 15.

Always been a careful sort though.

Well said. Amen. We owe HIM more than we can ever even imagine or repay, and not just for the sacrifice of HIS son JESUS CHRIST and HIS sacrifice for us to have everlasting life, but also for a full and blessed life on this earth in the blessed US of A.

A few times i made a bad auto move after i missed seeing an oncoming auto, or by providence seeing a drunk move head on into my lane and dodging the head on late at night.

When I was 19 I rolled my truck and was thrown through the windshield. Truck ended up on it's side 6-8' from me. A rodeo in Woodbine, IA I came off a bareback horse straight off the back. The horse kicked me and when I hit the ground I landed perfectly vertical head first. I used to watch and joke about the video. Now I can't even watch it thinking about what the out come could have been.

Some things I don't like to talk about.

PTL for you bro, and for saving Paul a 3 inch dick and giving me the extra 3 inches to my original 6.

In rollover accident on I5 near Coalinga. I was asleep in the bed of a Chevy luv pickup. My buddy fell asleep at the wheel. I woke up in the detached canopy about 100 feet from the upside down pickup. All the walls were gone except the front one. Only thing else in the canopy was a pachinko machine my buddy bought at a swap meet. Cab was crushed to the steering wheel. Hundreds of pachinko ball bearings all over the freeway along with a bunch more crap. Tow truck driver asked me how many people were killed. We both walked away with just scratches.

Other than that just the normal almost drowning or setting myself on fire.

Had a few in my career as a firefighter. Early in my career I was blown across a room and 15' out of a building by a natural gas explosion. The outside meter had been shut off but this was a house converted into commercial property and a second service had been installed. That made the news as a crew was broadcasting as the house lit up.

Had a 1500 gallon propane tank catch fire and rupture and zip up the driveway as we slowed down to turn in. Didn't know what it was at first but it was impressive.

Was on the third floor of an apartment building doing a final check for residents and looking for extension on an assist to a neighboring city. Fire was on second floor but Command did not seem concerned. Just as I began to push the fire door open, the other side collapsed to the ground. 5 seconds later and my crew and I would have either been caught in the collapse or burned by the heat being pushed by the collapse. Nearly a year later I watched a larger version of this happen in New York. This one still gets my blood boiling. It cemented my belief that if I die during a fire, it would probably be on a mutual aid to that city.

Two different times I was shot at while at work- once in the truck and a second walking down an apartment hallway. another time I had the suspect in a knifing return and try to finish off my patient and me. Another patient tried to knife me after his high was ruined by Narcan. I checked all unconscious patients for weapons after that.

Have had numerous run ins with cattle and pigs, twice I shot an animal to save my own skin. Rolled a Roadrunner doing over 80 mph when I lost a tire while drag racing on the highway. Stayed in the hospital for 7 hours for observation. They wanted to keep me longer but I had to get to work or get fired. One recovers quickly at 19 years old when beer money is threatened. I was sober at the time of accident which is why the cops took pity on me and did not charge me with something.

All some great stories but you do AK proud Thomas 💪🏼

Puttin’ along in a Piper Arrow on the way to Ft Liquordale and was abeam Boca Raton just west of I-95. Engine conked out. Damn it was kinda quiet. Declared an emergency with approach and flipped to the Boca advisory frequency. Declared again and by that time was on a good glide path to the runway. Called position crossing 95 and about 100 yds shy of touchdown a silly wench in another plane taxied for takeoff in front of me. Slid left a bit and touched down beside her and turned off the runway with just enough momentum to make it to the parking ramp. Same ramp she had just vacated. Owner of the FBO came running out all shook up. The girl was one of his instructors and was driving one of his planes.

Thank you for your service and as a witness.

Her name was Alisha, and I am a survivor.

Thanks and PTL for bringing you through, but we would certainly like a few stories of your close encounters to realize just what HE has brung you through. I think some of us would find it very interesting if you wouldnt mind and had the time.

Regardless, take care and may HE continue to bless.

