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.

Several:

Being in a hotel which was hit by lightning
My child choking - I had to implement those first aid procedures you hope you never will have to do
Driving my child to hospital with them gasping for air with pneumonia - no time to wait for ambulance
Being attacked in an underpass - someone grabbed me from behind
Being in a hotel in an old building in a dodgy area of Naples where they effectively locked you in

Dd was very poorly as a baby and ventilated twice - I got through a lot of it on adrenaline and not quite registering what was happening, but the day she had heart surgery is the most terrifying of my life.

Getting dragged out to sea by an undercurrent and after a massive struggle knowing I'd effectively breathed my last. As I sank down in the water a guy appeared from nowhere and dragged me back to shore.

In a car park in Spain and a stranger walked up behind me and held a knife to my throat.

DH being rushed into emergency surgery with two bleeds to the brain.

to you all

Another one - being in the Amazon with a bullet ant on my hat - the sting is known to be the worst pain known....

Being told my mum had 2 hours to live. She's still here almost 30 years later - we're very lucky. She'd had a massive brain haemorrhage, collapsed and went straight into a coma. Thankfully it was a Saturday and we were at home.

Watching my daughter, aged 6, having radioactive dye injected so that they could look at her kidneys. That was scary. She's fine, no damage to her kidneys at all.

Falling ill after birth with sepsis caused by a flesh eating organism (iGAS)

I was hemmoraging clots the size of babies head, in excruciating pain and just knew I was going to die.

Subsequently diagnosed and treated for PTSD.

I was very lucky.

anaphylactic reaction to nuts. thought i was going to die

Delivering my premature baby, blue with practically no heart rate and not breathing. He had to be intubated and placed on a ventilator for 2 days. He's fine now thankfully

My dad choking in a restaurant. I always thought I'd be good in a crisis but I absolutely wasn't. I'll never forget how it looked and sounded.

My dh being in hospital with flu, pneumonia and sepsis. I came home and everything in the house reminded me of him, I couldn't imagine how I could carry on without him.

My first labour. I was in so much pain and really out of it on drugs and I thought they were just letting me die.

Gosh what you've all been through

Mine are being rushed to emergency surgery for internal bleeding, and being told I had cancer.

When I had to call the ambulance for my mum who was having a breakdown. A few weeks later finding out that she had attempted to take her own life. She’s doing brilliantly now thank god.

Experiencing post natal depression and feeling totally detached from any part of myself and reality and feeling as though I will never laugh again. I’m so much better now, but I remember I couldn’t even speak at that moment in my life. It was a horrible experience that I will never forget.

Attended a funeral of the sudden death of the close college friend in Belfast. Flew to Dublin, delayed flight, rented a car and drove there (pre GPS and smartphone days) and got a bit lost and was late. Parked a few streets away. My car was surrounded by thugs (mid-late teens mostly) telling me to move on, they started kicking, denting the car, spray painting the car, trying to open the door.

An older man came along, got them to stop, and walked me to the funeral (he explained the problem was the car registration!). A few people walked me back, but by then the air was out of the tyres and a few more dents. Policed were called, and they kindly brought me to my hotel. Avis car rental company were so helpful too.

DH being locked down at work during the Paris terror attacks, then a couple of years later being shouted at to run by armed police because there was an active shooter in the area. I had a baby in a sling and a toddler in a pushchair. It was a false alarm but fuck me I bricked myself.

I find it hard to think of a 'scariest' moment, I have died and been revived once and nearly died several more times but they werent scary too me (in fact most where quite relaxing, death is far scarier to those watching than it is to experiance yourself).

Worst moment though was after 6 years of TTC and finally getting pregnant, we where at our second scan and the sonographer turned the screen around and first thing I noticed and asked 'was why I couldnt see the heartbeat' and he just shut of the screen and said 'sorry' (he had forgot to check for a heartbeat, like how does a proffesional 'forget' that).

