Hold Up, People Survived WHAT?! Wild Near-Death Stories You’ve Gotta Hear

I actually died giving birth and they brought me back.

I almost died in an apartment fire because someone was smoking while hooked up to oxygen. My cat freaked out at 5am, woke me up, and we got out just before the building turned into a bonfire. I'm a total sobbing mess but forever grateful to that furry hero.

Got my first tattoo at 29, stood up, and hit the floor with a massive seizure. My breathing and heart stopped, but thanks to a CPR-certified buddy and epileptic tattoo artist’s wife, I’m still here!

At 6, I went to get my tonsils out. Surgeon accidentally cut an artery and left a tonsil behind. I went home, started vomiting blood, ended up in a coma, needed three blood transfusions, and was hospitalized for a week. I was so weak, barely could lift my head for days.

At 8, I threw up nonstop for two days with stomach pain, went in and out of consciousness, and rushed to the hospital. Turns out my appendix burst and I needed emergency surgery. Spent a week in hospital and weeks on the couch. The silver lining? Got a Gameboy and Pokémon Blue to cheer me up.

Yeah, totally choked on a chunk of beef roast and couldn’t breathe. Dad had to do the Heimlich to save me. That feeling of trying to swallow but can’t is straight-up nightmare fuel.

I took a 60-foot tumble out of a tree as a kid. Hitting branches on the way down sort of saved me, even though it knocked the wind right out of me. My brother kept yelling, "please don’t be dead" while climbing down to get me. Classic sibling moment.

Accidentally drove up a mountain road overlooking the sea with zero room to turn around. One side was the ocean, the other a cliff. Had to back down like an inchworm. Heart rate: 1000.

A guy I barely knew dropped by and we chatted for an hour. Then, when I told him I had to sleep, he tried to force himself on me and attacked my neck with my bread knife. If he'd hit just a centimeter higher, it would've been over. Yikes!

At 15, I had a reaction to suture used in tonsil surgery that closed almost my entire throat. Could barely breathe or swallow. First ER took forever and didn’t even triage me. Mom took me to another hospital where they found my blood pressure crazy low. I was an hour from organ failure. Talk about close!

Last year I couldn’t eat anything - not even water. Dropped 55 pounds in six weeks. Doctor was clueless. Finally a specialist stepped in, sent me to hospital, and diagnosed gastroparesis: my stomach just doesn’t move food properly. Got meds and was eating again within hours. Miracle!

Broke my spine after a short fall. It’s seriously true that your life flashes before your eyes before hitting the ground. I’m super lucky not to be paralyzed or worse.

In 1991, I dozed off while driving on the Autobahn doing 80 mph, crashed into the middle guardrail, and ended up backwards in traffic zooming at 90 mph. I braced for death but somehow everyone else was awake and I survived. Seriously thankful.

My appendix burst, but docs brushed off my pain for over a week saying it was 'women’s issues.' Ended up septic with appendix fused to my bowel, threatening my life. A nurse convinced a surgeon to check me out properly, and they found a complete mess. I needed a bowel re-section and woke up in ICU. Talk about a close shave.

My alarm went off and I was like "ehhh, a little more sleep?" Then I got up and BAM, less than a minute later a huge tree crashed on the spot where my head had been. So glad I listened to myself!

My ex choked me out - literally. Like my fave true crime podcasters say, forget politeness. Save yourself and say sorry later. Trust me!

My ex tried to kill me. Needed over 30 stitches, was millimeters from a fatal artery. Ended up with a disfiguring scar and permanent spinal damage that affects me daily. But hey, still standing!

Was standing in a store when suddenly everything got weird - saw patterns, then bam, collapsed with a bleeding scalp. I have AFib and a pacemaker-defibrillator. Turns out, it shocked my heart back to normal just seconds before I would've died. Talk about a lifesaver inside me!

Choked on food, couldn’t breathe, but puked it out just in the nick of time before losing oxygen. No hospital needed - win!

While pregnant, had awful heartburn. One day, I bent over in the bathroom, started choking on bile alone, couldn’t catch a breath, hopped in shower, peed myself, and popped a blood vessel in my eye. Pregnancy’s fun, right?

Got into a brutal car accident July 1 when driver hit a tree. I had broken heel, ribs, brain bleed, staples in head, facial stitches, and almost a collapsed lung. A cop was right behind us, if not for him, I wouldn’t be here. Crazy grateful.

I had a hemorrhagic miscarriage, losing over 30% of my blood. Had to get four blood transfusions and an emergency abortion. ER doc said if this was a different time or place, things might've gone way different.

