Would you ever go out of your way to save the life of a stranger in this day and age/if it risked your own safety??!

[NellesVilla]

Was having a think about this the other day and really wondered to myself: would I do this now in this day and age???!

I was a lot braver in my youth and would have tackled men shouting at women in the street, adults smacking their kids in public etc etc. I also contributed towards helping people in peril quite a few times: I grabbed a child out of a river; performed first air on someone (no rescue breaths but every other step); jumped in front of a bus to alert the driver he was about to run over an old man who had basically fallen under the back wheel of his vehicle etc etc.

These days, I think to myself; is it worth it? I’ve never received any thanks for it; indeed some people seemed a bit put out by me ‘interfering’ (all instances on my list above felt like this).

Also, is it worth risking your own safety? I would never give rescue breaths to anyone (apart from my dog- half joking) because I’d be worried about causing more harm.

Anyone here who’d jump into a deep river to save a kid whilst the parents looked on gormlessly or just hope that someone else would come to the rescue??

Depends on situation.

I think I'd risk shouting and saying I've called the police (even if I haven't) if I witnessed some violence because I know that just knowing someone's seen them can put a lot of people to flight as they don't want to get caught. As I'm a small, middle aged woman I probably wouldn't seem like enough of a threat to attack, so probably not a life risk.

I wouldn't try to save someone, say, in trouble in water as I am a weak swimmer (and, as I said also small) so it's likely I would just create more difficulty by attempting to do so and need rescuing myself.

My body would most likely freeze so I would most likely to be useless. If my body let's me react, I hope I try to rescue someone.

I don't know how to swim so I would only give the real rescue workers a bigger job.

Like a lot of previous posters, I'm not near good enough at swimming to actually help anyone so that's a straight no.

I like to think I'd help in other circumstances but I do tend to freeze. I guess you don't truly know unless you're in that position.

I have, and received a police commendation for doing so. I don't think I could ever be in a position to do so and just stand by.

Probably! I think instinct kicks in and I would probably act without thinking
DP saved someone from drowning in rough seas nearly 40 years ago and got a bravery award - the person contacted him years later and told him how rest of her life turned out - he was pleased but embarrassed
I was very privileged recently to bump into someone who claimed I’d saved their life (during a MH crisis) in my day job x I was teared up for days

I just renewed my first aider certification last week and as a first aider your first responsibility is always to yourself. You are NEVER advised or under any obligation to put yourself into a harmful situation in order to help others. You are also never under obligation to give rescue breaths while performing CPR. You are ADVISED to, but never obligated to if you'd rather not. As a trained first aider I can tell you right now that the only people I'd put my mouth to mouth on would be my own family or perhaps a close friend. Total stranger? No fucking way.

If a person needs rescue breaths, they are likely to die if you don't give them. Basic first aid should be a skill the majority of people should have.

If I could help someone who was hurt, I would. I wouldn't put my life at risk for them though.

Oh and it's never a good idea to jump into deep water to try and rescue someone! Much better to use rescue aids from the bank, such as a life belt, a long pole, a piece of clothing, etc. The number of have-a-go heroes who then have to be rescued themselves is quite high! Always assess the situation and try to think clearly. Don't just jump in and worry about the consequences later. Stop. Think. Act. And often the best action you can take is the call the emergency services.

I like to think I would, yes, I have before. I remember years ago watching a documentary about a group of girls that beat another girl unconscious on a crowded bus in the middle of the day and none of the adults did a thing. They broke the girl's skull. The Mum was interviewed in tears asking why on earth nobody tried to help her daughter. I thought - and still think - how could everyone just sit and watch?

Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole dived into the Thames last year to rescue a woman but sadly lost his life. I suspect he acted on Adrenaline and instinct and therefore didn’t have time to weigh up the pro’s and con’s of his actions.

Not sure if I actually saved a life but one evening during lockdown I talked a young girl off a motorway bridge. I was in my daily govt mandated walk and noticed a young person sat on the wrong side of a bridge over the M61. I couldn't walk on so stopped and sat with them. Transpired it was a young girl of about 15 and clearly troubled. Spent about an hour with her just chatting shit, managed to get her over the right side and she then went on her way. I have no idea what happened to her after but hope she left knowing that someone gave a damn.

Wickywickyyow · Today 18:51
It's instinctual isn't it? My DH would, his flight/fight response is fight (metaphorically speaking) and he's a police officer.