I just switched to autopilot, it wasnt 'scary' (it already happened nothing could be 'fixed' or get 'worse') it just felt like the ground fell out beneath me and the world collapsed.

When I think that my little girl had to be born by emergency caesarian section and resuscitated and they really had to work at it to get her to breathe. Yeah, I've had a lump in my breast and now calcifications that could have spelled cancer, but even that hasn't scared me as much as the thought of losing her.

@knackeredcat for you. I understand, and you've worded it so beautifully.

Both feature my nephew. Huge family holiday and he had gone inside with his mum. He was around 3 but loss of additional needs. We were all sat around the pool, I was sat on the edge with my back to the water. No idea how but somehow he managed to sneak back out and slip unseen into the water. No arm bands. My son came dawdling out and said " is he supposed to be in the water " and I turned and literally threw myself in the water. He was just under the surface, it had been totally silent. I hauled him out so quick that I pulled a muscle in my chest. He started screaming, blue lips and everything. I still have nightmares about that day.

Another time I was looking after him while our family were completing an activity. I took him to a lovely little play centre we're had used previously a few years ago with our own kids. He was 4 and non verbal. I went right to the vertical slide and told the last that he was banned from it. He disappeared into the crown's and after 5 minutes I thought it really off he hasn't come to see me. I went down into the basement level and what HAD previously been a kids party room in a fully self contained secure unit was now a wide open door that led up the stairs onto the street!! I just knew he had gone. I ran back to the woman and the entire arcade was locked down. People were searching for him on the main road and telling me at least he hasn't been hit by a car. Fifteen minutes later a security guard found him hiding down the side of a claw machine. The lady from the sides walked towards me and ash I turned around and saw him it was like my entire body just gave way. My three week old iphone got thrown, and my knees just gave out as I fell towards him. I've never hugged anybody as tight as I hugged him that day.

Neither incident was my fault , the arcade took full responsibility as the entrance was not staffed and should have been. But the guilt I feel is overwhelming. On the nights when I can't sleep, these are the moments that replay in my head and Cause me crippling anxiety. I'm looking after him today , thankfully my sister still trusts me . Oddly, my eldest son was very similar and he went missing several times around the same age and were even had the police out looking for him a few times but I think time had helped me too get over that while this kid seems to enjoy giving me a heart attack a year.

mam0918 Oh no, I´m so sorry for your loss.

• When I was younger being left at home with my little sister, and then realising I couldn’t find her anywhere in the house or garden. We lived in a large, spacious and quiet suburb where often there’d be crews of gardeners or workmen about, so eventually I rang my best friend in hysterics (thinking sister had been taken) and she came straight over with her mum. Then my parents returned 5’ after BF arrived... with my little sister because she had decided last minute to go with them and no one had told me.
• Sibling suffering with MH, attempting suicide more than once

I'm not even going to post my scariest moment because even though it was scary to me it doesn't even come close to some of the posts on here..I have read this thread in tears and am sending so much love to many of you posters...
I sort of feel this should be in classics as a way of remembering what so many of you have been through.
Huge Hugs to you all. x

Probably a flight back to Heathrow from New York, landing at 6am and having not slept. Turns out that the runway wasn't clear, so pilot got wheels down onto runway and then had to take off almost vertically. Never been so scared in my entire life, the whole plane was screaming. Understandably it took the pilot a while to say what was happening, but my heart rate took hours to go back to normal and I was violently sick when we finally landed, as were quite a few others! I've not flown again since and don't think I ever will.

Thank you, @LondonGrimmer. I think after that experience I can now face almost anything.

Landing after a bomb threat. I was cabin crew and it was OK while getting the passengers prepared but that bit when I was strapped in waiting for the wheels to touch down....

Being attacked by an ex-'friend'. Fortunately others around who dragged him away.

Having the flat I lived in with my mother broken into whilst we were out, luckily it set off the alarm and the intruder ran off. Found out much, much later it was the Nottinghill rapist. My blood still runs cold thinking about what could have happened if we didn't have an alarm.