Feel lucky to be alive after falling forward down my stairs.

[Tolkienista]

I'm writing this just to say that you never know what is round the corner and for me I'm still in shock that I had the luckiest escape ever.
Saturday night I was on my own & stupidly descended a few steps of my staircase & leaned over the bannister to turn down the thermostat. I felt my foot pretty much disengage from the tread I was standing on and I was in free fall heading head first down the stairs.

It was probably only a milli second but I literally thought, I'm going to die as I was going forward and I knew the point of impact probably eight steps down would be my head. Miraculously I somehow managed to grab the rail on my right side and slammed into it with my body. It stopped me falling further and I disentangled myself and realised I'm alive.

Yes I've got bruised ribs, but nothing paracetamol can't deal with.

But I'm here to tell my tale and realise that at worst I could have died and at best I'd have sustained a head injury but to what degree I don't know.
Cue a massive sigh of relief , a massive reflection on my life and all that I've done to safeguard myself & then I throw it all away by endangering my life turning down a thermostat over the bannister.
If you've read this far, thank you for your time ........I just needed to get my story out there and say I'm safe, I'm fine, I'm really thankful and most importantly I'M ALIVE.

Glad you’re starting to heal.

One thing I learned the hard way was to not bottle up the fear but to let it play out. That way the brain deals with it. Otherwise you suddenly find yourself sitting on the stairs 6 months later actually screaming in terror that you will fall down if you move and having your poor MiL help you down like a toddler (god how I love that woman. Taken far too fucking soon).

I had serious injuries from falling down a flight of stairs at home about 10 years ago. Took years to heal and I'm still nervous / wary on stairs. It was years before I stopped opting for the lift at work.

It’s hard to process this stuff. I find it so hard when it’s related to my dc, I find these types of threads helpful for that.

The other year, I lost my balance on the top stair and somehow ended up lying on the stairs and sliding down, getting carpet burn on my back. But the worst was that we had a stair gate at the bottom because of the dog. When I reached the bottom, I banged my tailbone on the metal rail of the stairgate, and I was black and blue on it for weeks!
Neighbour over the road nipped upstairs to the bathroom during the break halfway through Coronation Street. She heard the music start in the 2nd half, started to rush downstairs, slipped and died.
My auntie slipped on her son's stairs and hurt herself badly, including a head injury. People may say it does not happen, but after that fall, she started displaying symptoms of dementia, which accelerated quickly. She died 12 months later

After falling down my stairs mid October, spending 2 weeks in hospital am recovering at home. Nothing broken but after 5 weeks lying on my back progress is slow. Am walking, just need .ore stamina. We were both lucky.

Glad you’re ok 💐

Easily done. I tripped and fell down the last four stairs in my last house, hitting the wall at the bottom. Luckily I was holding a quilt and pillows in my arms, which protected my body. So scary.

My SIL ex-collegue fell down stairs holding her baby, which sadly didn’t survive. I was told this with a newborn so it made me super-careful.

My DH has a leg that collapsed occasionally. I'm always terrified when he walks down the stairs. I keep reminding him don't carry anything in your hands, hold the rails.

So many sad stories here, bless you all.
i’m mid sixties, quite fit and agile. We have stairs in our cottage, quite winding. I now go up with one hand on the bannister, to steady myself. My cats follow me around, so cats, full hands, not a good idea at my age. So I’d rather do two or three trips upstairs than one precariously. 💐

One of our cats likes to lie on a step of the stairs, the furry little fecker pest.
I give him a nudge to move off!

Who’s gonna play you in the movie?

I fell downstairs 15 years ago. I was decluttering and had filled two bags for the charity shop. I think my shoe came off and I fell backwards. The pain in my ribs was excruciating. I went to A&E but there was nothing they could do. To this day if I twist in a certain way the pain is still there.

Thats so scary, i know it was yesterday, but grab a couple of aspirin to protect against clots from bruises,
Clearly its not your time yet!

I work for an emergency service. A few weeks ago we got a call about someone who had fallen downstairs - their head rotated 180 degrees.

Me too, I was shaking with fright afterwards. Even remembering and my heart is going cold. It was terrifying

A few years ago a woman on my street died from falling down the stairs, she had two young children too it was terrible

In my 20s, I fell down the stone cellar steps in our old house and took all the skin from the front of my shin off, down to the top of my foot!
I'd blanched a sack of carrots and bagged them all up for the freezer. Got them all in a bunch in my hands, started down the steps, one bag fell, just as I was stepping down and I caught my foot on it. I had no way to save myself. My leg bent underneath me and I sailed down to the bottom on my shin. Hit the wall at the bottom turn in a heap, battered, bruised, sore and unable to move. I laid for ages crying in a mess, as I was home alone and had no idea how I could untangle myself.
Eventually I did, put the carrots in the freezer, very slowly hobbled upstairs and had to ring my mum for support, while I looked at my injury. It was awful. But I healed and have no scarring at all!
I am so careful on stairs and steps now. It's made me absolutely paranoid and if I'm out and there's the option of the lift, I'll take that to go down, over stairs any day.
Glad you're OK @Tolkienista 💐

@Tolkienista glad your ok 💐 rest well. Just to put into perspective you should feel very lucky I had friends at school a girl and boy. Whilst at school their mum fell
down the stairs and sadly passed she was in her early 40s and was carrying a washing basket. This has never left me im extremely paranoid about stairs and I think of this often how awful it must have been going home to discover that.
you are very lucky nonetheless and thank you for sharing your story

Reminds me of a poor lassie that a work colleague knew who died on Hogmanay after tripping on her trousers and died falling down the stairs in her close. She was so young and the neighbours that found her were traumatised

I fell down our stairs, I was putting my bracelet on as I started to go down stairs, my foot somehow slipped off the top step, I went down on my back and bum, I was lucky just bruising, we were going on holiday that morning flying, it could of been so much worse.

I’ve never fallen down the stairs, and am thankful that you’re ok, OP.
One of my adult children kindly informed me over Christmas that if you do fall on the stairs you should immediately starfish.. ie arms and legs out everywhere.
I suppose the idea is that you may snap a few bones but at least you’ll stop falling 😂

I've also known someone die from falling down stairs - Friday chatting away on a WhatsApp group, by Monday she was dead and her children motherless. So sad and senseless.

Gosh I know that feeling. "Fortunately" I fell backwards but landed heavily and slid at great speed, hitting every single step on my arse. It was agonising and terrifying. While on my way down, I felt certain a life changing injury was in progress and it was such a shock.

Just like you I felt it was a miracle to be alive, without a broken back or bashed head. Beware of delayed onset pain, and trauma to the body for a good while. But yeah, also quite a feeling to be alive.

This is God's grace. Miracles do happen! Take care and make every day count!