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Old 02-24-2011, 07:50 PM   #41
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One that doesn't get paid......



It was a PR attempt from the police dept to start a citizen's police academy years ago. I went to the first one and loved it. I decided to be a volunteer cop...but after several years volunteering at the PD and at the court it was time for me to say bye bye...
Interesting, had never heard of such a program.
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Old 02-24-2011, 08:45 PM   #42
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Despite a lot of stupid incidents when I was a teenager involving cars, motorcycles, and/or alcohol, my closest brush with the great beyond was probably a construction accident in the early 1990's. I got hit in the face by a 12-ton hydraulic jack that came off a post while lifting a house, knocked me out cold for ~45 minutes. (working by myself...) I woke up in a puddle of blood, one lens of my glasses shattered, glass shards driven into my eye and eye socket, one eyelid torn in half, skull fractured in a couple of places. I was 45 miles from town, no phone, so I drove myself to the hospital. Luckily the ER doc knew there was a good plastic surgeon at the hospital that night, so I have very little evidence of the accident today-though I ended up with 97 stitches. Incredibly, my eye was OK once all the glass fragments were removed.
No apparent brain damage, either (YMMV)
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Old 02-24-2011, 09:08 PM   #43
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Good heavens, WS!! You are so lucky that the doctors were able to put you back together after that frightful accident. I'm glad you weren't blinded.
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Old 02-24-2011, 09:28 PM   #44
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The closest I came to death was as a new born baby. I had a blood disease and had multiple blood transfusions to completely flush out and replace my blood. My Dad loves to tell the story of visiting the hospital and being unable to see me because of the quanity of sh*t I'd kicked all over the incubator

Consequently I became a blood donor as soon as I could at age 18, and my blood type was O= (rhesus negative and CMV negative) which is the type they use for new born babies. I thought this was particularly important and used to give 2 or 3 times a year until the BSE issue became an issue and in the USA I was unable to give blood.
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Old 02-24-2011, 11:59 PM   #45
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Had one serious car accident, a few surgeries due to illness and many mishaps but I don't think I was ever close to death. Maybe the time I fell into the sea (don't know how to swim then and still don't know how now) and there was no one around. I just grabbed on to the side of the cliff wall and crawled my way out. First time I fell back in and managed to grab on to something and second time I managed to climb out. If I had just fallen and not grabbed onto anything, I would have drowned.
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Old 02-25-2011, 12:24 AM   #46
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Related elsewhere in the forum, most of my closest calls have been aircraft related. The paperweight in front of me as I type this is a valve lifter assembly from a 108 Lycoming engine that used to be attached to a Piper Colt. The valve lifter is the largest piece of engine I could find after we got the plane on the ground. (Actually, getting a plane on the ground is easy. Walking away, not so much.)

Below the top of the Washington monument, coming into Washington Natl. (Now Reagan) our plane performed a violent 60 degree turn which our pilot later described as a "missed approach". I was wondering if it was a missed approach into the back of a 747 or some such. Actually don't know how close this was. Maybe it was no big deal. Didn't feel so at the time.

On final into SLC UT, plane dropped about 1000 ft on final. Passenger's hands flew over our heads (kind of looked like the wave!) Wasn't as upset as you might think - until I overheard some airline employees on the ground an hour later saying "We almost lost 201 (or whatever our flight no. was)". Then I started to shake.

Nice peaceful balloon ride (my first - still my only) suddenly felt a puff of wind which isn't supposed to happen. Suddenly, from just ready to land near the chase vehicle, we were zipping 20 mph the opposite direction toward a forest. We were out of fuel and would be on the ground in less than a minute. The pilot took the only chance to drop the ballon 20-25 feet over power lines into the last clearing before the trees. Pilot ended up on top of me and I on top of DW and she on top of the propane tanks. The ooooOOOOhhhhhhwweeeeh factor is that this occurred about half a mile from the Colt forced landing some 20 years earlier. Can you spell Bermuda triangle?
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Old 02-25-2011, 04:53 AM   #47
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The closest I came to death was probably a couple of years ago when I fell through the ice while ice skating on the lake behind our house. I fell in about a half mile from home - luckily only about 30 feet from shore. I made it shore by using my arms to break the ice and then had a rough time time climbing up the bank because I broke my ankle in the fall. The walk / crawl home took about an hour in which I turned into a human icicle. They had to keep me in the hospital ER for some time to thaw me out.
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Old 02-25-2011, 06:17 AM   #48
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Gee, where do I start?

