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“Doctor Was Surprised I Was Alive”: 30 Incredibly Lucky People That Survived Against All Odds
Most people tend to overestimate the risks various daily activities bring, but that doesn’t mean anyone expects to be in mortal danger on an average day. We are pretty blessed to live in a day and age where most of us won’t be subjected to major risks most days, but still, every now and then, something happens that is a reminder of just how risky things can be.
Someone asked “What’s your “I should’ve died but didn’t” story?” and people shared the experiences that really made them think twice. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the most surprising examples and be sure to post your stories in the comments section below.
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#1
February 2018 the fourth I believe was a Tuesday if I recall correctly woke up headed to the gym at 4 AM like normal except the previous two months. I’ve been feeling like I’ve had the flu really bad achy feeling really old and tired rundown that morning vomited four toilet bowls, full of yellow bile And thought to myself this isn’t the flu went to the hospital discovered my liver and kidneys had begun shutting down I had begun the process of dying from plasma cell leukemia, December 2024 is joyfully my 79th month battling sad disease
It ain’t easy
But I’m alive
And that’s the bottom line
Be cool Be Kind Be Loving AS BEST YOU CAN.
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#2
Failed s***ide. Gun jammed. Scared me so bad, but made me realize what I was going to do wasn’t the answer. 12 years ago and doing much better now, and truly happy.
#3
I was driving home late at night when a drunk driver ran a red light and T-boned my car. My vehicle flipped multiple times. When it stopped, I was hanging upside down, covered in glass. The paramedics said the seatbelt saved my life.
#4
Walking home late at night in -30 celsius weather. Slipped on ice, legs went forward and fell hitting the back of my head on the ice covered sidewalk - cracked my skull and got a concussion, but didn't know it yet. I got back up and tried to keep walking home, but I passed out - this time falling forward into the ground smashing my face, breaking my nose and a few teeth.
I woke up about 30 mins later and had to peel my face off my frozen pool of blood, stumbled home and instinctively started running a bath to clean myself up. That's when my roommates saw me and had the good sense to call me an ambulance.
Got rushed to surgery to fix my bleeding brain.
#5
Fell through an open trap door like a Looney Tunes character and landed about 15 ft onto the concrete below. I laughed it off, walked away, and drove myself to urgent care with a broken neck.
Also, went into hypovolemic shock when I lost about 2 liters of blood during a postpartum hemorrhage. I didn’t realize how serious it was until way after. I was just chilling on the operating table, suddenly feeling very serene and out of it, thinking about how grateful my grandparents and ancestors would be for the staff who delivered my baby via c section after a difficult labor. Really all I felt was peace and gratitude in that moment. No fear at all. Didn’t learn til much later how dire the situation was.
#6
My friends and I were on an aluminum paddle boat in the middle of a lake, a random and fast thunderstorm came on and suddenly our friends hair was standing up straight from static electricity. Huge lightning storm and we’re essentially in a tin can in the middle of the lake. We all bailed and started to swim back as it started pouring, and someone in a boat saw us rushing and came out to scoop us to safety. Scary s**t.
#7
This past summer I was eating laying down and ended up choking.I couldn't scream for help. Ran to the bathroom to get some water to wash it down.
The water would hit the blockage and come right back out of my mouth, it was terrifying to see that in the mirror.
That horrible feeling of water will not go down. Thought this was the end of me.
Turns out that little bits of water did make it past the blockage enough for it to go down.
Panicked. Absolutely certain I would die but here I am.
Ge Po 5 days ago (edited)
If something like this happens when you are alone, throw yourself over the back of a couch or chair. Even over the kitchen counter if you have to. Hard enough that you would have gone "ooff" if your air had not been blocked. That "ooff" is the last remnant of air that is still in your lungs, which can drive the obstruction out just far enough for you to be able to breathe again, and then cough. It's basically giving yourself a 'Heimlich." Edit: make sure you hit the upper part of you belly, right below the area where your ribs stop. Hurting a rib is much less bad than dying or braindamage from lack of oxygen.
#8
Back in the late 90s, I got hantavirus. At the time, the mortality rate was about 95%. When I was given the test results by the doctor, he was surprised I was alive.
