What's the scariest thing you've ever been through?

[AhhhHereItGoes]

Obviously you don't have to share details if you don't want to.

Could be woo, a painful or life threatening situation or x near accident or an existential fear.

I'm going to think what I think mine was. In pain so engaging in distraction

Omg..I’ve got loads..too many to mention here and most I don’t want to revisit..especially before bedtime.
So sorry for anyone going through a recent bereavement. I’ve been there too many times.
Survived a severe car crash, mental health issues, relatives dying suddenly, children who’d been badly bitten by dogs ( not ours), my baby trapped by his neck in his cot argh and waking up in time to save his life 😢, plane hit by lightning, child going missing in a busy market town for nearly an hour, one of my children breaking another childs arm, my husband fainting In front of me two weeks after a stroke, the verbal and mental abuse from previous husband, I get so anxious my dh actually thinks I suffer from PTSD

I’m not surprised...living is bloody hard work.

DD1 was in hospital with a UTI and the doctor took me into the school room, took my hand and told me that if the bug she had migrated into her blood stream, she would die. He held my hand as I cried.

DD1 several years later. XH called DD2 (not me!) to say that DD1 was on a ventilator in hospital 500 miles away after coming very close to dying after an allergic reaction. I didn't reach her until the following evening, by which point she was off the vent and had discharged herself AMA.

Developing a hemipleagic migraine whilst driving the car. Luckily, I was able to pull over before I passed out.

Learning that Piper Alpha had blown up, as XH was on the Piper field. We had been married less than a year. His company didn't even ring me to tell me he was alive. I was left to work it out by watching the news when I saw the rig he was on pulled close to the burning wreckage.

Being in a tent in Basra when the Mortar attack alarm went off. Second being homeless with 2 kids, thank God for my wonderful DM taking us in.

Receiving a phone call to say that DD had taken a Paracetamol overdose

Christ, I've just read through all of these posts and am saddened but also humbled by some of the horrific things people have had to go through. 😢

As a teen, I worked weekends in a cafe located in a hospital. The hospital was usually deserted during my shifts. One Saturday I went to the loo and passed a man who weirded me out. I may be exaggerating it in my mind but it definitely felt like we were in slow-mo when I passed him and made eye contact. As a naive 16 year old I went to the toilet anyway but as I went to shut the door someone tried barging in. I knew it was the man as there was literally no one else in the corridor.

Luckily I spent my entire childhood trying to force my bedroom door shut (to keep my boisterous siblings out). I used one of my legs against the wall which was very effective.

I managed to shut the door and waited for a trolley to pass before I came out. Didn't even tell my colleague when I got back.

Watching DS1 have an asthma attack and not knowing what to do. I hated myself for months because I felt as though my stupidity could have led to him being killed. I’ve never known fear like it.

Hearing my dad had terminal cancer.. never felt the feeling before or after but felt like my entire skull was freezing cold and frozen, so weird.

Oh and that feeling was in the moment seconds before hearing the diagnosis not before or after. Felt so strange, a sensation I’ve never felt before

Being followed by known IRA member on two separate occasions.

My son being tested for serious illnesses, the wait for the blood tests was excruciating. Thankfully he was alright.

Being followed by a man who pulled up next to me in his car. I was on my bike.

Unbelievably awful stories here.

Mine was first child. Shoulder dystopia. I nearly died and so did he. I lost massive amounts of blood and took months to recover.
Pulling out of a junction and crashing into a motorcyclist. He very nearly died with massive injuries and I will never be sure if it was my fault or his.
House being flooded whilst we were on holiday. Came back to the Apocalypse.
Others that I will not mention.

Dystocia

Giving birth was pretty scary but I don't think I'd be as scared to do it again now I know the score (and just how much it hurts, which is not as much as the most painful thing I've ever done - putting my kneecap on the back of my leg, never been the same since)

Have been in a couple of car crashes that got my heart rate going.

Nearly fell out of a roller-coaster as I was too small to ride it safely.

Most scary though was ds getting blue lighted to A&E at 18 months old struggling to breathe with dangerously low sats.
He was blue and non responsive.

I honestly thought he was going to die. It was later diagnosed as nothing more than a particularly nasty case of bronchiolitis, but he was on oxygen for a couple of days.

Worst week of my life.

Being told my child had cancer.

Watching my DBro die aged 34 of bowel cancer, that reduced him to a skeletal shadow of his former self. Watching the doctor look visibly distressed when she was telling me and my family that she had to really try and convince my DBro that he literally only had a couple of weeks left to live, as he was utterly convinced he was going to survive.

Getting myself through a head injury and post concussion syndrome which lasted around 8 months and was so difficult that it gave me a mental breakdown. I was given a very potent antipsychotic drug to help during this time that unfortunately made things a million times worse and gave me a drug induced involuntary movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia.

