My brother recently went away and decided to do skydiving, and this was pretty much one of the rare times where he accepted death as a strong probability, but he ended up surviving.

Are there any events in your life which you feel had a strong possibility of death?

39 comments

  1. What a delightfully odd way of asking if we live on the edge.
    My answer is – not willingly and not often.

    The closest I’ve come is attempting to climb Ben Nevis, which most don’t see as much of a challenge at all.

  2. I took 60ish codeine pills and accepted that death was going to be the outcome but my stomach had other ideas and I spewed most of them back up.

  3. I was once climbing Skiddaw in February and near the summit we were hit by 90- 110 kmph winds (this is a rough estimate but the wind was so strong that it was difficult to keep upright and walk forwards) in freezing conditions. Whilst we got back down fairly safely, in the moment I did feel like death would be a possibility if we were not careful.

  4. Death is always a possibility, strong or otherwise. I don’t personally see the point of tempting fate by doing things like Skydiving. But hey, whatever floats you boat.

  5. It was dark, there was a not inconsiderable amount of wind, the prop had picked up enough of a longline and all its thousands of hooks to bring it to halt. There was only one set of diving gear and only one guy who knew how to use it. Looking down into the darkness as the boat pitched and heaved with an absolute nest of thick cord being stirred like a massive bowl of spaghetti, the glint of all those catchy grabbing hooks..it wasn’t looking like one of my easier jobs.

  6. Technically you don’t need a parachute to go skydiving, you just need one to go skydiving twice..

  7. I dunno. Did he really accept death as a strong probability? A quick google says the odds of a skydiving death are 1 in 100,000. He sounds like a bit of a drama queen

  9. Only once. I was eyeball to eyeball with an Afghan Border Policeman in late 2012 at about 0300. He and his compadres were getting extremely aggressive over the fact that we wouldn’t let them into our FOB (as we’re dealing with his buddy who’s a casualty).

    No ‘terp. Lots of aggression. Everyone’s tired and strung out.

    One of them charged a weapon, I don’t know why.

    The guy in front of me tries to get right in my space and push me back. I pick my rifle muzzle up and put it in the centre of his chest.

    There’s fifteen of them. Seven of us. All within a 10/15 meter box. Anyone opens up, we’re all dead, or at least pretty fucked one way or another. There’s anywhere between five seconds and ten hours of tension before the ‘terp finally arrives and all of a sudden I realise I’m still breathing.

    I remember the guys breath smelt like onions. I’d have cut that guy in half, no questions, right then and there. I’m pretty sure I’d have died there too if things had kicked off. The adrenaline hit had my leg bouncing like a fucking pogo after it all played out and I couldn’t think of anything but those few seconds for a day or two afterwards.

  10. In fairness, sky diving, assuming it was tandem with a proper experienced jumper, is probably way less dangerous than the car journey to the jump site.

    Other replies about mountain walking/climbing, are much more dangerous than both. Amazing how easy it is to get caught out and everything to go to shit very very quickly, even on places like Snowdon which are pretty much tourist attractions on calm summer’s days.

  11. when i was 6/7 years old i went to Greece on a family holiday, i was on a floating blow up sun lounger. I swam out too far and could not swim, so ended up sinking to the bottom jumping up for air and screaming.

    If it was not for my cousin who was 14 diving in i might and probably would have drowned, but at the same time i don’t have a fear of death anymore.

  14. I used to do very dangerous rock and ice climbing and mountaineering.

    Once I was avalanched off a North Face and I thought I was a goner.

  15. Absolutely not.

    I don’t want to die.

    This is a big change from a few years ago, but I met my fiancé, had our beautiful son and frankly could never be happier. Went to see the Dr today and on a fast track referral for lymphoma testing and biopsy. Frankly I had to stop on the way back from the Dr. I really don’t want to have this shit. I don’t want to die. I want to see my boy grow up.

    So yeah, not accepting the possibility of death right now.

  17. The last 4 males in my family all died before 55. All dropped dead on the spot from heart attacks. I’ve accepted that I’ll probably die in my early fifties in a lot of pain and very suddenly. It happens. There’s worse hands being dealt.

  18. When driving from Scotland to Cornwall late at night, I misinterpreted lane markings and ended ploughing through a gravel strip that ran between the outside edge of the fast lane and the metal road barrier, at 80 mph

    I genuinely thought I was going to die. My last words would have been **F***, NO**!

  20. Yes. I was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a progressive and often fatal lung disease. I’m ‘lucky’ in the sense that I have one of the less severe mutations but it’s still a lifelong condition. I’m also on Trikafta which is an exciting new medication that helps to treat the underlying cause

    I’ve never spoken to my doctors about life expectancy. I understand that it’s generally in the region of 40-50 though. We also have to be extremely careful regarding chest infections because some patients can decline rapidly. Pseudomonas is one of the biggest fears and there’s no way to successfully treat it once it develops.

    I honestly have no idea what my future is or how long my condition will remain stable for, but I have had a lot of time to comprehend and come to terms with my mortality

  21. Nah, Id like to die quietly in my sleep like my grandad and not screaming in terror like the 50 pasengers in his bus.

  22. Death is something I’ve been thinking a lot about. I can no longer live my life like I’m going to be here forever. Knowing I could die at any moment is making me take more risks than I otherwise would have these past months.

  23. I was once in an airplane that experienced serious engine problems. We literally fell out of the sky. We went into a steep dive and I was thrown up to the cabin roof and saw the ground approaching at speed. I was convinced (as was everyone on that flight) that I was going to die.

    Strangely, I did not feel frightened or anxious, just sad that I wouldn’t see my family again. I remember thinking how unhappy they would be when they heard about the crash.