#9
When I was about 16weeks old I stopped breathing in the middle of the night. My older brother died of SIDS as a baby so when my mum had me she had some high tech baby monitoring devices in my crib. The only reason I’m alive is because one of these alerted my parents that I wasn’t breathing, so they could react quick enough to save me. I have a heart murmur, that’s why I stopped breathing as a baby. I’m okay now, just get it checked every few years that’s all.
Julia Mckinney 5 days ago
Oh good, my older daughter had a murmur that wasn't really diagnosed until she was 3. The doctor would mention it but for some reason I thought the murmur was caused by my daughter's other heart abnormality. It wasn't until the doctor said we need to get it checked out, I said "we know what it is, it's that abberant subclavian artery of hers, right?". No, it wasn't that. Turned out she had another issue. That problem was fixed when she was 8 & the abberant subclavian artery would not cause any issues. She's 29 now and doing just fine.
#10
Shot point blank in the groin with an AK-47, destroyed the Femoral nerve bundle and artery, bullet blew apart when it hit the femur ( broke that too) Doctors told my parents they gave me a .7% chance of living. I'm not dead yet.
#11
I had the ABSOLUTE worse birthing story. I was induced two weeks early because my baby was in distress. My epidural was leaking, having bad migraines, they had to drain blood out of my feet. I was in active labor for so long that I was deemed failure to progress. Then my baby girl was born with a blood infection. We had to remain in the hospital due to my leaky epidural. The doctors tried to patch it up, didn't work. Then after being in the hospital for over 5 days, I was getting ready to be released. As I was signing my discharge paper work the nurse noticed my face looked like I was in pain. She asked if I was ok, I said no, I felt like I was getting a headache. She said she wanted to take my vitals before I left and found out my BP was 200/140. I was diagnosed with postpartum preeclampsia. They put my IV back in to give BP meds and started magnesium to prevent seizures. I stayed in the hospital for a total of 13 days.
TLDR: Nurse saved my life after giving birth.
#12
Starved myself down to 73lbs.
I’m not really sure how my body held out so well. I went up and down between 73-83lbs for years.
Multiple hospital admissions. Constantly at threat of being forcibly taken in to hospital.
I was told I would never recover but that was b******t. I’m 105-110lbs now.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 5 days ago
Anorexia is a nasty beast. I know. I have it too. I'm in my 40s and force myself to eat most days. It never goes away.
#13
Had a scare with a flash flood. I was going to get my nails done at a mall some distance from my house (it was a Wednesday) and my wedding was Saturday. This was June 2018. It is beautiful outside, nice and warm and in the evening. I sit at the nail shop for like an hour and hear rain beating down. It was really loud, and me and the tech were talking about it. I go outside and the water in the lot is up to my ankles. It was raining so hard I could barely see, and I was an hour from home. I wasn't near a water source like a river or lake or anything. The whole way the fire departments were racing in front of me with those sawhorses that say road closed. At one point I get stuck in traffic (it's night time) and there is a river flowing right next to me that never existed before. It was coming on the road. I have a little Hyundai. I would literally floor it and hydroplane from one dry spot to the next to try to stay above it. The water was pushing my car around. I kept looking at the houses next to me (they were on a hillside) thinking I can jump out and run. Finally dawned on me how people die in these things. I always commented about dumb people in floods, but it came out of nowhere and so fast. I couldn't believe it. There weren't even any water sources near me to flood. Every road I tried to take to get off this one was 20 feet under water. When I got home I found out a lady less than a mile from me was swept away. The fast food place only 1/4 mile away got flooded so fast the patrons and staff were jumping on the tables watching their cars get swept away.
