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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:
BlossomCloud · 09/08/2023 15:05

NameChangeAng · 09/08/2023 15:02

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. 😅

Show quote history

Agreed!
It frustrates me how the same people who curtain twitched and judged anyone who left the house during COVID will happily waft round in public with any other virus.

BlossomCloud · 09/08/2023 15:06

I saved a toddler in a big public paddling pool. His mum was too busy gazing at her phone...

MrsTerryPratchett · 09/08/2023 15:08

Can we PLEASE not make this about covid? I'm begging you all.

paradoxicalfrog · 09/08/2023 15:10

Yes, 44 years ago. My then partner and I pulled an elderly lady out of the sea who had walked in and laid back in the water. The police told us that the family told them that this wasn't the first time she had attempted to drown herself.

Useyourfork · 09/08/2023 15:12

I spotted a malignant melanoma on someone. The person had other symptoms and I feared the worst. They had it removed and it turned out that it had been caught early and it the cancer hadn’t spread. I was so happy for them as I was convinced it would be bad news. This is a number of years ago and the person in question is still well.

Tinymrscollings · 09/08/2023 15:13

I pulled my godson out of a swimming pool.

We were on holiday together with our toddlers. They had an older child and teased me a lot about being a precious first time mum. Probably fair, but we’ve all done it.

My toddler was napping and I was in the garden of the holiday house. Walked in to make a drink past the pool area and noticed that they had left their 2 and almost 4 year old on their own by the water. Plonked myself on a sun lounger to wait for someone to come back, hoping I wouldn’t get the piss ripped. Two minutes later, their two year old walked straight off the side into the deep end of the pool and I had to hook him out. I didn’t make a huge deal of it at the time and they seemed rather unbothered - sort of all’s well that ends well and good job I was there.

They’re all teenagers now but If I’m stressed or worried I sometimes dream about myself looking down on him sinking under the water and looking up at me. It was really frightening.

rartibee · 09/08/2023 15:14

I donated stem cells for my sibling with stage 4 cancer. Fortunately I was a perfect match; it's around a 25% of matches between siblings. This was quite a number of years ago and the prognosis without a transplant was very poor so yeah I guess I've saved a life

ladyinthecampervan · 09/08/2023 15:14

Not quite as dramatic as some but making my friend schedule an appointment at the GP for changes to her breast. She'd been procrastinating over it for a couple of weeks till I stood next to her and said that I'd be ringing them myself (from her phone) if she didn't get on with it.

Fast forward one month and one she was in for a mastectomy. Now doing just fine.

She'd have got round to making the appointment in the end, but I suspect it would have been much later down the line.

skysky69 · 09/08/2023 15:16

My husband jumped in a pool on holiday to save a 3 year old who just jumped into the deep end without armbands as he was coming back from the bar. Nobody really saw apart from his mother as she eventually realised when husband plopped him back on the side. Husband was fully clothed and we had to dry out his wallet and euros that were in his pocket. Luckily he had left his phone on the lounger next to me 😳

LG93 · 09/08/2023 15:17

My friend and I found an elderly lady who had fallen in a ditch and broken her hip while out riding our horses. We had got lost, accidentally strayed from the bridle path and were trying to find our way back to a public right of way so shouldn't really have been there. It was a very rural area and she had tried to pick up some litter that had blown from her bin across the track and lost her balance. She lived alone and her only neighbour was on holiday so nobody had realised she'd been there for over 24 hours at this point (early autumn so not freezing but not suitable temps for being exposed to the elements at her age). I expect she probably would have died if we hadn't found her.

Fizzology · 09/08/2023 15:26

Yes, saved 2 children from drowning, a year or so apart. This seems like a common occurence if this thread is anything to go by!

woodpeckerz · 09/08/2023 15:33

I sprinted across a road and stopped a toddler from wandering into it. The father came out of his house in a panic and scoped him up. It was all a bit surreal.

Pineappleandredcheese · 09/08/2023 15:36

I was at work one boring shift,when a bloke walked in and ordered a meal

There was just 'something' that made me talk to him

Turns out he'd been on his way to the motorway that's about a mile from my house (and about a mile and a half from my old work)

It seemed everything in his life had gone wrong (his girlfriend had been cheating on him,shed walked out taking their child with her,left him in debt and he wasnt coping) and he wanted to throw himself off the bridge that goes over the motorway-but something made him stop off to work first

I kept him talking and stayed with him over 4 hours after my shift finished

He promised me that he'd get in touch with his gp,contact stepchange and that he was going home-we agreed a good night's sleep would do him good and take it all in baby steps

I often thought of him and wondered if he was ok-i moved jobs and life went on

About 18 months later,I was at work and he happened to walk in

He had a new girlfriend,had sorted the debts,sorted 50/50 contact with his dd and his new girlfriend was expecting their baby-he looked a different man to the one I'd first met

He told me that I was the reason he didn't chuck himself off that bridge and that he is happy

We stayed in touch and I have an invite to his wedding

I'm so pleased he walked in that day

dottiedodah · 09/08/2023 15:42

My Dad saved a young girl from drowning in the sea.She found him the next day to thank him.Always been an incredible swimmer (Sadly passed now)I took after Mum and can just about do a couple of widths !

