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Original poster

Has anyone ever saved anyone's life?

105 replies

cptartapp · 09/08/2023 14:26

Just looking at old holiday photos in Rhodes and remembering when DH pulled a teenage girl unconscious from the sea there. The sea was incredibly rough and I've no doubt he saved her life.
My DF once upended me and with several backslaps stopped me choking on a boiled sweet as a child.
Has anyone ever saved a life and how did it make you feel?

OP posts:
Nevermay · 09/08/2023 14:28

Impossible to know during covid, isn't it. Many people saved lives by adhering to the rules, and many people were killed because people broke the rules. Most of us helped stop the spread, so will have saved someone, but impossible to know who

Nevermay · 09/08/2023 14:28

Again, donating to DEC, our other relief organisations, or medical charities, most people donate, most people contribute to saving someone, but no way of knowing who

Nevermay · 09/08/2023 14:30

Apart from that, yes, I have saved lives, or been told I have in different circumstances, such as spotting teens cut off on a rock by incoming tide and calling for RNLI, who rescued them by helicopter - talking down someone intending to commit suicide - what about blood donation?

Pencilsaremylife · 09/08/2023 14:30

Surely many people working for the NHS save people’s lives every day.

OriginalBliss · 09/08/2023 14:31

Well, I can't be sure for obvious reasons, but I think I once stopped a troubled former student of mine from throwing himself into a fast-flowing river at night.

I did this, not by doing anything heroic, but by standing between him and the brink and talking for a very long time about a novel we had both read. I sort of bored him out of suicide.

(Possibly. He had stones in his pockets. Obviously I'll never know if he would had gone through with it, though I think he would have died if he had -- it was immediately upstream of a deserted industrial area with steep quaysides and then you were out in an open harbour.)

I still see him around sometimes.

SilverGlitterBaubles · 09/08/2023 14:33

Saved DCs life when choking - backslaps didn't work, then some terrifying and desperate attempts at abdominal thrusts eventually did it. I was never so scared in my life.

Nevermay · 09/08/2023 14:34

The more I think of it the more examples spring to mind - you just don't really know what influences you have had - talking your mate out of getting in their car after one drink too many, - speaking to someone about having a mammogram, maybe you persuaded them, and they persuaded someone lese, and somewhere down the line a life was saved

Taking people in when it is too cold to sleep rough, either into homes or shelters - helping a young teenager get into emergency council accommodation when he was sleeping in the snow..

You don't know how many of your actions have contributed to saving lives, do you

o yes, I have just thought of another one- a smoke alarm I gave as a house warming present saved a family.... probably.. maybe they would have woken up anyway, maybe they would not have done

Marylou62 · 09/08/2023 14:34

My Dad saved two girls aged about 5-6 from drowning in the Thames..
We were all paddling and I just saw him run in fully clothed and bend down and with both hands, catch hold of what I thought was red 'weed' under the water...it was two small children with long bright red hair! One in each fist..
I remember my Mum being tearful....and a bit miffed that he didn't even get a thank you..

HorribleNecktie · 09/08/2023 14:35

I saved a relative during a suicide attempt once.

vipersnest1 · 09/08/2023 14:37

I once 'looked after' sleeping tablets for a student who was feeling suicidal (it was a long time ago and things are done differently now). They eventually agreed that I would give them back, but only if we flushed them down the toilet together. They could probably have got more - mum was seriously mentally unwell (dad not much better, it was a very dysfunctional family) and she was a nurse who stole drugs from the hospital she worked at.
The young person has now grown up, has a successful career and a family and we keep in touch.

Moonberri · 09/08/2023 14:37

I've saved my kids' lives loads of times. I suspect we all have!

The only dramatic one though was where someone took the brake off DD's wheelchair and it started rolling into a busy road. I grabbed it just in time.

TipsyAndTommy · 09/08/2023 14:40

Stopped the same person from committing suicide twice.
First time, couldn't get an ambulance for ages, no defibrillator machine, had to actively do things while on hold to a call handler for a long time. Went to hospital with them and etc. I was traumatised by it and for a while couldn't talk about it without crying.
2nd time it happened I did what I had to do, this time there was a medically trained person in the area and also a defib, so I did what was needed of me and didn't go to hospital, I was still really badly effected but not to sane extent. I knew I had to distance myself for my own well-being, as I felt constantly on edge and guilty.
I was notified of 2 more occasions, but I believe they are now doing better. I know I might sound callous/unsympathetic but it was an awful period (wasn't a family member or anything)

WonkyFeelings · 09/08/2023 14:42

I performed first aid on someone who would definitely have died had I not been there. I’m still traumatised by thinking how lucky it was that I was nearby.

Aposterhasnoname · 09/08/2023 14:45

I pulled a kid out of the swimming pool on holiday, she was right beside me, and just kept silently going under. I thought she was just messing about at first.