At three weeks of age I underwent surgery for a blocked esophagus. It's routine now, but then it had a 50% survival rate.

At age 5 I ran out onto the street without looking and got nailed by a car. Fortunately the driver saw me coming and braked and turned the car so I got hit broadside by the fender or door. No injuries but it probably scared him just as much as me.

At 17 I was being stupid on a motorcycle and got a real good case of road rash but nothing serious. I looked like a mummy when I came out of the ER. But I still remember thinking "This is it" when I saw the concrete roadway coming up to meet me. Helmet? Those were for football players....

And I was a police officer for 29 years, 18 of them on the road. Too many to list there, suffice it to say that about once or twice a year somebody tried to kill me. Which is why, when I'm down about something, I'm still happy I can walk across the room and get myself a glass of water. I know a lot of people who can't. Funny though, it didn't really sink in how lucky I am until after I retired.

Maybe I should go splurge on that new camera after all....
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Old 02-25-2011, 06:32 AM   #49
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No really bad instances for me, rolled a car once about 30 years ago but walked away without a scratch. I guess the closest I ever came was having whooping cough at about 2 months old, doctors told my parents I probably wouldn't make it. Glad they were wrong.
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Old 02-25-2011, 06:44 AM   #50
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Wow - lots of scary stories here - hmm, I've had some interesting experiences, but can't remember many 'near death' ones. Perhaps the one time I went swimming in the Gulf of Mexico (or was it the Pacific?) and a large wave fell on top of me, forcing me down to the bottom of the beach floor at the time and then pulling me back out to sea, scraping me along the way - I remember things really slowed down and I wondered if I would ever pop up....weird - you really do see your life pass by you - all of your sensory inputs go on full open, possibly causing that slowing down feeling....

I thought I was adventurous, but compared to some of you all.....
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Old 02-25-2011, 11:17 AM   #51
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In 1977 I had an ectopic pregnancy. By the time I got to the hospital my blood pressure was 80/40. They rushed me to surgery, and I almost died; I had lost much blood.

It is a very personal experience, and I hesitate to share fully what I experienced - because it is so close to my soul. But, I think it may help some of you who have doubts about a spiritual reality. I had a full-on near death experience. I was with a being of light, and at one with this light; I "knew" that:

1. There is no such thing as death
2. There is no such thing as an accident
3. Everything is perfect, because everything is working according to the laws of the creator - even when things appear to be tragic.

I felt myself being sucked back into my body, and came-to in the recovery room, and knew that what I experienced was no dream. It has remained the most profound experience of this lifetime. I grieved for some time, because it was so beautiful "over there," and so difficult "here."

I think about that experience almost daily, and live accordingly.
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Old 02-25-2011, 11:39 AM   #52
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I served in Nam ('68-'69); that's all I'll say...

As to my "teenage transgressions", my father had a '58 T-Bird that the previous owner had used for racing, and dropped a Lincoln engine in. That, along with a 4.11 rear meant that I could get rubber in all three of the auto forward gears.

I had met this guy (who I knew from school) at the first Mickey D's in the area back in 1964. He had started talking about his older brother's '55 Crown Vic that would put the T-Bird to sleep (yea, two young teens throwing trash talk at each other).

I invited him for a ride to see if I could impress him. Pulled out of the parking lot onto the boulevard (which in those days had little traffic). Within three blocks, I had it up to 115 (the speedo went to 140+). Went another few blocks, hit the brakes and went down a gravel road. The thing is that this road dipped down to a "cut", where train tracks lie.

There was no crossing control, so I hit the train tracks/road doing about 70. Little did I know that a train was approaching the "cut" without any warning. I could not see any lights nor hear any horn. I made it across the tracks with about two seconds to spare, when the train whizzed by in my rear-view mirror.

Stupid...
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Old 02-25-2011, 12:23 PM   #53
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Well, it probably wasn't a 747 since they don't fly into Reagan National.