Kazzyhoward · 09/08/2023 15:43

A long time ago, I was a special constable. On one night shift, I heard breaking glass from a few streets away and went to investigate. I found a shop window broken and a lot of blood on the pavement. There was a trail of blood spots going down the road, so I followed it for a few streets and it went up a couple of steps to a house front door. I knocked on the door but no reply, so I looked through the letterbox to see a lad lying on the floor in the hallway, I kept shouting but there was no response, so I shouldered the door in and found he was unconscious but heavily bleeding from gashes in his arms, so I found some towels and tried to stop the bleeding as best I could, whilst waiting for backup and an ambulance. When backup arrived, we quickly decided we couldn't wait for an ambulance (estimated 20 minutes away) so we dragged him into the back of the police van and blued/two'd him to A&E with me and another PC squeezing the towels to try to stop the blood. I think we just got him there in time and he survived.

DeltaAlphaDelta79 · 09/08/2023 15:46

Yep, did CPR and used an AED on a stranger a month or two ago, along with the help of 2 other strangers. We got him back and he is currently recovering.

WinchSparkle80 · 09/08/2023 15:51

Several kids in swimming pools on holiday, whilst parents read/too drunk/chatting to notice the silent bobbing (used to be a lifeguard).
Dived in and pulled one from
bottom of pool once who kicked me in ribs so hard no idea how I didn’t take on water.

DinnaeFashYersel · 09/08/2023 15:57

I used to be a lifeguard and had to fish people out of the pool at least twice a week.

On holiday one year I had to pull a 3 year old out of the deep end. Parents were oblivious and didn't even say thank you.

I've performed resuscitation twice on people in the street. I don't know if it was successful because once they are away in the ambulance you don't know.

Bonfire23 · 09/08/2023 15:58

Once in RL (cpr, defib, got a pulse and he was discharged from hospital after)
Many times over the phone including 4 cardiac arrests that survived and were again discharged from hospital

ANiceBigCupOfTea · 09/08/2023 16:04

Helped a friend after a massive insulin overdose, did the actions getting carbs into her and got her to hospital with the help of DH and other friends. Did we save her life? I'm not sure, but I know she did get all better from what we did.

Littlemissprosecco · 09/08/2023 16:05

Was standing at a pedestrian crossing on a busy road, the woman next to me just stepped out, I grabbed her, she would have been hit. She burst into tears and said she had no idea what just happened but thank you so much. That really was a scary moment!

GingerIsBest · 09/08/2023 16:08

I don't think I saved a life, but did save a finger once by insisting on doing proper first aid. When he finally went to A&E (at his wife's insistence) he was told that if the first aid hadn't been done he'd have lost that finger completely!

At a friend's house who had a pool. Me and friend were keeping an eye on toddler DS and were only a few meters away from him. He leapt into the pool for some unknown reason - it had a cover on! - and my friend (a tall man) took a few giant steps, bent down and just grabbed him up. I don't think DS would have died as I'd have got to him just a few seconds later, more likely by actually jumping in, but we often talk about our friend who saved DS! Grin

ShippingNews · 09/08/2023 16:15

I came across a single vehicle car accident when driving in the country. Young male driver was pinned by the steering wheel, and he had a wound gushing blood in his abdominal area, among other various injuries. I pulled my cardigan off and made a wad, and pushed it into the area where I thought the wound was. I crouched there for about half an hour until the ambulance came. They worked to get him out and took him away eventually. I called the hospital later and they said he was being operated on, so he survived. I've always remembered him, and hope he is having a good life.

AuntMarch · 09/08/2023 16:24

Choking child - only needed back slaps luckily, but it was the silent wide eyes and open mouth so I'm very glad I was watching!

I've also been out and found a suicidal friend in the middle of the night - can't know for sure if they would have gone through with it

Elsiebear90 · 09/08/2023 16:34

I do it a lot through work (HCP), I feel relieved more than anything else and satisfied if I feel I performed really well, but I suppose I’m used to it now, so even when we can’t save someone it doesn’t affect me that much.