Name the most terrifying moment of your life so far.

Chris OConnor · Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:26 am

Name the most terrifying moment of your life so far.

Chris OConnor · Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:28 am

For me the most terrifying moment was getting a phone call from my father late at night with him sounding in pain and out of breath, as if having a heart attack, saying, "I need help. Come quick!"

etudiant · Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:39 pm

While vacationing in Costa Rica some year’s back, I was swimming at a beach. There is big surf in that part of the world, big enough for surfers to be playing about offshore. We were swimming very close to shore, only a few feet. A big wave roared over me, and when I looked up, I saw that I was out a ways from shore. I put my head down and swam. I looked up again, expecting to be gliding into shore, but to my surprise I was much further out. A little alarmed now, as I am not at all a strong swimmer, I flailed away again, heading for the beach. When I looked up a third time, a cold grip of panic started to set in. Figures walking on the beach seemed very small now, and I could scarcely belief how fast all this was happening. I was already beginning to tire; a wave broke over me and I swallowed some salt water. It was very noisy, as the waves were big enough to be breaking offshore. I shouted, but to no avail. It seemed like I was continuing to go out. When waves broke over me, it was hard to hold my breath long enough until came up again. Thoughts raced through my mind as I struggled in the water. I wondered what it would be like to drown, fighting to keep water out of my trachea and lungs, eventually, unsuccessfully. As I lost oxygen, would I feel dizzy, nauseous? Would my muscles cramp up completely? I also thought about sharks, patrolling offshore, acutely sensitive to the sounds of erratic thrashing in the water. This was Great White territory after all.

As I found out, crisis can focus the mind wonderfully. In this case I focused on a line from my “Lonely Planet” travel guide that I had read on the plane coming down. It said: “If you find yourself caught in an undertow, and being pulled away from the beach, swim at a 45 degree angle to the shore”. I took the advice. I was so tired now that I had to alternate swimming and floating on my back kicking a little. But it worked surprisingly well. I crawled up on the beach, exhausted.

I still swim in the ocean, but find now I am very fussy about reading sea conditions.

The Ritzy · Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:30 pm

I can't really pinpoint one terrifying moment but there are two that stick out in my mind.

One: My father was holding my nephew with one arm and then, he clutched his chest with his other hand. He started saying "Catch him! Now!" I was afraid my dad was having a heart attack.

Two: When my mom started falling backwards and I barely caught her on time. Then, she started crying and panicking because she was experiencing vertigo for the first time.

Both times made me cry.

Chris OConnor · Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:25 am

Wow, Ritzy, I imagine those both would be rather scary.

Chris OConnor · Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:28 am

etudiant, that had to have been horrifying. Drowning is one of my biggest fears and rip tides are scary stuff. I've never heard someone tell a story of being pulled out to sea by one so well. Thanks for sharing.

Suzanne · Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:02 am

etudiant:

That's truly frightening. I can feel the horror you must have experienced. The way you wrote it made it frightening to read.

The Ritzy:
Again, I can visualize the horror you must of felt when you father said, "catch him". Things can happen so quickly.

Chris:

The phone call in the middle of the night, always scary! As adults, we are not afraid of the dark, except for the phone ringing in it.

I am happy these stories turned out OK, thank you for sharing. Have to say, this tread is a bit disturbing.

The most terrifying moment of my life happened many years ago. I had a new born baby and was upstairs with him. My older son was three at the time. I came downstairs and found my son standing in the kitchen, with a stare on his face. It was a petrified stare. I asked him what was wrong, and he said nothing, but a few tears were coming from his eyes. I asked him if he was choking and he nodded. His lips were turning blue. I screamed for my husband, (who was in the bath, he came down naked) and I remember screaming NO! I tried the Hymlic on my son several times, nothing happened, so I opened his mouth and dug out a wad of marshmellows out of his throut. Apparently he had snuck into the marshmellows while I was upstairs, and swallowed them all before I came down. I new I was hurting him when I dug them out, I scratched his throut very badly. I was scared to death that I would push the wad deeper down, and that he would die before 911 arrived, but I was afraid if I did nothing, he would die.