Speaking of AK I know of a guy that stopped a po’ed coastal brown bear with a 9mm


That’d muddy the undergarment of many a man


Me meh I’ve had some close calls, car accidents, gunplay w adversaries, what I thought was an invitation to a good old fashioned fist fight that turned out to be a knife fight, pissed off some mob guys in Chicago. Run of the mill stuff

I was rear ended by a peterbilt making a left turn off the highway into my driveway. I was dead stopped, I had two semi trucks pass me at the same time , one on the left, and the other on the right on the shoulder which whited me out. A third one come up behind me and slammed into me at about 60 MPH. My head went through the back window of my 1978 explodable chevy pickup. The truck was knocked about 60 feet into the narrow pit on the left side of the highway, and looked like a wrecked vehicle in a huckleberry hound cartoon. Later I found my glasses on what was left of the rear bumper. Earlier I had 2 dogs in the back, but it was cold and snowy so I let them in the front. Luckily there was no on coming traffic in the left lane. Well me and the two dogs walked away from it unharmed except for me with a little whiplash. I was getting a lot of phone calls for about a week from neighbors wondering if I was dead

PTL. Thank you Father for bringing MB through.

Yes, PTL for the shot which saved the lot. Thank you FATHER. AMEN.

I was ice fishing when I was 14 and fell thru, I was unable to get out of the water I was close to the shoreline and had no choice but to swim under the ice to the shore and force my head up between the
bank and the ice.

Doing OT wheelbarrowing a chip spill from the upper mezzanine at a paper mill, after opening the door stepped backwards into an elevator .....that wasn’t there! Seems the door safety lock wasn’t functioning. When I stepped back and my foot touched “nothing” .....I rather quickly released the wheelbarrow handles, and grabbed the elevator door frame. Once safe I looked down, about 40 or 50 feet below was the top of the elevator!

Then there was the Dodge truck I T-boned at about 50 mph on a 1973 Honda XL 250.....mostly walked away from that one!

There’s a few more....those are probably the “closest” close calls! memtb

Had to think about which times to tell.
I was driving into the local City one evening, it was dark and driving a small car at a speed of 60 mph and suddenly, there was a datsun 510 coming at me... in my lane...with his lights off, I swerved to the right and was going for the bank with rocks and trees, managed to get control of the car...I knew it was a 510 because my buddy had one and I knew the car well.

Then as a faller... I had some really close calls as anyone who has been a faller for any length of time has had. I had a tree once start sliding down on top of all the fallen timber, in extremely steep terrain, all I could do was duck into the fallen timber and hug the ground and it went right over me, lol.

Then there was the time a tree landed about 6ft from me while I was falling another tree, this tree was over 100ft tall and was about 16" in diameter when it was beside me, really scary stuff.
I notice pretty much all fallers have a relationship with God..
There were other times too LOL

I heard pink is a tough color to master, for a dude.

😬😎

I had a Honda 420 Rancher 4 wheeler try to murder me right before deer gun season in 2014.It flipped backwards going up a hill, tumbled over me and the handlebars smacked me in the side of the head like a baseball bat. I had my nose almost cut in half, a cut artery squirting on my temple and a broken left eye socket. After a couple of surgeries and a few months, I could see normal again. The doctors called me miracle man because I didn't have any brain injury and was never knocked out.

Remind me never to hunt with you guys!

+1

When I was a deputy in Ohio I was running with lights & siren heading to an armed robbery in progress just after dark. I was cutting through a very rural area from one small village to another where the local grocery was being held up by two armed men. I was doing about 60 down a country road and crossed an unguarded RR track. As I crossed the track I thought I heard an unusually loud horn and looked in the rear view mirror to see train cars full of new Chevy's coming from the GM plant.

Dan, all those bullet holes next to your head, and a glide landing is what you say here? C'mon...

The most dangerous thing I survived was 1971.

My life before I was Saved was pretty much a daily walk along the edge of a cliff...

After being Saved... it is like a stroll down an easy country lane.

A few nights into Desert Storm at 0300 was escorting a strike into Basrah. Lights off and no one really had NVGs back then. Another jet passed so close to us the canopy jumped in its rails. No clue who it was, no call from the E-2 about traffic friendly or enemy. I figure we came less than 6 feet of being a couple greasy blotches in the night sky.

Other times but that was still the one that sticks with me as I never would have known what hit us just would have been disintegrated in a fraction of a second.

This pic was taken just before the bull fight.

jag;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the day's a bit less smoky in your part of the world and this finds you and yours well.

While I've mentioned this before on the 'Fire, I seldom talk about it - or much else of this nature as it's not exactly a comfortable thing for me to do.

Nonetheless, as briefly as I'm able it went like this.

When I was 15, I was tightening the traction bars on my car which I had suspended in the air above me on a chain hoist. It was Feb. 01st and the temperature outside was -40°F.

The double hook on the chain slipped and the car came down, hitting the back of my head which then was smashed into my right knee. The force smashed my 11th and 12th vertebrae, bruised my internal organs and damaged/bruised most of my ribs. As well the muscles in both knees and my lower back were torn at the time.

