Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Have you ever saved a human life?

160 replies

NewLifePending · 19/12/2021 22:31

I did on Friday. Two in fact.

I’m still a little traumatised by the events but after debriefs, writing a long reflection and my first counselling session tomorrow, I’m starting to see the enormity of what I did in a more positive light.

Who else has saved a life and how did you feel about it at the time and then later on?

OP posts:
elliejjtiny · 20/12/2021 09:24

Well done OP.

I once lent someone at school my inhaler when they were having an asthma attack. We were both 11. Not sure if that counts though Grin.

One of ds2's friend's saved his life a few months ago. She was only 12. I will never forget what she did and because of her my family is still in one piece.

elliejjtiny · 20/12/2021 09:26

Forgot to add, look after yourself OP and don't hesitate to see your gp or ask for counselling if you need it.

thesugarbumfairy · 20/12/2021 09:35

@allimtiredandiwanttogotobed love your story and that it has a happy ending.
I remember that poster @LiegeAndLief as I was on MN at the time (my eldest was born in March 2007) and some posters you do remember.

romdowa · 20/12/2021 09:38

I've revived my father when he was unconscious due to a diabetic low several times over the years. Once I found him after he had been missing for several hours and he was hypothermic. He thankfully has gotten better with his diabetes control over the years so it happens less and less these days.

trumpisagit · 20/12/2021 09:55

I grabbed a toddler who was silently drowning (mouth and nose underwater) with his armbands on at a baby pool. He was within a foot of his Mum, so glad I spotted him.

endoflevelbaddy · 20/12/2021 10:04

My DD as a toddler, as with so many of these stories, choking on food. We were at a soft play centre as a group. The scariest part was trying to get her free from the fastenings and out of the high chair so I could get her over my knee to slap her back. Only one of the other mums I was with even noticed, it was that quick 😱

The other was stopping a gang of "youths" armed with hockey sticks / baseball bats from beating another kid. Sunday afternoon in a public park and everyone else ignoring what was happening. I saw red and went mental at the attackers and frightened them off. The victims fell to the floor and they'd surrounded him. Fortunately only one got a blow in and the kid was so scared he just got up and ran off, shouting thanks over his shoulder.

I was with my kids and DH, he panicked and just put himself in front of the kids as this gang ran towards them, I ran at them, shouting and swearing with my phone in my hand saying I'd rung 999. DH and the kids thought I'd lost my mind. It really infuriated me the amount of people just staring over and doing nothing, that could have been one of my own and a swing to the head could have been catastrophic. I have to say I was just raging rather than upset or shocked.

Mammyloveswine · 20/12/2021 10:12

My ds when he was around 18 months old chocked on a chip... he just went silent and red.. I pulled him out of the high chair, whipped him over and slapped him hard on the back... chip came out, he coughed then continued trying to finish his dinner... I was pregnant and burst into tears! It was all over within a minute but terrifying!

BigGreen · 20/12/2021 10:20

I pulled a man down from Blackfriars Bridge handrail who was going to try to commit suicide. He was super drunk and I remember just holding him on the pavement. Another passerby saw everything and called a paramedic who was ace. The poor man had lost his job and had a suicide note on him.

elfycat · 20/12/2021 10:31

DH and I visited Southsea Castle with infant DD1. Another set of parents were looking out to sea, while their approx 18mth old was climbing those thin metal bars they put across the gaps in the crenels. They were wide spaced so he could have easily slipped through and there was a sheer drop the other side. He'd slipped a couple of times trying to get his foot up.

I spotted him and nudged DH. DH leaped up the huge steps up to the battlements and grabbed him in seconds. The parents turned looking outraged instinct that someone was snatching their child and then realised what was going on and went white. The child's DF looked over the side and then had to sit down for several minutes (I did what any good nurse would do and went and got them a cup of tea).

As a nurse - theatre and recovery - loads. I'm really good at stopping femoral bleeds it turns out, and I have an instinct for when someone is a little off. I've kept patients longer than the chart says I should 'because' and often things have gone wrong. I've also sent friends and acquaintances (and occasional strangers in coffee shops talking about some weird symptoms) to the doctor, and called an ambulance for a woman who didn't realise she was having a heart attack. I can also spot an ill cat. It's just cats and humans my instincts work on so far.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 20/12/2021 10:31

It's really worth teaching young-ish DC to give a signal if they're choking. After a near miss myself (choking on steak and nobody could work out what was wrong) I taught DS9 to tap on his chest if he ever choked. One night he started doing it and I was able to get the food up very quickly by whacking him on the back. No idea if it saved his life bit I'm glad I did it!

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 20/12/2021 10:33

Lots of times I was a nurse for 20 years and also as an NHS podiatrist by admitting people to hospital with acute sepsis just in time.

happystory · 20/12/2021 10:35

No but I've been saved! School trip in the 70s, on a beach, couldn't swim and got pulled under by a big wave. Classmate got me out... teachers totally unaware!

florentina1 · 20/12/2021 10:35

Not me, but my youngest son saved his his eldest brothers’ life.
He had been scratched by a cat and was laughing about the effect on his arm. The younger one told him to go toA&E immediately. He said he would get a GP appointment instead.

He drove to his house, scooped him up, delivered him to A&E where he as immediately admitted with Sepsis.

MintyCedric · 20/12/2021 10:40

Firstly well done you!

