What's the scariest moment of your life?

[Lonelydaisy]

Following on from a thread I read earlier..

What's the most scariest life event you've been through?

Mine would be a stroke at 25 years old.

What did you do?

Adam Peaty himself has never swum as fast as I did back to the boat. I don’t think the shark was really interested - there was a large shoal of fish around which is why all the dolphins were there, so I think it was there for that. Still makes me feel cold to think about though.

Witnessing my daughter losing consciousness, then being told she’d had a massive brain haemorrhage and may not make it beyond surgery.

Some of these are terrifying. It is unfortunate to have serious life threatening health issues. But my heart hurts to hear about those of you who have gone through such moments at the hands of other people.

Being accused of a crime having not committed it, being dragged through the court system (having never been in trouble in my life with the police) and then having to wait for a jury to find me not guilty. My barrister asked the police officer what evidence there was I had done what they said I had done and she said ‘None’. I wanted to cry. It makes me panicky thinking about it now. How can you trust it won’t ever happen again when it never should have happened in the first place?

Coming out the shower to find my husband on the floor dying and then watching the first responder trying to resuscitate him. I relive that morning everyday 💔

Also when an Abusive ex was stalking me and I was driving home one night and he appeared from no where in his car stopped mine and tried to pull me out of mine while shouting he was going to kill me. Thank goodness I remained calm as I still think he would have cause serious damage even have killed me.

Two involving our dd.
First, I had pneumonia at 7 months pregnant and was told that my dd would either be dead or brain dead due to how little oxygen I had.
Amazingly, my oxygen levels were so low because the oxygen I did have was being passed on to my baby by my body to protect her. She was born full term perfectly healthy.

Second was when dd was 8 weeks and had sepsis. We were told to phone our family and priest as she wouldn't make it through the night. I didn't make the calls. She finally turned a corner when I put the tv on and she heard the music. She opened her eyes and started fighting back.
She is our perfect little girl now with no side effects who doesn't stop singing and dancing. She is our fighter and she amazes me every day.

Not sure if it was having my first husband hold a knife at my chest and tell me he was going to kill me or watching my second husband die after our tractor ran over him.

Minor in comparison to some.

My dh lit a fire in a brazier, cardboard, near the house, behind the horses stable. He went out to get the kids from a couple of villages away, passing me dog walking on the lane saying he'd lit a fire.

I was in the kennels about 15 metres away and I could hear crackling and then see smoke. Locked the dog and kennels up.

Shot towards the house, through the smoke I could hardly see. Emptied a bucket of water from the stable onto fire, with little effect. Started filling from the tap. As I was doing that, my neighbour, about quarter of a mile away, rang saying we had a fire near the house. I said yes, I was ringing the fire brigade and hung up on her. Threw second bucket of water on with little effect whilst ringing husband in tears.
At that point I decided to give up and get the horse out, she was stood rooted to the spot surrounded by smoke.
Got her out and moved far out the way of where the fire engine would need to be.

Next thing, my neighbour's dh comes careering down the lane in his tractor and trailer, followed by the fire engine. Next came my husband and the kids, him looking absolutely sick. The kids told me he'd driven, slowly and taking care, through a set of red lights to get home asap and when they could see the smoke from the town 2 miles away he was swearing like a trooper.

The neighbour and firemen were bloody marvellous. I was shocked at how quick it took hold.
The complete feeling of helplessness is one I really would not like to repeat.

Caught up in hysteria after a shooting.
The media was reporting falsely that there were multiple perpetrators and had moved into the city centre. Mass hysteria had broken out across the city centre, stretching over a mile with people running and screaming that "they were coming and they've got guns..run run".
It was terrifying. And although it turned out not to be the case, in the moment, it was real and I couldn't stop picturing these men and what it's going to feel like when I get shot and how I just wanted to be at home.

I’ve got two. The first is when DD died and trying to ‘live’ after her loss. It hurt so bloody much.
We were told when having her pm explained to us that her death was unexplained, “more common than you think” she just stopped.

A few years later our youngest DC her little brother was in HDU being resuscitated for tonsillitis. He just couldn’t breath his throat was so closed up, and his little body was so tired. I sat in the corner watching six hospital staff work on him quietly sobbing thinking “he’s just stopping, it’s happening again!” Knowing the enormity of the pain ahead of us was terrifying, like falling off a cliff we’d already fallen from.
Luckily he lived, and he is the most wonderfully happy little snuggly boy, but each time he gets ill I wait

It is strange how your brain copes with some situations and not others. I was mugged once. Asphyxiated and robbed of my money, cards, passport, in a country far from home. I held it together and the whole thing has never really upset me. It was over 15 years ago.
I also nearly lost my daughter at 11 days old, basically due to a common cold. She was rescucitated and the doctors refused to say if she would be ok. Again, held it together and just carried on. 5 years have passed and it has never really upset me.
But moments of sheer panic stay with me. Childbirth, for me, particularly 2 of the 3 times, was terrifying. I couldn't fathom the pain. They were difficult births.
And once I took a bus to the rainforest in South America, 6 hours down a mountain in the Andes. It had been raining hard and they should not have gone. Everyone on the bus was praying, it was tipping on 2 wheels, crosses all over the road. A white knuckle ride I will never forget.