AgeingDoc · 09/08/2023 14:51

Lots. I was an ICU Consultant for 20 odd years. Of course it's a team effort really, so I should say I have contributed to saving many lives. But there are certainly occasions where I know that I personally made a decision, spotted something, succeeded with a difficult procedure etc that was genuinely life saving for that person. There are a few unforgettable ones. There is a pupil at my children's school who I resucitated when they were a small child. (I won't give details as it would be very recognisable). I quite often see their name in the school newsletter and the local paper as they are doing v well at a particular sport and I do smile to myself and think that is one of the things in life I can feel proud of.

WhoInvitedHer · 09/08/2023 14:52

I performed CPR on a man who was delivering my kitchen until the paramedics arrived and took over. I heard later that he went straight into surgery but sadly died the following night.

NameChangeAng · 09/08/2023 14:53

I've NC for this because it's quite outing.

In 2019, a woman I went to college with back in the early 2000s told me that I'd saved her life. I didn't know.

We weren't really friends. We only had one class together. We used to sit together in this class but we didn't get beyond chit-chat.

One day I was driving into college for this class we had together. It was absolutely torrential rain. I saw her standing at a bus stop in a thin jacket, no hood, shorts, canvas trainers.

I pulled up and told her to get in. We got stuck in traffic because of a flash flood. When it looked like we were going to miss too much of the lesson (we were both only in for one class), I said we should go home.

She said she couldn't because she didn't have keys and would have to wait for her mum to get back from work. So I took her back to mine, lent her some dry clothes, and we hung out chatting until it was acceptable time and then I drove her home.

As we were chatting, she described a really miserable, lonely home-life. So I made a really big effort to fold her into my friendship group. I always felt like she was slightly on the periphery despite our best efforts. But I tried.

Over time, we all drifted apart as we moved to university, started to work, got boyfriends etc. Me and her used to exchange the odd email but they kind of petered out and I changed email addresses and we lost touch. I've never used Facebook so we never connected on there.

Anyway, in 2019, she emailed me (my work email address is online). She told me that she was planning on killing herself when I offered her a lift and folded her into my friendship group. I was absolutely dumbfounded. I'm still not quite sure how to make sense of it.

Skinnybluebody · 09/08/2023 14:53

Yes, motorbike accident

BlossomCloud · 09/08/2023 14:53

Nevermay · 09/08/2023 14:28

Impossible to know during covid, isn't it. Many people saved lives by adhering to the rules, and many people were killed because people broke the rules. Most of us helped stop the spread, so will have saved someone, but impossible to know who

You could say that about leaving the house with any bug ever though. The common cold virus nearly killed my son age 2.

MrsTerryPratchett · 09/08/2023 14:56

Many ODs (working in homeless shelters), DD choking, two fires in buildings where I got people out, several times calling 999 for people in distress, couple of DV situations.

I feel focused at the time, then stressed, shaky, then fine.

I think in emergency situations you just are who you are. There's no planning or thought. I've seen people fall apart and people you wouldn't thin be great. My life was saved by a little TWOCer who wasn't typically an effective human. In that circumstance he was.

dramoy · 09/08/2023 14:57

o yes, I have just thought of another one- a smoke alarm I gave as a house warming present saved a family.... probably.. maybe they would have woken up anyway, maybe they would not have done

I'm not sure smoke alarms or not going out with covid is what the OPs was envisioning!

I

MrsTerryPratchett · 09/08/2023 14:59

dramoy · 09/08/2023 14:57

o yes, I have just thought of another one- a smoke alarm I gave as a house warming present saved a family.... probably.. maybe they would have woken up anyway, maybe they would not have done

I'm not sure smoke alarms or not going out with covid is what the OPs was envisioning!

I

I always give smoke detectors as housewarming presents. They save a good number more lives than pulling people from the sea. Might not be heroic, but it's something everyone can do.

dramoy · 09/08/2023 15:01

Yeah, I'm not saying smoke alarms are a bad idea....

NameChangeAng · 09/08/2023 15:02

BlossomCloud · 09/08/2023 14:53

You could say that about leaving the house with any bug ever though. The common cold virus nearly killed my son age 2.

Show quote history

Yes, but saying that about any bug wouldn't allow people to signal to the whole world how virtuous they are.

Saying "Most of us stop the spread of bugs by hiding in bed when we've got a sniffle, or by washing our hands properly when we've got the shits" doesn't have the same ring to it as being a Covid angel. 😅

pollykitty · 09/08/2023 15:04

I saved my own daughter from drowning. She knew how to swim but went down a slide wrong into a deep area of a pool. I was watching her from the side, fully clothed, and thought why is she bobbing up and down. It hit me and I screamed at the lifeguard to GET HER NOW. He hadn’t noticed at all and I was about a millisecond from jumping in but he go there fast. It was horrible. I didn’t feel good. I felt like a crappy parent. Drowning is so awful, there is no noise or thrashing really, people swallow water and they are literally suffocating in front of you.