I've not saved a life that I'm aware of, but have foiled a potential abduction attempt during the course of my work, and flagged concerns on a few occasions that have led to safeguarding referrals, so hopefully have contributed to changing a few lives for the better.

CharSiu · 20/12/2021 10:55

A colleague collapsed in the lab downstairs from me. He had severe epilepsy but hadn’t declared it. I intervened, he turned up sheepishly with a nice box of chocolates for me a few days later.

My Mother had a major heart attack when I was 15 and I was just on my way out to school, got her in to recovery and called an ambulance. Trying to get her off the stairs, she was a tiny woman probably weighed about 7.5 stone and I was bigger that her but trying to pick her up, an unconscious body is so heavy.

DS saved another cadets life at cadet camp as he was choking, he got a commendation from someone high up in the air cadets for that. He is now friends with that lad.

BlackeyedSusan · 20/12/2021 10:57

Might have.from D's, to the toddler that popped out between legs near a school. I'd had a sixth sense when driving and slowed well before the location so was able to emergency stop in time.

Happylittlethoughts · 20/12/2021 10:58

I did cpr for 25 mins but he sadly didnt make it.
My partner has saved both our daughters who were in trouble in the water and, the particularly hapless daughter, who choked in a restaurant.
Amazing

BlackeyedSusan · 20/12/2021 10:59

Chased after two toddlers who ran off towards the road while their dads were chatting.

BlackeyedSusan · 20/12/2021 11:01

And caught another toddler escaping from school

languagelover96 · 20/12/2021 11:03

I went to a exercise class a few months ago. One of the other participants started to have a bad seizure. The leader of the class had to call a ambulance after I saw her fall to the floor.

Mammyofasuperbaby · 20/12/2021 11:15

I've saved both of my children and both at 3 weeks old.
1st was because he stopped breathing during a feed. Dh thought he'd just fell asleep but I jumped over a table and grabbed him,he was turning blue. Thankfully he was still in hospital so once he was breathing again he went straight back into the nicu. He did this every feed for the next 21 weeks. Dh has been hyper vigilant ever since and ds is 5 now.
Ds2 was also 3 weeks old and had been vomiting entire bottles from birth but was improving so was let home the night before, by morning he was curled up in tiny ball, grey, vomiting blood, shaking and no longer crying. Paramedics did his obs and said he was fine but he wasn't.
We rushed him hospital ourselves where he was immediately taken from us, stabilised and transfered to a specialist hospital and operated on.
The surgeon told us that if we hadn't ignored the paramedic, our tiny baby would have died within hours

Gonnagetgoing · 20/12/2021 11:33

@FetchezLaVache

I grabbed a toddler who was about to walk into the path of a car. I was just upset to think what might have happened if I hadn't been there. It was years ago and my blood still runs cold when I think about it.

Can you tell us about your story, @NewLifePending (and does your user name mean what I think it does?)?

Same - a couple of years ago. Crossing quiet side road had almost crossed to the other side, noticed a mum with a buggy and toddler holding her hand also crossing - mum was distracted briefly by someone waving to her and I noticed toddler let go of her hand, a car was suddenly speeding round the corner (approx 20mph) and I grabbed toddlers hand and got her to the other-side of the road out of the way of car, the mum had stopped in the 'island' in the middle to wave to her friend.

Mum was annoyed at her child letting go of her hand but was thankful to me and the car just sped by with I think young adults recklessly driving. We had a quick chat walking down the road afterwards and she said she was going to use a hand strap on her toddler from now on, whether toddler liked it or not!

Gonnagetgoing · 20/12/2021 11:36

For me - I've collapsed (think it was before underactive thyroid was diagnosed) in the street once or twice - one occasion near Abbey Road recording studios I just fell straight over onto my side and think I fainted. Woke to find mother and teenage daughter out of their car trying to make me come round. They actually dropped me to local A&E and waited until then partner arrived. I don't collapse at all now so guessing it was underactive thyroid or something as wasn't medicated then.

ShortDaze · 20/12/2021 11:59

I saved a man’s life when he dived into a swimming pool and didn’t come up again. It was on holiday, no lifeguard. I was acting as lifeguard for my DC (I hadtaken some stick about how they were good swimmers and I was being over cautious sitting there staring at them while they swam).

His wife was right there and didn’t notice. I got his head above water but he wasn’t breathing, and he was about triple my weight so I couldn’t move him easily even in water.

I shouted for help and got him to the side, and once his shoulder were out do the water he gasped and started breathing again.

SleepOhHowIMissYou · 20/12/2021 18:09

I saved a little girl who had sunk to the bottom of the pool beneath the inflatables during a fun session.

She was out of her depth and got knocked off a big float, struggled to stay above water then sank.

I was on edge of pool with kids and kept waiting for the lifeguard to notice. I shouted out but it was so noisy they couldn't hear. Then it dawned on me that I was the only one who could do anything about it so I dove down under water, kicked to the middle and got her round the waist. I didn't do the normal on back rescue thing, it was a sort of Lion King-eque rescue with me lifting her above the water by her waist while I kicked back to the edge. She scrambled out and ran off crying. I thought about following but didn't want to leave my kids in the hubbub as it was a crazy, noisy 'fun' session with floats and noodles everywhere.

In the changing room I heard a voice say "that's the lady who rescued me" and as I turned round realised I was wearing a Super-Girl logo t-shirt which made us laugh. Her Mum was very grateful.

It's scary how quickly things can happen though.