I also suffered an ectopic pregnancy and had life saving surgery in the same year that my DBro died, and I lost my job too.

Meh. Life is pants. But these things have made me a lot stronger, compassionate and grateful for the good things in life.

Anaphylactic shock. Being triaged in a panic because of my blood pressure.

And the immense IMMENSE headache from a steroid injection later

Feeling my second sons umbilical cord in my knickers after going for a wee while waiting for a planned c-section. It was pulsating and rubbery. Very scary and a real WTF moment.

Stupidly jumping into a seemingly calm bay, then having the tide drag me out and push me back onto the rocks several times. My hands, feet and legs were shredded by the barnacles as I tried to cling on and climb out.

Also, watching my DS5 being out under general for a minor op. Scariest two hours of my life!

Armed robbery at work. Guy with the gun pulled the trigger with it pointing at my colleagues head. It didn't go off. Terrifying!!

for so many stories here. So heartbreaking.

Mine is...

Seeing my mum try to murder my dad by stabbing him with a fork when I was 4 years old. He managed to get up and restrained her by the door whilst my Gran dialled 999. My mum was taken away by ambulance and was sectioned. She was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. My whole life after that was cycles of her being home and being emotionally abusive to me or her being in hospital and being “cared” for by my dad who basically neglected me.

My mum died in March just gone of bowel cancer and I am only now - aged nearly 40- going through counselling to try and unpick some of the issues from my childhood. It is intensely painful.

I have horrific flashbacks from my childhood. Sometimes when I shut my eyes I can still see her face distorted and shouting at me or her catatonic on the sofa not speaking to me for days.

If it hadn’t been the 1980s I genuinely think I would have been taken into care. Or at least had some sort of intervention.

My sister repeatedly trying to kill me when I was 10-14 (she's 2 years younger).

Probably my DPs first seizure... and then the time he had 6 in a row. He developed nocturnal epilepsy at 23 so no one else was ever around during the night.

Or

Toxic shock syndrome

1. DP had been ill with depression and had planned a holiday together. At the last minute, he said it was off as he'd decided to go on his own. I did not take this well, but he said he'd be visiting family, so, fair enough, I took a deep breath and hugged him as he kissed the top of my head and whispered 'I'll miss you'. Five days in, he disappeared. His ex turned up at my doorstep to ask if I'd heard from him, as his parents hadn't and she'd had a worrying message for their DC. He eventually turned up a few days later, pale and broken like a little old man where he'd been sleeping rough, trying to decide where best to kill himself (there are several notorious spots where he comes from and he'd visited each one in turn). He bunked his fare back over 200 miles until he was close enough to be able to afford tube and bus back here. Because he'd only bought a one way ticket.

1. Age 16, at the school end of exams bash on a Thames Riverboat. They managed to find funding for it and called us all back in the middle of August for this special treat. Once it got dark, I went downstairs to where the music was and it felt really hot and claustrophobic, so I decided to go back out. As I was going up the stairs, it suddenly swung round and I felt it get really low in the water on one side, just as a huge (to me) vessel charged past at speed, so I felt the force of the bow wave hit and I was nearly tipped sideways back down them. I spent the rest of the evening sitting at the top of the stairs, refusing to move even when a teacher came to try and persuade me to come down 'and have fun'. I couldn't get off that boat fast enough at the end of the night and was silent for the coach trip back, then went straight to bed.

The following weekend, I woke up to find the boat I'd been so scared of was on telly. It was called the Marchioness.

1. Standing outside the locked doors of Children's A&E where I'd had a panicstricken phone call on DD's phone from her best friend saying she'd taken an overdose. And then the phone went dead. I stood outside those doors for fifteen minutes, ringing and knocking, but no one answered. In the end, as a parent came out, I ran in and, as there was nobody at the desk after doing their buzzer repeatedly, I went and searched every cubicle for DD before hearing 'Muuuuuuuuuuummmmmmm'. Nobody came to tell us anything, she had huge side effects from the combination of medications she'd taken, her arms and legs were a mess of cuts and it wasn't until I heard the laughter of the admin staff as they'd been having a birthday celebration in the side room and were now finished having a good time that I got to speak to anybody except two terrified 15 year olds. They hadn't even noticed I was in there. She eventually got the antidote a full five minutes before their cutoff time for it not working, but those moments stood outside where I didn't know if she was alive or dead were the scariest thing I have ever felt.

My son had meningitis as a toddler. By the time we got to hospital he was totally unresponsive. He was a dead weight in my arms carrying him in. He didn't even flinch during the lumbar puncture.

He recovered really well, although he still has delayed development now (he's 7). He had to re-learn how to walk and talk afterwards, didn't run till he was at school, and only learned to jump last year. I do wonder what non-meningitis-y life would look like for him, but I'm so, so thankful that he was ok.

Seeing a relative try to kill another realtive. Still picking up the pieces on that one. I have nightmares most nights.