I also had a twisted ovary I refused to go to the doctor for like an idiot. I had a pain below my belly button that got worse in like 2 days so I got a heating pad. Finally my parents yelled at me that I am changing colors and this isn't normal. I went to the hospital where the doctor (Dr. Idiot as I call him) and Nurse Ratchet decided I had a kidney stone and made fun of me. She said I better never have kids if I can't tolerate this. I wasn't even screaming or crying just groaning and moving around. They held me captive for 4 hours, finally ordered a test and I got a ovarian cyst. Dr. Idiot told me to go to my gyno and have them "pop it" then he refused to release me until 8 am. My mom said your not giving her medicine anyway just racking up a hospital bill. He pulled his BS and I pulled my "I was an EMT and work for a lawyer and you can't make me stay because I don't have a head injury and I am not under the influence so I can make my own decision" comment. I go to the gyno the next day, she checks me and looks at me and asks if I drove myself in. I said no, my parents are out front. She said I want you to go straight to your parents, have them take you to the local hospital in the emergency room entrance where the ambulances are. She asked if I knew where that was and I said yes, I used it before I was an EMT. She said to hit the call button, and they will know exactly who I am. If she calls an ambulance for me, it will take too long. I had emergency surgery within 30 minutes of arrival. My cyst twisted my ovary and fallopian tube and they could not be saved. Dr. Idiot sent a bill to which my primary doctor told the hospital I lost 2 organs because of his failure to act and he was actually fired. What's funny is the surgeon was pulled out of a tennis game and came in with the cutest outfit on and my dad thought she was some kind of student nurse! She did an excellent job and all is good.
Cecilia Herrera 5 days ago
I hope Dr. Idiot and Nurse Ratchet both lost their licenses to practice medicine.
#14
My parents decided to give me a pringle chip in the car when i was 1. They had to hold me upside down so it would fall out. My soul would have been so upset if i died from a pringle...thank god i'm still here 😀.
#15
My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer early in her pregnancy with me. She put off any kind of treatment until after I was born. She spent almost four years after that slowly dying in agony. One of my earliest memories as a child was her screaming (at me, so my memory paints it). I was raised by a single father who went mad with grief, cheating on my mother before she passed, and beating the hell out of me and my sister throughout growing up. I would end up making terrible mistakes of my own when I grew up--mistakes society never forgets and never stops punishing you for. I try to live a good life, and try to find thing to enjoy, but the sick part of my mind won't stop saying that I should have been aborted so that she could live, that I was a mistake this entire time. This isn't helped by the fact that my astrological sign is Cancer. My mother was k*lled by the Cancer that grew inside her. I'm sitting in a job I hate but feel trapped in typing all of this. I'm basically waiting to die. Anyone who says life is short is... enviable.
Rachel Pelz 5 days ago
Hope OP gets help. He may have made some bad decisions in his life, but it's sad how he feels responsible for his mother's death.
#16
Appendix attack at 5, and my parents didn't want to take me in when i was puking, passing out, and could only lean over a chair. When I was 7, my mom replaced my lime drink with antifreeze, i drank it ,and she laughed when she told me what it was then left for work telling my 12yo sister not to call 911. My mom wanted to see how many shots of alcohol I could take at 11, it was a lot, then drove me to the middle of nowhere in 98° weather and kicked me out of the car, I got alcohol poisoning and don't remember how I even got to the hospital. My dad has beaten me bloody and unconscious multiple times, I could have easily died if he hit the right spot. My mom fed me a bunch of pills when I was sick, it made me violently shake, lethargic, and not "there" she laughed and said "Oops, those weren't supposed to be mixed." Then left me. There's more but thats enough for now.
#17
I got lost on a mountain hike in Ecuador. I was alone. I ended up scrambling up the vertical face for the last metres as after I took a wrong turn there was nowhere else to go but up. To go down would be definite death.
When I made it over the top of the vertical face and onto the top of the mountain, not without slipping and almost loosing my footing twice, I fell onto my stomach and cried so much i threw up, and then realized I was being bitten by a swarm of flying ants whose home I had just thrown up on.
About 5 metres ahead of me was the trail leading back down the mountain, the one I should have taken up but didn't find.
On the way back down I saw where I went wrong. The path was completely overgrown.
#18
Cardiac arrest last year. My heart went into ventricular fibrillation and the heart is unable to pump oxygen to the body. Had to be shocked back. I was clinically dead for a little while. No issues now though.
