OT: Describe your “Life flashed before your eyes” experience.

In hindsight…Most of the decisions I made between midnight and 3am from about 1996 to 2003.

My top 2 ....

1. I was 17 in 1985 and worked at a country club in small town PA. One Monday a year the club shut down and all employees could use the facilities and do basically anything we wanted. We golfed, and then a bunch of us were at the pool. I thought I was superman, climbed up the lifeguard stand located mid pool, and attempted to dive into the deep end. I ended up not making it to the deep end, hitting bottom, breaking my neck. I still recall the surreal feeling floating at the bottom of the pool, paralyzed, unable to move, waiting to drown. Lucky for me, my 2 buddies recognized something was wrong and pulled me out of the pool. I did not move anything below my neck for a week, then I wiggled a toe, and eventually months later I walked out of the hospital.

2. 3 years ago. Riding my bike, training for an Ironman. I actually have no memory of what happened. The last thing I remember was about a mile before the accident; the next thing I remember was a couple hours later coming out of CT scan. My Garmin watch data shows I was traveling 22 mph when I ran straight into a truck that turned in front of me (per the driver). TBI, broken jaw, ribs collarbone. Surprised I survived that, but a year later I did finish that Ironman.

My experience happened while a senior at PSU. I was taking flight lessons thru ROTC and on my second lesson the flight instructor demonstrated stalls. He noted that stalls were important because on landing we stall the aircraft. The demonstration at a safe altitude was to reduce the throttle back to almost off, then put the nose of the aircraft up until the stall warning indicator sounded then kept the noise up until the aircraft came to a stop. Stall recovery began with putting the nose down then putting the throttle back to max and establishing level flight.
After he demonstrated the stall, he instructed me to do one. Everything was fine until stall recovery. I could not remember if it was nose down throttle on or if was the other way. As I was very nervous, I got mixed up and put the throttle on before putting the noise down. The torque from the engine caused the aircraft to roll over into a spin.
As we entered a spin, I recalled hearing that spins were deadly. While my life did not flash before my eyes I felt this strange feeling of calm. There was nothing I could do, and I was going to die. I felt sorry for the flight instructor as my actions were going to end his life also.
Then the instructor told me to put the noise down until we were pointing straight down and then pulling up to level flight.
He explained how I got into the stall and stall recovery. He had me enter a spin and spin recovery several times. When we got down, I felt a strong sense of relief.

I was wade fishing a creek outside York, PA c.1988. There was a thunderstorm to the west, and by the standard 5 second rule the lightning was 3.5 miles away. I figured I had some time to continue fishing. All of a sudden there was a crackle, my legs totally and involuntarily extended, and I felt rings of fire around my calves at the waterline. I instantly realized that lightning had struck a tree along the stream bank just below me. My mind went to a funny place fast - I simultaneously checked for a pulse as I ran from the creek toward the car.

That was my first close call with lightning (and not the last while fishing). I have a crap-ton of respect for it.

Not me but I had a neighbor who was a victim of a school shooting. The shooter walked into the 2nd grade and started shooting. Teacher took two to the chest. Priest came in and took one to the head.

Guy is f'ed up. I expect him to shoot someone else or himself down the line.

I'm not sure this qualifies as a Life flashing before my eyes" moment. However, given the individual involved, it bears telling. One of the many things I did as side jobs when my family was "growing up," was to serve as a "Recreation " supervisor at a maximum-security prison (Shawangunk Correctional) in NY. It was pretty simple stuff like doing basketball schedules, umpiring softball games and in the summer taking a crew of inmates into the "Big Yard" to mow and manicure the fields for the evening open rec and league contests.
On my crew was Jimmy Burke....yes THE Jimmy the Gent of Lufthansa heist fame. In the early 90's Jimmy was a shell of his former physical self (emphysema) and still smoking like crazy. Despite his physical condition, he had the utmost respect (and probably fear) of all other inmates.
Jimmy was in essence the "foreman." I would ask him "ok Jim, what should we do today? The crew would then set about mowing and lining the fields as Jim and I would sit at the big concrete like tables like you see in the prison and "shoot the breeze." No pun intended.
The Rec Supervisor was a good friend and incidentally, a major league baseball scout (Ben Cherington's father-in-law).
One morning as I'm sitting with Burke, the door to the yard comes open and my "friend" yells...."hey Jimmy (my name) can't believe you killed all those guys from the heist." Door closes....tense moment......door opens again..."hey Jimmy, where's the cigar box hidden?" Of course the money and jewels were never traced. Fortunately, Burke just shouted FU at my buddy and that was it. But at a different time and place (Like Robert's Lounge in South Ozone Park Queens) that would likely have gotten us both wacked.