Warm car in snowstorm = carbon monoxide poisoning at 16. Dad did CPR for 30 minutes before EMTs showed up. Had 42% carbon monoxide in my blood at ER. Docs said I wouldn’t make it or would be brain dead. Surprise - they were wrong! And I skipped finals that year, so silver lining?

Years ago my ex kidnapped me, telling me he’d bury me where no one would find me. I jumped out of the moving car, ran in front of a logging truck waving for help. The trucker told my ex to take me back or he’d follow. Then ex laughed and drove away fast because truck couldn’t keep up. Wild escape!

At 6, I slipped under my seatbelt in a rolling van, flew out the window 75 feet, and landed hard on my back in a field. Blood everywhere, life-flighted to hospital with a broken arm and nerve damage. Kindergarten? Never finished it.

When I was three, I bit an extension cord. The scar’s still at the corner of my mouth at 52. Yikes.

Drove up to a mountain lookout and drank a whole bottle of pills with vodka. Sat on the hood of my car, closed my eyes. Someone returning to their car called 911. I didn’t die and I’m grateful but also super sorry for the stress I caused my family.

Had a long seizure at 12, stopped breathing and turned purple. Ambulance was about to shock me, but my sister yelled "wait a second" - I started breathing again just in time.

On Valentine’s Day 2025, I had a seizure while driving with cruise set at 80 mph. I hit the median and ended up wrong way in traffic. No seizure history before. Later diagnosed with mild temporal lobe epilepsy. So lucky to be here!

I have Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. One day I felt terrible chest pain, fell to a knee, and my body went cold. Then my mind screamed, ‘No, you’ve got a little girl to raise! Get up!’ So I did. Slowly but surely.

Was jumped by some skinheads, and they nearly slit my throat. The only reason I survived was someone inside the party heard me screaming and intervened.

Fell into a spring river, got hypothermia, and then got stung by a bee. Turns out I’m allergic, but thanks to hypothermia, the sting didn’t kill me. Nature’s weird tricks!

In 1983, picked up by a famous serial killer while hitchhiking. I jumped out at a four-way stop and ran. Didn’t talk about it for 20 years.

Had a seizure on I-10 with cruise set at 80 mph. Rolled my car 11 times, got ejected, car dragged and smashed, but left without a scratch, bruise, or concussion. Crazy luck!

Dropped a bowl with meatballs, it shattered and sliced my foot near my ankle. Didn’t notice until my 10-year-old pointed it out. Wrapped it with a dish towel, taped it on, dropped kids off at grandma's, shouted what happened, then drove to ER leaving bloody footprints behind.

My family was poisoned by carbon monoxide from a coal fire in China. Luckily, I had just read a book about it, so when Dad collapsed, I got everyone out before disaster struck.

When I was 15, my horse and I got hit by a drunk driver. The car clipped a signpost, which saved my head from getting run over by a Range Rover. I broke my back, collarbone, dislocated my knee, cracked my thigh bone, and snapped most ligaments in my foot. Sadly, the horse was too badly hurt. Ouch.

I choked on food home alone during COVID (that’s the one I remember). Also, I did somersaults in the womb and got tangled in my umbilical cord and was born dead (don’t remember that thankfully). Honorable mention: I stood on cliff edge in Ireland and was lucky to not slip or sneeze myself off.

Survived a carbon monoxide leak that landed me in a coma and on life support for weeks. Doctors didn’t think I’d wake up, but I beat the odds.

When I was 3 or 4, I was in a hot tub with adults and suddenly was underwater for what felt like forever. Finally pulled out. Later, had an unmedicated stillbirth and a wild strep throat infection that made me almost unable to eat or drink.

Developed sepsis after doctor left a surgical sponge inside me post c-section. Then pancreatitis after gallbladder surgery. Wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Got stung by a box jellyfish when I was 2 and had to be brought back to life. Scary stuff!

While whitewater kayaking, my boat flipped and got pinned between rocks. My foot was tangled in a rope, leaving me trapped underwater with rushing rapids for a terrifying several seconds.

Got a scratch on my butt while tubing, cleaned it, but it got red, swollen, and super painful. ER whisked me into surgery immediately and cut out a big chunk of infected tissue. ICU was rough but I pulled through.

At 5, I somehow choked on a hard lifesaver candy while just sitting on some stairs playing with my slinky. Scary little incident!

At 15, I kept a journal and wrote about having a boyfriend and losing my virginity. My mum found it, got mad, but then let me try alcohol under supervision. I drank a big Smirnoff Ice, forced the last bit down so it wouldn’t go to waste, and nearly paid the price.

I dropped from 84 to 60 pounds in ICU. Staff said I was hallucinating due to meds. I was mute and immobile but held up a whiteboard saying 'CALL HOSPICE.' After 25 days, I went to hospice - and then I cured my cancer and left. Talk about a comeback!