Big Chungus 4 days ago
My mom's electrics in her heart just one day stopped working. It's called sudden cardiac death and somehow she survived. She is here 7 years later the proud owner of a new heart (thank you to all organ donors)
#19
I flatlined during childbirth. Well during labor. I had just gotten my epidural, and I was sitting up with my husband supporting me. I looked at him and said I didn't feel well and was going to pass out. And then I did. He said I took 2 big gasping breaths and then my face turned grey and I stopped moving. I was wearing a heart monitor because I have a heart condition, and I had no pulse for 26 seconds.
I came to and immediately told my husband it felt different than other times I've passed out. I had a really weird dream sequence that I don't quite remember. But it was vivid at the time and oddly.... Calming?
This whole thing led to my unborn son having an 8 minute episode of a low heart rate, which led to an emergency c section. Then w days later his oxygen dropped to the 50s in the NICU and he turned blue. Which led to my baby being airlifted by helicopter to a nicu 2 hours away when he was 2 days old. He spent a week in the NICU and we drove down and visited him twice a day. With my stomach freshly stapled back together.
I should have died. I don't know how I survived that. My baby is now 11 weeks old and thriving. But I still have so much trauma from that week.
#20
Couple years ago I was spending time in the jungle area of the Philippines. Got a deadly amoeba from water and almost died. Had a full on feeling I was gong to die. Pain (which was BRUTAL) was washed away and peace just entered my whole body. Like a peace I’ve NEVER felt before. It got warm and fuzzy and started to go lights out, but I heard this loud and clear voice say “You’re going to be okay.” Not my own and not in my head. Then I passed out on an extremely pregnant like 4”9 nurse. I’m 5”7 and was 155 lbs at the time. Thankfully she was okay! Couldn’t control it, but I definitely feel super bad about that 😅.
#21
Holy s**t. Where do I start? Was swimming in a lake with my family when I was 7 stepped in a hole and my foot got stuck head under water. My grandmother pulled me out, was out for a few minutes. Mushroom hunting with my Dad when I was 11 pushed on a wobbly tree. Dad hit me in the back to push me forward just as a heavy sharp limb fell and scratched the hell outta my back, otherwise would have hit the top of my head. Electrocuted by a 220v outlet when I was 13. Shot in my armpit with a .22 came out the top of my shoulder when I was 20. Shot in the chest when I was 22 with a 9mm I could taste and smell the sulfur. Hanged myself when I was 32 the cord I used snapped. Stabbed twice in prison only one was life threatening. Colon Cancer at 35 they removed a 13 pound tumor from my colon and still said I may not make it. Now still here at 37yo. Life's good now, but damn had some rough years.
#22
I cut trees for a living and sometimes in this job you will hear something fall and you just pray it’s not going to hit you or that it won’t k*ll you.
#23
Playing golf and my ball went into woods ..I spotted my ball on what looked like a dry creek bed...stepped in and sank up to my chest and kept sinking...there was a tiny sapling next to me and I reached out and started pulling, convinced it would pull out of the ground...it didn't...I was able to wiggle my way closer to the sapling and pull myself out...the suction was unreal...if that sapling wasn't there, I was a goner.
#24
I was struck by lightning. Not fun!
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 5 days ago
Came close one night. I felt the pre shocks off my handlebars. Then it hit a tree near me. I got he hell off that mountain..
#25
I was driving late at night and just, like, blacked out for a second. Woke up just in time to avoid running off the road. It was so surreal. I still think about how lucky I was. That was one of those wake-up calls where you realize you could have easily not made it.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 5 days ago
Falling asleep on the highway is the number one reason I don't drive anymore.
#26
I attended Pukkelpop 2011, a festival that was hit by a super cell storm and completely destroyed within minutes. You can see the carnage on YouTube. First we found shelter underneath a large open tent, but it started to collapse under the weight of the hail stones. We started running and 1 second after we escaped the whole thing collapsed. I remember looking back and seeing the collapsed beam right where we just escaped the tent. Another young couple got k*lled by the impact of that same metal beam. They must have been right behind us.
Texmaam 5 days ago
I survived a Who concert Dallas, Tx '81? People were chanting " we will step on you to see the Who" going into the stadium. At some point my feet were no longer touching the ground. I was saved by big strong guys pulling me up and out of that death pit. Show started and I saw them from a safe distance.