Since I couldn't breathe when I was under there, I yelled/prayed/pleaded, "God get me out of here, I'm going to die".

While I emphatically did not see anything lift the car off of me, something or some one did, because I straightened more or less up and watched the bumper return slowly down.

Immediately I knew I was in trouble because from mid chest down I couldn't feel anything, my legs didn't work and from mid chest up I felt like I was being boiled alive more or less.

Since I was alone, I attempted to crawl to a telephone and was moving scrap metal so I could get around a machine when I was found about 20 minutes later.

We were very rural - roughly 45 minutes from the hospital, so rather than call an ambulance my brother called a neighbor who had a station wagon. It wasn't plugged in, but started despite the cold which was highly unusual.

My brother and cousin slid me onto a partial sheet of plywood and then into the station wagon. Although my brother drove very quickly into the hospital, it didn't freeze up which the neighbor said it was prone to.

Upon arrival at the hospital, they did a battery of x-rays and got the local specialist out of bed to come have a look.

Doc Rocket has explained to me the medical term, but more or less as I understand it, because of the internal damage the white blood cells began attacking my red blood cells, which in addition to the other peripheral damage caused the doctor to say to my family that I was about to cross over and they'd make me comfortable for the trip.

Obviously I didn't die, but came reasonably close and did have enough damage that it meant 7 weeks in the hospital mostly in a Stryker frame, then a body cast and a lot of rehab after that.

That's my story anyways jag, certainly the closest I've come thus far.

Thanks for the thread, thanks for those who've responded and all the best to you all this fall.

Dwayne

Wow!

Vietnam. nuff said

Wow Dwayne. That was a serious situation. Glad you made it!

Mom was Rh-negative, I was Rh-positive and the third (and last) child, born in 1963. It used to be a big deal, since antibodies in the mother’s blood attacked what it viewed as an invader.

Six weeks premature, four total blood replacements (not transfusions, replacements), NICU for a month. Catholic, so I was baptized and given Extreme Unction (aka Last Rites) so my soul wouldn’t be trapped in Limbo.

So I got that going for me, which is nice.



P

T-boned by a bus.
Had a maniac jump on the hood and stab the windshield, but he was too strung out to realize that his other hand was gripping the edge of an open sunroof.
Crashed a motorcycle on a mountain road.
Dropped a pocket pistol on the stairs, it was pointing at me on the first bounce but only dimpled the primer
Hit by another bus
Put a nice hole in a boat a few hundred miles offshore...(whale?)
Probably a bunch of others

More than I care to remember. Here's a few. Almost rolled this spring going full throttle on an ATV, cow Buffalo was charging me and hooked the wheeler, on two wheels for 30' or so and she was hot on my trail. Been passed by several bullets a few times, never caught one. Almost slid off a wet clay mountain road on the edge of a cliff, tire hit a small hump the grader left on the corner and bounced us back against the hill where we slid grinding against it for 50-60'. Hung up bull riding and stomped before, multiple broken bones. Fell asleep driving sugar beets to the plant after being awake for 3 days, buddy behind me yelled into the radio and woke me up as I was entering the ditch, would have rolled had he not done that. Had a guy go to pass someone in the incoming Lane and didn't see me, hit the ditch just before he got to us, he never tapped his brakes. That pissed me off, had my kids with me. Lots of others but those stand out right off hand.

Survived a direct lightning strike to my body. Lifted me a foot off the ground and fell back not feeling a thing.

Fell off a hundred foot plus cliff and survived.....didn’t tumble down a hill...I fell off. Ground gave away as I was walking.

Cancer...

I've seen this pic 1 or 5 times & I have to ask.. Is that a macho beat your chest thing to do, a hold my beer & watch this, or is there money in it?

An adrenaline rush would be a good enough answer for me at one time in my life, but just wondering.

PTL you and Godogs and Colorado made it.

Beirut, Lebanon; 0620 hrs, 23 October 1983.
241 of my brothers were not so lucky.

+1. I was going to write one of mine, but........never mind!

I was in Houston Methodist with a lung tumor, 1996. Pulmonologist came in and gave me the death look. I told him to leave and not come back.

My nerves were kind of shot but i called all i knew and asked them to pray for me. Couldnt sleep much. One night I had a dream and HE told me not to worry and i would be OK. Ha, it helped but that was easier said than done.