My DH is police too. It’s almost as if they have an invisible superpower. They don’t think about themselves. They go in to job mode as they are often the most confident and capable person there and know how to take control.
They are always so calm in an emergency

Nice outcome, but not guaranteed. I intervened in a similar manner and got punched in the face by not just the man, but also the woman I was trying to help.

I'd be less likely to try and help next time.

It depends on how likely I thought I'd be to succeed, I think.

I wouldn't get involved in breaking up a fight, because I'm a short weakling and I'd end up getting myself killed and not helping.

I'd do CPR without a face mask (no, not one of those face masks, the ones designed to protect you from exchanging fluids during CPR) if I thought the rescue breaths were necessary. I'd hate it, but I'd do it anyway, because in that moment, the risk to me wouldn't feel as big as the risk of the person dying.

I'd always call for help, even if it was a call of quietly dialling 999, pressing 55 and not saying anything.

I did, this winter. And have done several times in the past. For me it's instinctive, I couldn't have walked in by in those situations. Although I did momentarily pause and plan the safest option in each instance.

And a school friend died protecting a stranger. He was only 19 when he died. So I am well aware of how wrong it can go. But I just couldn't walk on by.

There was a teacher at a local school who stood between her pupils & their parents and a threatening man with severe MH issues and a large knife.
She receive a police commendation award.

It does depend on the situation, but I'd like to think I would.
Until you are actually there, in the heat of the moment though, I don't suppose any of us know how we would actually respond. Instinct - or in some cases training - kicks in.

Depends how much danger to me I guess. I go icy calm in a crisis and just do stuff then adrenaline hits after
I've pulled someone out a smoking crashed car, done CPR on a stranger (successfully) etc but there wasn't any danger to me as such
If your leg is hanging off, you want me. If there's a bird in your house or DIY needs doing, don't call me

I’ve saved a fair few lives in the day job and some outside of work. I’m also trained in water rescue and various other weird rescue stuff as part of a previous job role. I wouldn’t necessarily jump in to water straight away but I’d be more likely to than others I think, giving my training, and I’m a strong swimmer.

re the rescue breaths thing……most adults who collapse in public do so suddenly and the most common cause is a heart issue. A collapse that sudden means they were breathing and therefore getting oxygen right up to the collapse so they will have a fair amount of oxygen in their circulation. Our cells only extract about 25% of oxygen from circulating blood in health so there is usually a reserve left over that can be used. The compressions are needed to move that blood around the body to the vital organs though. Those patients don’t necessarily need rescue breaths from the public and can wait until the ambulance arrives as long as effective compressions are administered. Using a public access defibrillator should also take priority in sudden collapse too.

The ones who absolutely need rescue breaths are those whose breathing was compromised in some way prior to collapse (asthma, anaphylaxis, drowning etc) and all children.

Twice I've run into the road to grab small children (not mine) who had darted out in front of cars. Both times it was purely instinctive. The first time, the parents were grateful. The second time, the mum shouted at me for touching her child, but it wouldn't stop me doing it again.

However, when I saw a woman getting hit by a man, I called the police and didn't intervene myself. I wouldn't have known what to do and would have probably just made the situation worse.

I've done it instinctively. For random people and animals. I didn't think about it analytically at the time and at least once my actions could have had life changing consequences for me. But it all worked out ok.

I picked up a drunken man who was being taunted by a gang of kids. I thought about the horrible cases of kids killing vunrable people. I gave him a lift home and he was really thankful
yes it could have turns out badly but it didn’t I’d id still do the same thing again.

My instincts have always been to help if I can - I've helped a struggling swimmer to shore, stopped a drunk man hitting his girlfriend, provided emergency first aid to a bike accident victim until someone more qualified showed up etc. But all of this was before I had children and I think I'm now significantly less likely to attempt anything heroic if I would be at risk.
When I was a child I watched my Dad run into a burning building to save the life of a disabled woman and it was horrific seeing him disappearing into the blaze and not knowing if he'd come back out. I was incredibly proud of him afterwards though.

I think it's something you can't control

in my younger days I smashed a bottle to hold back a man at arms length who was beating his girlfriend so she could get away

I also took some car keys out of a drunk blokes hand who wanted to drive his wife and kids home. I threw them down the drain and she looked so relieved (then ran off quickly as he was a massive angry f-er)

This was over 20 years ago before kids though and I do wonder whether my automatic reactions would be the same now

I came to the conclusion that if I could live with myself for the possible consequences of not stepping in then perhaps I'd think twice and not do it. But if it was the right thing to do, nobody else was doing it and it did have to be done then yes I couldn't not.