Steaming at 20 knots in a pea soup fog, bad sea return had radar blinded inside of about two miles. Suddenly a tanker appears, dead ahead at maybe 300 yards. Hard right rudder, all back emergency, and we missed by way, way too little for comfort.

My buddy let me take his motorcycle out for a quick ride. I had ridden mini bikes and dirt bikes before. After a bit I was heading back to him and pulled up to a stop sign. When I tried to pull away the clutch wouldn't engage. So I tried popping it into 2nd. Nothing again. Then I tried 3rd and it bit. The bike shot out into the intersection like a rocket. I was trying to turn right, but momentum pushed me into oncoming traffic. I hit a Ford escort exp head on and flew over the car, across the street and landed in a front yard. They took me to the hospital and ran X-rays. I didn't break any bones. Just sprained both wrists on the landing and both ankles on the handlebars. The car driver said I looked like Superman flying over his car. I thank God that I was almost directly head on otherwise the result would've been catastrophic.

want to say Fri Sept 6 1996 on the way up for the Game against Louisville on 322 W coming down that straight away before port royal exit right at that Pallet making company

Raining hard-- possible remnant of hurricane Fran if I recall--- of course 2 years married me and the misses spun out of control hydroplaning in a GEO TRACKER soft top, yeah I thought we were going to roll it and that thing would have collapsed and killed us no doubt, luckily it just spun a few times and hit the guardrail

**** ....I have so many . Avalanches , rock climbing and mountaineering mishaps , grizzly bears , whitewater disasters ...... getting mugged and drug down an alley in front of hundreds of people watching (where this Caribbean gang killed someone a week earlier , and they wanted to do it to me !!!)..... it's all part of my game . Luckily, and I don't want to jinx myself , in my elder years I try to be a defensive driver . That's a way I don't want to go. I lived an adventure lifestyle extreme skiing , mountaineering , ice and rock etc .... I have lost a lot of friends: everyone says they were doing what they loved . Lost my brother almost two years now , professional diver , accident . And so , of course, I am immersing in the sea life , sailing , scuba and anything ocean for my last chapter . Better to die living ...

ClarkstonMark said:

My top 2 ....

1. I was 17 in 1985 and worked at a country club in small town PA. One Monday a year the club shut down and all employees could use the facilities and do basically anything we wanted. We golfed, and then a bunch of us were at the pool. I thought I was superman, climbed up the lifeguard stand located mid pool, and attempted to dive into the deep end. I ended up not making it to the deep end, hitting bottom, breaking my neck. I still recall the surreal feeling floating at the bottom of the pool, paralyzed, unable to move, waiting to drown. Lucky for me, my 2 buddies recognized something was wrong and pulled me out of the pool. I did not move anything below my neck for a week, then I wiggled a toe, and eventually months later I walked out of the hospital.

2. 3 years ago. Riding my bike, training for an Ironman. I actually have no memory of what happened. The last thing I remember was about a mile before the accident; the next thing I remember was a couple hours later coming out of CT scan. My Garmin watch data shows I was traveling 22 mph when I ran straight into a truck that turned in front of me (per the driver). TBI, broken jaw, ribs collarbone. Surprised I survived that, but a year later I did finish that Ironman.

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Can I adopt your guardian angels?

You seem to have many and they are clearly very influential

The night I was thrown off the bus and told to stand in the painted yellow footprints at Parris Island when I arrived.