A Christian guy came the next day and we talked about things. I went with him for biopsy the next day. Coming to a surgeon said it was probably benign and he could save me with a new kind of sx and save most my lung regarding its location.
Several hours later the Christian guy came and told me the surgeon was great on heart transplants but he had researched and he had never done the proceedure i needed and he would let him do it onnhim or his wife.

I asked who could. He said the proceedures inventor, Dr Herman Grillo from Harvard at Bostons Mass General. I said ok. He sent the biopsy etc. While at Houston they found another tumor in my spinal canal at the hangmans vertebra. Thought it was benign but wanted me to take it easy to not break my neck. Crap. Jumping out of trees or off small cliffs archery hunting want the best thing to do.

Flew to Boston and met DrGrillo Sun PM early Oct. He said he thought id be ok.
Operated the next am after hanging my clothes in Closet No13. All the rest were already taken. 13 is a lucky number for Christians, like 13 Colonies, 13 stripes, thirteen tribes...
He finished several hours of sx and caught a plane to Scotland to teach the procceedure and his student surgeons took care of me.

I left the hospita after a week when it normally takes 2 for such.

Had the meningioma removed by neurosurgeon Dr Blacklock or was it Blackrock in Dec at Houston Methodist.

PTL. Thank you Father in Heaven.

Do you recall the name of that Christian?

Gunzo,
There’s money in it if you’re good enough. Getting to be good enough is the issue. Rode bulls while in HS and on College Rodeo Team. Lots of buckout sessions and mid/high level amateur rodeo trying to amass enough points to qualify for a PRCA (Pro) card. I’ve broken ribs, shoulder, both ankles, and right leg. That was 1972-1980. Before Kevlar vests were required and helmets were optional. But that was nothing. I had two cousins went to VietNam and were killed. My draft lottery # was 29 in the final draft for VN.

almost got married

That's quite a testimony.
It sounds like the Lord was guiding you through every detail. Glad that He kept you around.

The name of the neurosurgeon that you are trying to remember.....could it possibly have been Blaylock?
He's a famous neurosurgeon that I've studied.
Here's his picture and some of his history.

https://www.blaylockreport.com

Was running late for work one day and made a roast beef sandwich to wolf down while getting dressed and tying up my boots. Took a big hurried bite and swallowed before it was chewed up. Hunk of beef got wedged in my throat. I coughed which caused me to lose air but it was still lodged. Was in serious shape. Vision was starting to pixelate, figured I had one shot. Threw myself against the kitchen counter, kind of like a self-heimlich maneuver. Luckily it worked. Just layed on the kitchen floor for a few minutes. That day at work, nothing bothered me, was just damn glad to be alive. Throat hurt for 2 days, my solar plexus hurt for a week.

Grateful God spared you, and thankful that he put his arms around your brothers.

Yep. That may have well been him. Was he operating there in about 96?

Yes, HIS angels have saved me many more times than i can remember and some i dont even know about.

19 years old working summer for 2 bit const co taking up a big Transcontinental gas pipeline below Pleasonton. The pipe under pressure broke and took the co weilder out when it smashed his face.

I took over with a big jump in pay. 6 days a week x 12 per.

I knew nothing but could straddled the ditch the pipeline had been cradled up from. Weilders helper chipped the tarpaper from around the weld with it laying on skids. I cut 16 inches of pipe looking down through the cut. Get to a hwy and go down in the bell hole. Dig out under the pipe and cut in from the bottom in case distallate blows out on fire. Big rope around waist tied to truck ready to run and jerk me out of the hole if it did. Just remember to keep the torch out of yur face bouncing up the hole. If they can cut the ditch deep enough, squat on the pipe and if tge pressure from the bend is too great and the pipe breaks before your cut is finished be sure to stay on top and not get caught between the ditch and pipe as it flies up.

Use a metal detector to spot the line ahead of the ditcher when i caught up to it. Left work at seven with the helper, a local boy and in his truck one evening. Two mexicans. One in cab and one in back with me. We left out down a caliche road we had reached on the pipeline we hadnt used before.
I sat on side rail and luckily pused a 55gal drum of deisel over to middled of the bed. Truck was going awful fast. I looked up and ahead and we were fixing to hit a curve doing 60-70. I knew me and the mexican were dead but thought if i did the right thing. I fell in the bed on my back with my legs stiff against the front. I remember looking up and the mexican was looking ahead screaming as the truck slid with brakes locked too late.