Mine were plane related
1) Flying in a Philippine Airlines prop plane into Baguio. The airport is on a hilltop with steep sides. We are about 2 feet off the runway when the plane points its nose up and starts climbing again. Then we hear the landing gear come down.

2) Flying from Hilo to San Francisco. The pilot tells us that because one of the engines was on fire, he was turning back go to Honolulu. It was but we made it back safely.

I don't count the usual, eating street vendor food in the third world or TV dinners.
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Old 02-25-2011, 12:24 PM   #54
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In 1977 I had an ectopic pregnancy. By the time I got to the hospital my blood pressure was 80/40. They rushed me to surgery, and I almost died; I had lost much blood.

It is a very personal experience, and I hesitate to share fully what I experienced - because it is so close to my soul. But, I think it may help some of you who have doubts about a spiritual reality. I had a full-on near death experience. I was with a being of light, and at one with this light; I "knew" that:

1. There is no such thing as death
2. There is no such thing as an accident
3. Everything is perfect, because everything is working according to the laws of the creator - even when things appear to be tragic.

I felt myself being sucked back into my body, and came-to in the recovery room, and knew that what I experienced was no dream. It has remained the most profound experience of this lifetime. I grieved for some time, because it was so beautiful "over there," and so difficult "here."

I think about that experience almost daily, and live accordingly.
Thank you for going ahead and sharing it. And welcome back. I have heard the same stories but have not experienced one myself.
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Old 02-25-2011, 12:36 PM   #55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by antmary View Post
In 1977 I had an ectopic pregnancy. By the time I got to the hospital my blood pressure was 80/40. They rushed me to surgery, and I almost died; I had lost much blood.

It is a very personal experience, and I hesitate to share fully what I experienced - because it is so close to my soul. But, I think it may help some of you who have doubts about a spiritual reality. I had a full-on near death experience. I was with a being of light, and at one with this light; I "knew" that:

1. There is no such thing as death
2. There is no such thing as an accident
3. Everything is perfect, because everything is working according to the laws of the creator - even when things appear to be tragic.

I felt myself being sucked back into my body, and came-to in the recovery room, and knew that what I experienced was no dream. It has remained the most profound experience of this lifetime. I grieved for some time, because it was so beautiful "over there," and so difficult "here."

I think about that experience almost daily, and live accordingly.
Wow......amazing story!! There's hope for us yet........
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Old 02-25-2011, 02:03 PM   #56
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BSSC & Finance Dude,
I appreciate your kind and appreciative words
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Old 02-25-2011, 02:14 PM   #57
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I was coaching my daughters YMCA softball team around the 6th, 7th grade level. So..some of the girls are no longer little 6 year olds. I was catching with a face mask. Practice getting ready to end. Took off the face mask. Tall heavy set girl swung at a pitch. Back tipped it back into my face. Hit me right between the eyes. I swear I thought I was a goner....and waited to totally fall out. I didn't...and another parent who had come to pick up his child helped me to the hospital.

Lots of blood...where I was cut by the sunglasses I had on. In hind site those sunglasses may have been my saving grace. Don't know. Two severely black eyes and severe concussion.

I didn't sign up to coach the next year.
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Old 02-25-2011, 03:24 PM   #58
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I was stupid but lucky in my youth - hitchhiking, fast living and out for adventure. I survived a number of close calls to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer Oct. 4, 1999. Lymph nodes involved, 4 types of chemo, lost my hair, grew it back and then repeat with more chemo. I won't go into the details but Thankful to say more than 11 years later, no sign of cancer. For awhile there - really thought I was gonna die.
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Old 02-25-2011, 04:05 PM   #59
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Wanted to add one thing - without access to good health insurance I would have died.
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Old 02-25-2011, 04:17 PM   #60
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I was stupid but lucky in my youth - hitchhiking, fast living and out for adventure. I survived a number of close calls to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer Oct. 4, 1999. Lymph nodes involved, 4 types of chemo, lost my hair, grew it back and then repeat with more chemo. I won't go into the details but Thankful to say more than 11 years later, no sign of cancer. For awhile there - really thought I was gonna die.

Congrats! We have a close friend who battled breast cancer last year...so far so good. I like to hear stories like yours! Glad to hear that 11 years later all is well!
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