Picture this....my Senior year at Penn State. Busy Friday night on College Ave before a home Saturday game, in October. Heavy traffic, wall to wall people walking. A car comes to stop at a red light, too much into the cross walk. Car behind pulls up too close. I start to walk through, between the two cars on the OK to walk light. Somehow, I saw the future. I put a hand on the trunk and a hand on the hood and swung my legs back as the front car backed into the back car. No blood, no foul. The guy behind me freaked out. He saw it all happen. I still have the use of my legs today.

I fell off an 8’ ladder into a wood pile Saturday

laKavosiey-st lion said:

I fell off an 8’ ladder into a wood pile Saturday

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Did you survive? Gonna go for 12’ next week?

I was on Route 81 heading south from Syracuse, doing 62 (speed limits were 55mph). It had just downpoured. A car with 4 kids sped by, then hit a pool of water that had accumulated on the highway. They did a 360 spin and my car missed their right front as it spun by me in inches. I know this because I saw it happen in super slow motion. I will never forget the look on the girls face who was in the passenger seat, eyes wide open with a look of terror on her face. Luckily no collision and they made it thru the spin, came to a complete halt on the road and no one was behind them. It is amazing what your senses are capable of in those moments...I saw it almost frame by frame.

I’ve had a couple.

1. Went to a great party that lasted all day, then the whole crowd (well, almost the whole crowd. I offended the Irish girl I met at the party and was hitting it off well with, so she didn’t go) spent the night out at the bars where I ran into some old high school friends. Because I was stupid and indestructible, I told one friend I could drop him off on my way home. He lived in a part of town I wasn’t overly familiar with so after dropping him off I tried to figure out my way home (pre-GPS). In no way should I have been driving but youthful idiocy and all…. Going a little too fast I came upon a sharp turn I wasn’t prepared for and juuuuusssssttttt missed slamming head first into a tree and somehow managed to come to a stop without hitting anything, the tree equal to my back door. Life definitely flashed before my eyes. I sat in the car for a few moments trying to regain my composure, then got out to check the car to make sure I didn’t hit anything. When I looked at the tree I noticed it was all gashed up from other cars that had not been as fortunate as I was. Then I realized this must have been the tree where a couple of kids from the class above me had an accident, killing one of them. Scary stuff.
2. The other involves my middle brother, 7 years older than me. He was (is) a gruff fellow. Doesn’t say much, just kind of grunts when he does, and generally looks pissed off all the time. The joke around the family was always that he was going to kill us all with an axe, and that I was second in line to get it. So one fall afternoon, I’m taking an after work nap when my bedroom door opens. I open my eyes and see a massive figure standing in my doorway in the dim light of dusk. I realize it’s my brother and he is slowly walking across the room towards me with something in his hand. I took quick stock in my life and thought I had done OK for myself and was ready to accept my fate. Then, as he stands directly over me with his glowering face he moves his hand towards and throws something at me. He then mumbles the word “phone” at me and exits the room. I really thought I was done for.

PSU Mike said:

Did you survive? Gonna go for 12’ next week?

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The art studio chandelier install requires a 12 footer. It’s in my garage, install next week lol

laKavosiey-st lion said:

I fell off an 8’ ladder into a wood pile Saturday

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Ladder work, solo, scares the poop outta me.

The summer of ‘63 a month before entering 9th grade I fell 45 feet off a vine in West Mifflin, Pa. Landed upside down, head hit side of the hill and left arm pushed ball into socket of left side shoulder. I was in traction for 2 weeks and then had to wear a 7 lb cast for 6 weeks to help pull the ball mostly back out of the socket. Fortunately I recovered enough so that I was totally healed enough a year later to be on the swimming team. I was a distance swimmer. In those days it was the 200 and 400 yard freestyle. I still crank out a 1000 yards at age 77. Swimming is something that you can do forever.
Also had a car incident in 2009 doing 80 in a 75 on I-25 in Lonetree, Colorado. Contractor van swerved into my lane in front of me. It was either hit him or the Jersey curb at 80 in my Acura CL. Hit the concrete median car bounced off in reverse across the 2 other lanes and rear hit the guardrail. Air bags deployed and all windows and moon roof were fine but car was totaled out. I was taken home by police and several hours later went to hospital.A little pain but was fine. No injuries. Ironically just after accident a Secret Service car had witnessed it and let the police know it wasn’t my fault so no ticket from it. Not sure why Secret Service was in the area, Gov plates and he showed me his ID before letting police know.