We hit the far ditch embankment and i remember, "Dayom what a jar". Later i came to and couldnt move. I thought i was in Heaven. After a while i got the blood out of my eyes and could see clouds. Twisted my head and could see i was hanging in a barbed wire fence. My hip had broken a 4 inch creasote post. I finally wiggled free and craweled to the road. It was bad. Motor in front floor sideways. I walked a mile to the highway and laid down. After a while two mexican men and women all deessed up pulled up in a new yellow pontiac or olds. I asked for help and they hauled ass.

I got up and walked a few hundred or so to a farm house. Lady answered the door and fainted. Dayom. Remembering get the allergies going. He kids came a tried to bring me in but i didnt want to get blood on everything so they calledvthe law and ambulance. I sat on porch and the HS local driver and truck owner walked up. I got up and went to him and grabbed his shirt collar with my left hand and raired back to knock his teeth out and he opened his mouth in fear and he had no teeth. Lost them onnthe steering wheel. Just a bunch of blood.

Mexican went through windsheild and iirc didnt end up making it. The one in back opposite me had the drum land on him causing him to lose his leg.

I walked into the hospital holding my bluejeans up. Almost every seam busted.
I got my head sowed up and some arm and body cuts and next day i went home. Pipeline man no more. College started in 2 weeks anyway.

Amen.

PTL. People should tell their kids and grandkids of what you did. A chair or couch back can save a life.

I did that to and old lady at lunch one day in the clinic. I squeezed her hard twice and she was turning blue. I said to myself, well, ill break ribs this time. I jerked like hell and heard some minor popping but a bolus of damp bread came up.

Ha. No broken ribs either.

Banister end on the pickets going up stairs is what I had to use.....wasn't as far gone as you were but far 'nuff.

+1 Gary

I don't know if Dr. Blaylock was practicing there, but he retired from neurosurgery sometime between then and 2000. With a name like that and practicing neurosurgery at that time, I'm guessing that he is a likely candidate for one that removed that tumor. Doesn't matter since you are well, I take it, and hopefully a positive outcome. The Lord made it all work together for your good. Romans 8:28

He still works today. After his surgical career, he he continued to promote health through nutrition, supplementation and educating physicians. He thought that he could help more people that way. That's how I learned of him.
A top DO friend who started the state DO Assn and a hospital, isn't impressed by anything. He borrowed my book written by Dr. Blaylock, contacted him and joined his group. It seems like you had the best put on your difficult case.

That pick up truck story is amazing.
Right there's your chapter for that book you're family and others will enjoy and boost their faith. 👍

Yes!
That's fast thinking.
A person just doesn't know what it's like until it happens to them. Having a plan is the way to go when you are alone and can't breathe.
I had a similar situation a couple of years ago. A tough piece of steak started sliding into my lung. I fought the panic as the oxygen was running out. Cough didn't work. Made my way to a chair to do what you did but was able to grab it before I passed out.
If we panicked, that would game over.

I fell off a ladder/scaffold from about 26 feet up. I fell pretty much flat, face down. The impact was crazy! Luckily, all I broke was my nose. I dislocated my left shoulder and left foot. I had a pretty big gash on my forehead and busted my lip clean through. It was pretty rough, but it should have been much worse.

PTL. Perfect landing.

Son fell off the tip top of the high roof of a house. By the grace of God landed feet first.

Two mexicans ran a stop sign onto the highway one night. He t boned them at about 70. Head broke and pushed the windshield out. Some good cuts but no broken neck, PTL.

Latest near death was the lightning strike just yards away from me while deer hunting the high Sierra last Monday. Mother Nature can and will kick ass.

I'm still sh-sh-sh-shook up.

Darn scarey. PTL for your blessing.

Been there done that. It’s scary when the panic sets in !!!

Watched a set of wheels go by in the opposite direction while sliding down the two lane highway on my helmet once. And just like that, went from thinking this sucks to let me stay in this lane, God. Got out of it with a skinned knee and needed a new helmet.

That's a mountain top experience I hope to never have.

Yards away?!! Yikes!

This summer that happen to me, but it was across the yard. I thought that was close. It looked to be the diameter of the trunk. I have no idea how it didn't explode.

It sounds like this is a more common problem than I ever thought. Im glad first aid training includes several techniques and we're able to talk about it now.

Got pinned at 13 between a barn wall and a truck backing up with a lowered hayfork. The other 13 year old in the truck didn't see me. The spear hit me about navel level and I sucked my guts in as far as I could. Felt like the dang thing hit my backbone as I tried to get the drivers attention. I got lucky he stopped.