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Original poster

“If it wasn’t for xxxxxxx I wouldn’t be here.” Weird things to Owe your existence to.

181 replies

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 08/03/2020 20:31

Inspired by a conversation with dh today. We were driving past the site of the old tb hospital in our home town. His grand parents met there when gf was a patient and Dgm was a nurse. “So if it wasn’t for tb I wouldn’t be here.”
So is there anyone else who wouldn’t be around if not for something unusual?

OP posts:
WillWinterEverEnd · 09/03/2020 22:12

If I hadn't of fallen off my horse and broken my collar bone, shoulder and shoulder blade, I never would have met my husband and my life would be so unimaginably different now.

WillWinterEverEnd · 09/03/2020 22:13

Doh! Didn't read the title properly 🤦🏼‍♀️

HorseradishSnowflake · 09/03/2020 22:44

@TheHagOnTheHill
Snap! Except there was no daughter, my granddads first wife died of Spanish Flu. He met my Grandma because she worked at the tobacco kiosk where he used to buy his baccy every day on his way to work. She thought he looked sad and so used to chat to him to cheer him up.

YellowAndBlack · 09/03/2020 22:52

The Scottish National Party! My parents met as SNP activists in the 70s. My Dad is still out canvassing every chance he gets.
There's probably a fair few folk in Scotland that applies to, but I name changed just in case! Grin

ilovesooty · 09/03/2020 23:25

When my father was 11 he had an accident where a ladder pierced his stomach. He had to have emergency surgery to save his life which involved removing his spleen. They sent it to Edinburgh medical school as apparently he was the first person in Britain to survive the operation. If he'd died I wouldn't be here.

ThreeImaginaryBoys · 09/03/2020 23:58

A random change in routine saved me from death or serious harm.

I was meeting a friend in the West End. I always use Brixton tube station but uncharacteristically chose to use Clapham North station instead.

Brixton tube station is 11 minutes from my front door. A nail bomb exploded outside the station precisely 11 minutes after I set out. I would have walked straight into it.

Still makes me feel sick when I think about it.

silverdragon · 10/03/2020 20:44

My German mum met my Australian dad in London after the war. She was friends with his landlady's daughter, and he was making faces at her when she came over to pick her friend up.

And my mum was visiting Dresden a week before the fire-bombing...

Kubo · 10/03/2020 20:45

It’s a sad one but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t exist if my older sibling hadn’t died of SIDS three months before I was conceived.

Purplequalitystreet · 10/03/2020 22:02

A peanut!

When my dad was 10 his family were going to emigrate to Australia. A few days before they were due to leave his cousin choked on a peanut and her lung collapsed. They changed their plans because she needed hospital treatment.

Iusedtobeapartygirl · 10/03/2020 22:09

I wouldn't be here if my GF hadn't been shot on D-Day.

He was sent to a hospital in Lancashire (he was a Londoner). My GM was working there as a nurse!

Dowser · 10/03/2020 22:15

If my great great grandfather hadn’t come over from Ireland to Liverpool and my great grandfather hadn’t come from Liverpool to my home town and met great grandma
I wouldn’t be here

Similarly if my great great grandfather hadn’t come from Ireland to Glasgow ,and then my great grandfather hadn’t moved from lochgelly to my home town with his children then my grandfather wouldn’t have met my grandmother
Then I wouldn’t be here.

Sarahlou63 · 10/03/2020 22:22

If contraception had been freely available in 1963 I wouldn't be here.

If abortion had been available in 1963 I wouldn't be here.

I am still pro-choice.

ChevalierTialys · 10/03/2020 22:24

Going as far back as grandparents... if my Grandads' date hadn't stood him up at the roller skating rink, he wouldn't have got talking to the girl struggling to balance and gripping the side for dear life. That girl was my Gran.

Ritascornershop · 10/03/2020 22:27

If my dad’s first wife hadn’t died, leaving him widowed with umpteen children and in need of a mum, he wouldn’t have asked my mum to marry him (they might still have met, not sure).

HonestlyItsFine · 10/03/2020 22:38

Both my grandparents moved to a new town when it was built in the 1960s, and my parents met there when they grew up. So if its wasn't for WW2, I think a lot of us wouldn't be here as we are now!

LargeGinOnTap · 10/03/2020 22:39

If my dgf hadn't had a spirts injury he wouldn't have met my dgm.

Well if my dad has gone to work for British airways not gone to uni. Or if mum went to medical school they wouldn't have met. I was ivf so if they'd met 20 years before I wouldn't be here.

And they also had me quite late so I often wonder what my life would have been like if they had me when they were younger.

toothfairy73 · 10/03/2020 22:40
  1. WWII; my grandad was a Canadian solider
  2. my foot; I was really premature and an unexpected twin. My sister was born (3lb8oz) and they were about to give my mum the injection to deliver the placenta and my foot popped out. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be here. I was 2lbs 10oz and mum had eclampsia; don't think either of us would have survived if it wasn't for my foot
Echobelly · 10/03/2020 22:40

I wouldn't exist if the Russian's hadn't invaded Czechslovakia.

toothfairy73 · 10/03/2020 22:42

Also my dad had a really bad motorbike accident. If that hadn't happened he wouldn't have met my mum (she made his hospital appointments)

LargeGinOnTap · 10/03/2020 22:48

Oh another one if my dgm had decided the family would emigrate to Australia for £10
But my dgps were getting sick so they decided not to go but they had got their passports and everything.
If they had gone my parents would defo wouldn't have met

Nat6999 · 10/03/2020 23:35

If my mum hadn't gone to the dress maker's house I wouldn't be here, the dress maker's daughter was my mum's friend & the first time my mum went to be measured to have a dress made, her friend's brother had one of his friends helping him mend his motorbike in the back yard. His friend asked my mum out & they got married & had me. My brother wouldn't be here if it wasn't for half day closing, my dad worked as an electrician in a department store & my mum swears she got pregnant when my dad had half day closing off.

Fenlandmountainrescue · 11/03/2020 02:43

If my great grandad hadn’t missed his ferry from Canada, I wouldn’t be here. It sank, but the next ferry made it all the way to the UK.

Candlecandle · 11/03/2020 03:22

If it hadn't been raining one day in Manchester, my grandparents wouldn't have met in a shop doorway. (Mind you it does rain quite a lot there 😁).

Also if my partners great grandma had been able to get a ticket for the titanic maybe he wouldn't be here either.... (sold out).

Buttybach · 11/03/2020 08:19

I wouldn't be here if my parents hadn't gone on a piss up weekend to Belgium in the 60s they lived on opposite ends of the country.

I also wouldn't be here if it wasn't for trains.
One part of my family moved from carslile to Yorkshire as soon as the train line opened.

The other part of my family consisted of 7 brothers who all worked on the great western railway and stated families in all the major towns along the way.

Racheyg · 11/03/2020 08:30

The staff at canterbury hospital.
I was born nearly 10 weeks early in the 80's. A boy whom was born at 8 weeks early in the same neo natal unit had life changing health issues, and unfortunately passed away age 16.