#27
I was driving, it was dark and I didn't knew the area. I was going like 50kmh and was "only" distracted for like 2 seconds but that was enough for me missing a curve. When I looked up I was already off the road but luckily was able to turn the wheel fast enough so I just hit a street sign. If I would have reacted just one second later I would've hit a tree.
#28
I lived with a broken neck for nearly a year. Going too fast over a speedbump could've k*lled me, but I kept playing football and even scored 5 goals with my head during that time. Was only found out when my migraines wouldn't go away.
#29
As a baby, I had failure to thrive 4 times. I had severe laryngomalcia and struggled to breathe and eat properly. Had a g tube and was on oxygen most of the first year of my life. I also got c diff when all this was going on.
#30
I was very lonely at one point of my life and decided to link up with an old friend. I hadn’t seen this friend in a while, and I didn’t know that he was an active d**g addiction. He did not look like an addict (not to be rude but you can tell when someone is an addict, usually) however his room was TRASHED. It was a depression room, in my head. Now I know that it was a mixture of a depression room and active addiction room. I don’t judge depressed people. When I went to see him, he asked me if I wanted to take a X*nax. I said yes. The next thing I know I wake up in the hospital, I had overdosed. I was dead for seven minutes. The X*nax was a fentanyl pill. He was in such active addiction that fentanyl does not affect him. He was fine & swore up & down he didn’t even know they had fentanyl in them. He also went and beat up the man who gave him the pills. I Literally died And never spoke to him again. What do you even say after that? And I can’t even be mad at him. I’m the one who took the pill. God used that as my don’t ever take any pills lesson. Ever.
What do you think ?
Chris the Bobcat 4 days ago
I have cheated certain death numerous times, though it's getting to where I'm afraid to fall asleep. I wake in the middle of the night feeling a weight on my chest like my heart is failing. When I peer into the dim, two blue eyes stare back at me, so close that the whiskers brush my face. Then the maniacal purring begins as I wake with a start, and the claws begin to dig into my chest, left foot, right foot, left foot, etc. while the tail moves to and fro with excitement. My nemesis is named Aurora and I think she is trying to kill me. 20180810_1...7454d7.jpg 
Tamra 4 days ago
Awww, who's a good little nemesis? You are, yes you are!
Load More Replies...
Sven Horlemann 4 days ago
2 months ago I stepped out on a bike path, but through a walking path with trees and bushes. I always stop because once I nearly got hit by a biker. This time, the first time in 10 years, it was a little truck. Scared the s**t out of the driver and myself. I had to calm him down, ha ha. He would have completely hit me. And yes, he was allowed to drive there as a worker. Problem is, directly behind me is a rural street with some traffic. So hearing a car is nothing you notice. Never told my wife. She will be anxious every time I go for a run again. Which is quite often during the week.
LaserBrain 5 days ago
We all live just seconds from potential death from unexpected sources, and it's only luck that has kept us alive so far.
Chris the Bobcat 4 days ago
I have cheated certain death numerous times, though it's getting to where I'm afraid to fall asleep. I wake in the middle of the night feeling a weight on my chest like my heart is failing. When I peer into the dim, two blue eyes stare back at me, so close that the whiskers brush my face. Then the maniacal purring begins as I wake with a start, and the claws begin to dig into my chest, left foot, right foot, left foot, etc. while the tail moves to and fro with excitement. My nemesis is named Aurora and I think she is trying to kill me. 20180810_1...7454d7.jpg
Tamra 4 days ago
Awww, who's a good little nemesis? You are, yes you are!
Load More Replies... Sven Horlemann 4 days ago
2 months ago I stepped out on a bike path, but through a walking path with trees and bushes. I always stop because once I nearly got hit by a biker. This time, the first time in 10 years, it was a little truck. Scared the s**t out of the driver and myself. I had to calm him down, ha ha. He would have completely hit me. And yes, he was allowed to drive there as a worker. Problem is, directly behind me is a rural street with some traffic. So hearing a car is nothing you notice. Never told my wife. She will be anxious every time I go for a run again. Which is quite often during the week.
LaserBrain 5 days ago
We all live just seconds from potential death from unexpected sources, and it's only luck that has kept us alive so far.
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