I just saved someone’s life…

[Difficultfemale]

Ok not just, but this morning. Was on the way to work, brilliant mood, high vibe tunes in the car, driving over a motorway bridge and noticed a man stood looking over the railings. On a closer look he had cans of alcohol around his feet and was stood on the bottom rung rather than the pavement. I just knew.

Stopped in the road and wound down my window to speak to him, but as I was doing this he started to climb over. Adrenaline kicked in and before I knew it I’d jumped out of my car, left it with the engine running in the middle of the road, doors open, and was running over. He was completely on the other side of the railings when I got to him. Gripped him and somehow managed to pull him over the railings. He was clearly under the influence of many, many, substances as he just wanted to ‘fly’ and was fighting the whole time. At this point I was feeling a bit out of my depth, to say the least. Unable to let go, unable to call police, I had clearly not thought this through and the panic was setting in quickly. I was screaming for help (rush hour traffic) and luckily, after what felt like an age, a man stopped to help and rang the police. The relief I felt on seeing him was immense! Luckily we managed to keep him safe until the police came but it felt like forever. I’ve had a courtesy call to let me know that thankfully he’s in a mental health suite and getting the help he needs.

Anyone else have a similar story they can share? And/or advice on how to deal with it, if (god forbid) I, or anyone else here, ends up in a similar situation ever again?

Jeez…! surprising how often that happens. It’d be interesting to know if Social Care became involved with that family

@Thepurpledress that is shocking on so many levels. It's also quite shocking you say you sort of saved your sister's life... and it answers the question of why they did what they did, it was clearly effective on you. 13 year old you are deserved a very overdue apology for that day, wow you did amazing. I am so sorry.

There was a very similar story on here a few months back OP, almost identical in fact.

Except unfortunately no-one stopped to help the woman who stopped her car.

Fantastically well done, OP, you deserve to feel really proud of yourself.

No direct experience, but a friend's life was saved by the quick thinking of his partner. Despite being a young, healthy man, he simply collapsed one day and stopped breathing. Fortunately his partner was nearby, knew CPR and applied it, and phoned for an ambulance which came within 9 minutes. They got him going again with a defibrillator and hauled him off to intensive care, where luckily he made a pretty good recovery with no long-term ill effects. They never found out what caused it and put it down to Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome - where basically the electrics go haywire and the heart stops beating for no obvious reason - but they said the reason he had no brain damage was that his partner's CPR kept his blood circulation going. Although he jokes about how she broke his ribs, he really appreciates how fantastic she was that day.

I read recently that fewer than 10% of resuscitations in the community work, so my friend was unbelievably lucky, and it made me resolve to go out and learn CPR. In fact I think it should be on the National Curriculum.

PTSD on the same day.

Well done op. Hope he is okay.

Mine is a woman that was in diabetic coma but everyone was walking over her assuming she was drunk. Nice world eh.

❤️

You are a hero and I wish everyone was as decent! You should be so proud of yourself today you've stopped so many lives becoming destroyed xx

If you actually read the links, instead of making snide comments, you'd see that tetris is advised from the same day as the traumatic event, as it makes PTSD less likely to develop. In the future.

You did a good thing, he'll probably appreciate it one day.

I did something similar but less dramatic with a young woman who'd split up with her bf. Could I as hell get the police to come and take over, they just kept saying 'she's not stood on the bridge now, is she, so she's not at risk'. I ended up getting dh to come out at 1am and drive us 30 mins to her mums house - who she couldn't call because her phone was already in the river.

It is a huge thing that you have done and difficult to process. Your quick thinking and kindness have saved not only that poor man, but the lives of his family. What a beautiful person you are.

Well done OP, your story made me think of this i read the other day

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7ml33pn0zo

One small act of kindness and taking a moment to check in on a fellow human when we get that gut feeling something is not ok, really can life changing for all involved!

Really???
Are you OK??
Some twisted logic there

Well done OP you should feel proud of yourself and it’s something you’ll always remember, You gave that poor man another chance today and also spared his family from a world of grief.

i had a similar experience of saving someone’s life but not from a suicide attempt. I was walking my DS back from primary school having recently moved to the village. We used to walk home with a really friendly Year 6 boy. One day we were walking back and crossing the pelican crossing with traffic lights on red and the beeper going, the boy was about one or two feet ahead, and a Range Rover that must have been going 60-70 miles per hour was approaching and jumped the lights. When I caught it out of the corner of my eye I grabbed the boys coat hood and dragged him back to safety. My instincts kicked and it took seconds, but I believe I probably saved his life in that moment.

All the other motorists at the traffic lights were beeping their horns and some workmen pulled over and asked if we were okay. I reported it to the police but they never followed it up despite there being cameras on the crossing. Maybe they weren't switched on, I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t moved to this village and sent my son to the school. Like with your man on the bridge OP, being in the right place at the right time.

God bless you @Difficultfemale

I stopped to help at a car crash once. The young man in the passenger seat hadnt got his seat belt fastened as they pulled out of a car park before they spun on ice and clipped another car. His head hit the dash/windscreen and was in several pieces with blood everywhere. I got in the car and held his head together/stabilised his neck while getting some bystanders to call for an ambulance and push the car backwards into the car park as there was a risk of more cars coming down the road and spinning while trying to break for the accident and then making everything even worse. The driver of the car that clipped them was completely freaking out and demanding that I come and check his dc who were crying in his car. I had to yell at him to get his car pushed out of the road too, so his dc werent at more risk of a follow on crash. It was all pretty chaotic and my adrenalin was surging. Luckily the ambulance was there in about 10 mins and took the poor young man literally out of my hands. The dc were fine, just scared, I wobbled my way into the shop that the car park was for and they let me wash the blood off myself in their staff loo…and then I drove home and my lovely DH took one look at me and sent me for a hot bath with a large glass of wine, made the dc dinner and put them all to bed.

I found that the bit I didnt expect was coming down off the adrenalin rush with people who didnt know what had happened. I told my DH about it, but it wasnt the same as if he had actually been there and experienced it himself, and then life just went on as normal…but I wasnt the same, so that seemed weird.

Perhaps he doesn’t, but to assume letting him jump would be for the best if a bit fucked up.

Thank you
This poster really has a warped view!!

Wow..seriously, good on you 👏

That's amazing and thank goodness you were there.

I spent a few hours talking a young man off the parapet of a bridge once, when I was in my twenties. It was immensely difficult and it upset me, thinking about it afterwards, that none of the many passers by stopped to help.

I had flashbacks afterwards for about 6 months (not much awareness or support available back then), so please do make sure you look after yourself, talk with your therapist and treat yourself if you can to some rest, holiday or something special. You did something wonderful, but difficult, and deserve some processing and distraction too.

Well done.. l think you are amazing.
I once preformed CPR on a man on a bus who was having an heart attack .Kept him going until paramedics arrived..( he lived and sent me a lovely letter and flowers) .. got my name etc from the paramedics. He had a pacemaker fitted.
This was 25 years ago.. he will be about 86 now.. ( hoping he's still alive) .

Research shows the majority of survivors of suicide attempts are glad they survived and regret the decision to end their lives.

It's so important to give someone that chance.

How amazing! you were his angel! I once stopped someone crossing the road who was about to be run over. Also, my brother saved two lives, similar story to yours. He lives near a bridge so he regularly crosses it. He is completely nonchalant about it, lol.

Wow well done you. His mum will be eternally grateful to a wonderful stranger that just happened to be passing by.
You really are a wonderful person