    The only noise was that of the increased wind speed. Unlike in the movies, nobody screamed, nobody cried.

    We got to the point where I could see treetops out the window and knew that we would hit them first. Then, the pilot did something miraculous and pulled us out of the dive at the very last minute. It was only then, when we knew we had a chance of surviving that people began to cry.

    We made an emergency landing. Many of us walked away from the incident. Some people were injured by being thrown about inside the cabin.

    The following day, I got on another flight. For some reason, the slight fear of flying that I used to have had now gone and has never come back since.

  24. During my drug using days ,cocaine/crack I used to use sleeping tablets to come down and go to sleep , I once walked to my kitchen and dropped and passed out and smashed my face up but laid unconscious for quite a while when I came round I was really disorientated ,and although this sounds odd Whilst laying in the floor coming round I thought I was dead and having some weird outer body moment , that scared me so much it made me get help and no longer do that,thank fuck.

  25. Started doing more and more serious stuff in the mountains back in the days when we had a winter with snow and ice on a regular basis. Started to realise how easy it would be to end up dead, sort of accepted it. I was going through a pretty dark time with depression due to divorce and it was one of the few things that made me feel alive. Even went to the extent of telling my mother if anything happened just to remember I loved the mountains and wanted to be there.

  26. I had cancer – and I don’t subscribe to the whole ‘battle’ analogy. It’ll get you or it won’t.

  27. What happened on his jump for him to think that ? Iv done quite a few dives and although I know it could happen as I do when I get on an airplane to a destination I also know if done correctly it’s quite safe. I take it something went wrong for him

  28. I think we have to confront it at some point, but death is definitely something I think most people avoid. Because its just so awful, right? Imagine *this,* everything you’ve ever known, your whole life – hopes, dreams, aspirations – just vanishing into thin air? To end up back in the ground, fading into obscurity…

    ​

    I still haven’t come to terms with it, and I completely understand why people wish there was an afterlife. Not religious, but wouldn’t it be so nice just to spend a bit more time with your loved ones? Especially when faced with grief – you’d do ***anything*** for that extra time with them.

    ​

    I don’t know how i’ve got to this point – I’ve strayed quite far away from the original question. I suppose writing this has forced me to confront and think about death a little

  31. In an abusive relationship and he choked me during an argument. I’m asthmatic and without my inhalers I’m kinda screwed. He wouldn’t give me my inhaler as I began to feel dizzy and start to see tunnel vision. I knew I could die, I felt oddly relaxed that I’d be free of him if I did.

    Eventually he gave me one of my inhalers, refused to take me to a hospital so it took a while before I could breathe comfortably. I was pretty sure I was going to die on my bedroom floor.

  32. Motorcycle racing accident – had a couple of seconds heading towards a tyre wall with no brakes where I wasn’t sure if I’d live beyond those seconds.

    Was pretty lucky all things considered.

    Went skydiving, had a twisted lines, no biggy after a little bit of panic, did the proper procedure and untwisted. (Also couldn’t find the chute release toggle before that, but was doing AFF and wasn’t stressed over that at all, as there was people jumping with me to sort it out.)

  33. Kind of… one day walking home through an alley near where I live , I saw a young guy with a balaclava on his face marching out of a block of flats across the road, walking in my direction, as he got closer I notice he’s carrying a fucking crossbow. His mate runs out urgently calling him back but he’s not listening . I have absolutely no idea what the fucks happening here except I can’t see his face and he’s walking towards me carrying a crossbow, I’m too far down the alley to turn back and run So I just keep walking towards him trying my best to look unfazed. Kid walks right past me. Got a feeling someone’s evening took a nasty turn though, unless his mate was able to talk some sense into him.

  35. I have an autoimmune disease. When covid hit, the first few days of lockdown were scary – I’d been told to say inside and IIRC not even open windows or go into the garden. We didn’t know much about the disease yet so I worried that it was airborne and it was only a matter of time till I caught it. People were dropping like flies and hospitals were overwhelmed, and I thought my time was probably up. I discussed wills and funeral arrangements with my wife, which wasn’t much fun. OK, now we know I was overreacting, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

    Also, because of my illness (and medications), I’m considerably more likely to get a few different cancers and other life threatening problems. I’ve pretty much accepted that I’m probably going to have a shorter life than I might have liked. It’s just the way it is, I guess I have no choice but to accept it. I just want it to be painless and quick when it does happen.

    Not the same kind of “oh shit I’m going to die” shock moment as you’re probably after, sorry!

  36. Once. Car stalled in the middle of an unlit, busy 60 mph road which was notorious for crashes whilst the car was entering from a junction so the car was almost in both lanes.

    What was almost as worrying was that I felt like it was going to happen. And that’s something I don’t often get a feeling of.

    Thoroughly shook for a 30 seconds and the rest of the night after the car drove away.

  37. I got through bollock cancer 11 years ago. 2 years ago I spent 3 months in hospital with covid pneumonia, including 8 weeks in intensive care, 3½ sedated, turned down for Ecmo as I wouldn’t have survived the journey. Suffered complete organ failure. But I’m still here. No point dwelling on whatifs. You’re here, enjoy it.

  38. Death is an absolute certainty at some point in your life and no one has any real idea what’s round the corner.

  39. I’m constantly aware that I could die today and it’s changed my life

    I worked in ITU during covid and saw many many people suffer and die which really brought home to me (once I recovered from PTSD) how easy it is to die and how impermanent life is

    Now I enjoy my life so much more knowing I could die at anytime. I enjoy the small things. I’ve always planned for the future but now I enjoy today much much more.

    Working in Covid ITU and the ptsd after were the worst times of my life but now my life is such much brighter and better than before

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like