I never cease to be amazed at the courage and resilience of the human spirit. Some of you have been to hell and back, and I have so much admiration for you. My worst time was my son, aged 15, having one of his (many) very serious asthma attacks in the middle of the night. We were on holiday, 30 minutes from a hospital, no neighbours, and I had to send my 10 year old daughter down a dark deserted bush road with a torch to show the parameds where to go. He lay there, unconscious, blue and floppy, bowels and bladder voided, as I talked him through it, telling him he was not going to leave me after all we'd been through. I could have hugged those calm, lovely ambulance men who arrived and revived him against all the odds. Those of you who have lost a child...I can't imagine your grief. I remember Helen Brown's newspaper column, when she lost her 11 year old son, describing people who have lost children as "the aristocrats of pain".

@eekbumbler my 1 year old did this in the bath last week, like you said it was COMPLETELY silent. My 3yo complained that she had water in her eyes so I literally turned around to get a towel off the towel rail behind, so we’re speaking literally seconds. It was so so scary. 1yo face down in the bath, she got her foot stuck under her arm somehow in an awkward position and couldn’t get up but she wasn’t even trying/struggling, just silently there with her head submerged. 💔

Should have added she was completely fine as it was literally 2 seconds!! But just a warning to anyone reading this that it truly is silent! Don’t take your eyes off them 🤍🤍

ICU when I woke up and hallucinated for about 3 days.

My god some of you have lived through horrendous experiences.

Mine was my first breakdown, I was in bed for days too scared to get up with no idea what the hell had happened to me. Exh had gone on holiday and the dc were terrified of the way I was acting. I thought I would never feel normal again. Luckily my parents were amazing and never left my side. Had a few relapses since but can handle it much better now I see the signs.

Being told I had a cancerous tumour on my pancreas at the age of 37, with my 9 year old DD in the room.

For me it was when i started to bleed heavily at 37 weeks pregnant.and I was told my son was gone .everything after that is a blur but I've been told I nearly lost my life too.
My second was having a stroke a week after my 40th birthday.

Finding out my unborn daughter's prognosis and knowing she wouldn't live very long and would be very ill. And then the realisation that I was going to be asked to choose, and that choice would cause her death to avoid her suffering.
And then getting up every day since, living with that choice.

Some of these stories are heartbreaking. I am amazed at the strength of you MN ladies
Not my story, but many years ago, my DP was in Zimbabwe and canoeing. He drifted away from the others and suddenly felt the whole atmosphere become incredibly still. He turned to see a hippo, rising out of the water, mouth wide open. He somehow leaped out, swam away and turned to look, just as the hippo crushed his canoe. He goes white when we see hippos on the TV. And it's been 30 years.

@dumphies

Coming round after my ex tried to drug me and kill me. Came to with him slowly inserting a knife into my side, having cut both of my wrists, telling me "nobody would believe anyone had tried to harm me, they'd think I'd done it to myself"

And then what happened?

An accident on holiday. I was in a carriage being pulled by a horse with DH and another couple, DD was riding a donkey as part of a little convoy. The carriage driver became angry with the horse (for no reason) and pushed it to gallop, it took off with us and we came to a bend and I knew we could not turn at that speed. The carriage turned onto its roof as we took the corner and I woke up with a panicked horses feet 1m from my head. I can still hear my DD screams as I woke up that her mummy and daddy were dead. We were taken to hospital and thank god a wonderful English lady happened to be in the waiting room she translated everything for us from Arabic to English I will be forever grateful for her help

Bleeding out after giving birth, the whole birth was so awful, so long, so painful nothing like any of my other births.. but it was horrific the blood was pouring off the bed an on to the floor as much as they were pumping blood in it was flowing out. i was rushed in for surgery, in intensive care for 3 days. it didn't really hit home what had happened until I was about to leave the hospital and took the midwives on the ward a thank you gift and everyone knew who i was (the midwives who were on that night said this is the lady who insert medical jargon here and everyone was like ohh wow your up and about!) and the surgeon who had done the surgery said to me 'you are one of the luckiest ladies i have ever met' i very nearly never met my son and nearly left 4 children without a mum. safe to say my baby making days are well and truly over!

I was attacked by a cab driver. As I was getting out of the cab he got out too. He grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go. I was screaming that he was hurting me and my friend was there trying to pull me away. He ended up dragging me to his side of the car, sat down and eccelerated whilst still holding on to me. He drove and dragged me up the road. I managed to get my coat off (which is what he was holding on to at the time) got free and ran as fast as I could.

I genuinely thought that I was going to die. I was 16.

@Tiredanawfullot

Being accused of a crime having not committed it, being dragged through the court system (having never been in trouble in my life with the police) and then having to wait for a jury to find me not guilty. My barrister asked the police officer what evidence there was I had done what they said I had done and she said ‘None’. I wanted to cry. It makes me panicky thinking about it now. How can you trust it won’t ever happen again when it never should have happened in the first place?

I went through this with my then 18 year old DS, thought he would end up in prison for a crime he didnt commit, paid out for a lawyer, luckily the girl admitted she lied about the assault to make her BF feel jealous/guilty for dumping her, but I really thought he was going down for a long time. He told me if he did he wouldnt come out again, which I knew what he was saying, that was the most scary moment in my life.