LionJim said:

Well, that clears up a mystery. I was taking a walk Saturday and could have sworn I heard someone screaming.

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Moms and d1 screamed

PSU Mike said:

Ladder work, solo, scares the poop outta me.

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All for a stupid bird house damm

Not me but my wife's.

About 3 weeks before Christmas, my wife was having chest pains (had issues couple of years earlier) so she drove herself to Centre Community. They were doing a cath and I was on my way to see her when they called and said she was being life flighted to Hershey ($20,000 helicopter ride, thanks PSU health insurance). They kept her for a few days of observation and were going to release her the next day. She was taking a shower and had a massive heart attack. The attending physician did chest compression on her (he rode the gurney while doing compressions to emergency surgery). That night they did two or three by passes. I went to the hospital and met with the cardiac surgeon; he told me to go across the street and get drunk. The next day they did 8 or so stents. The surgeon met with me before the procedure, not holding much hope. I still remember the surgeon's name. She went into intensive cardiac care and started a new heart assist machine which they could not get to work right away. They brought in a tech rep who got it working. Heavy sedation and breathing tube. After a day or so she tore out the breathing tube and they realized they did not have the humidifier turned on. A day or so later we brought in a Priest for last rights. She somehow survived and went into cardiac rehab for about two weeks. Early on the attending nurse told me she would not make it thru the night. She was wrong and I never saw that nurse again. Later a Fellow in that unit went into her room and jokingly commented "She's alive", think Young Frankenstein.

She commented later that she did she a bright light as they were wheeling her in for the first surgery. She said she hallucinated from the meds and saw giant spiders crawling on the walls. We were watching the TV show "24" at the time and imagined Bauer was coming into to save her from the spiders.

She lost a lot of heart function and now has implants to monitor the heart remotely. 23 years later, she is exercising regularly and is in fairly good health. It turned out she had a dissection of the lower descending artery. Dissections seem to run in her family.

With a 5 year old child at the time, it was not a wonderful Christmas but has since been a wonderful life.

Anyone who says praying does not help, does not know what they are talking about.

I have had a few instances.

1. Driving home with my dad from State College to Harrisburg on 322 in the middle of a snow storm. My dad was driving extremely cautious, but another car cut us off for whatever reason. When my dad attempted to avoid the other driver, our car went into an uncontrolled spin. We did a 720, and by the grace of god we missed the median and any other cars. My dad was able to recover, and we just kept on down the road.

2. About 8 years ago, I was on a privately owned firing range in Brunswick, GA. If you know anything about that area, it is crawling with future FEDS, some of which are more tactically inclined than others. One of the less tactically inclined ladies from the BOP broke about every cardinal rule of firearms safety when she turned around from her firing point and pointed her loaded firearm at what felt like directly at my face while I was at the table loading my magazines. I have never offlined as quickly in my life.

3. Last summer, my wife and I were driving on Route 24 in Millsboro, DE. The road is a two lane road but still has a higher speed limit. We are riding along minding our own business when the car right in front of us quickly veers to the right. I am immediately staring down a car going 50-60 MPH in the wrong lane. I swerved right, dodged two telephone poles and a street sign, and swerved right back into traffic. My wife was hysterical. I let out the biggest ric flair “wooo” out of pure relief.

laKavosiey-st lion said:

All for a stupid bird house damm

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Moms made you hang the bird house, didn’t she? She owes you.

I've had 2 such incidents but I won't go into much detail:

1. A friend and I were walking home from the playground when a couple of guys we had gotten into a fight with a week prior pulled up. We started running down an alley as the guys started shooting at us. Reading stuff.

2. When I was at Slippery Rock a friend of mine took me rock climbing for the first time at a local park. Having never gone rock climbing before I was unaware that my friend should have brought ropes and gear. Needless to say, there was a point where we had to reach back and pull ourselves up without any support, while staring down at a 50 ft drop. I lost my grip but luckily my friend grabbed my hand before I fell to my death.