Once the wad was out, it had to be at least six or seven marshmellows, I fell apart. I sat on the couch holding him, crying. I remember later that day, we went to Home Depot, my son Michael was sitting in the basket with this stare on his face, then he started to cry. It was many days before he got over it, I still don't think I'm over it. I didn't buy marshmellows for many, many years after that. Still to this day, I panic at the thought that what I did was wrong, I ask myself what I would have done if I had pushed the wad down deeper. He still remembers that day, and will tell people how I saved his life. But, at the back of my mind I think my actions could have killed him, but at the time, I felt I had to do something, I felt we didn't have time to wait for the paramedics. I found out that the Hymlic is innefective for mushy obstacles, and the paramedics told me I did the right thing.

And this terrifying moment turns out OK too, but they leave lasting impressions on you. I think of etudiant and how many times you have played the scene over in your mind. These terrifying moments can have such an effect on your life.

I tell my story to parents of young children, making them aware of the dangers of marshmellows. I was always wary of hotdogs, I always cut them in half, length wize, but marshmellows, had no clue. Parents are always on the look out for choking hazards, actually hotdogs are number one for choking. CUT HOTDOGS IN HALF LENGTH WIZE!

Yup, don't like this thread.

fionalouise9 · Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:55 am

wow. to all of you, i can tell just from reading how terrifying that must have been.

there are two moments in my life that terrifyed me, however one stands out from the two as worse.

the first, or least terrifying, happened a few years ago. i was at home with my family and we heard some sort of siren/alarm going off. as we searched to investigate where it was coming from i heard my mum screaming at us and telling us to call the police. i freaked. my mum does not normally yell. my sister called the police and i ran outside to find my mum staring down the street at a car completely on fire.
it turned out that it was the latest in a string of car bombings in my area.
although it didnt affect me personally, the image stuck with me for quite some time.

the second happened this year to my dad. i came downstairs from being in my room (im a teenage girl so i spend alot of time there) and found my mum on the phone to the ambulance. before i could be told what was happening she sent me out the front to wave down the ambulance as it arrived. all i knew was that it was my dad who was in trouble.
once they arrived, i found out he had had an allergic reaction to something, we still dont know what, and his mouth and throat were starting to swell.
im a daddys little girl, so when the second two paramedics arrived and they took him to hospital, i stood in the kitchen crying. i was so scared for my dad.
everything turned out ok, but ill never forget how it felt thinking i might not see him again.

i know theyre not as scary as nearly drowning or watching a child choke, but they scared me. Xx.

tbarron · Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:15 pm

Wow. What great stories.

Chris, I hope things with your dad worked out okay.

Etudiant, yours brought back a memory I hadn't thought of in years.

I was nine or ten years old and had taken a basic swimming class, but my ability was very rudimentary. If I got in water over my head, I was in trouble. I was at a swimming pool with another family one day (my parents are not swimmers at all) and they were encouraging me to swim all the way across the pool, from one side to the other. The pool was deeper than I was tall, so I was nervous and hesitant at first. However, it was a small pool so swimming across from one side to the other didn't seem all that far. My friend, the son of the family, a year or so older than me, swam across to show me how easy it was. And even his parents were encouraging me, telling me I could do it and to be brave.

The thing was, I didn't know how to lift my head to get a breath while I was swimming, and I didn't know how to tread water. I couldn't even dogpaddle. I guess all I could do at the time was the crawl stroke but I didn't know how to get my mouth out of the water for a breath without stopping and putting my feet on the bottom of the pool.

Finally, I let them convince me. You can probably guess what came next. I got about halfway across the pool, ran out of air, and tried to stand up in the water to breathe. Of course, that didn't work. I immediately sank and couldn't get a breath! That was really terrifying for me. I can still remember the feeling of desperation that came with not being able to breathe.

As I was bobbing up and down, not quite able to get my mouth or nose out of the water, I had a vague awareness of my friend's father jumping into the pool, getting behind me, supporting me in the water and getting my face clear so I could breathe again.

Oh! I was so grateful!

Then I was mad at the lot of them for encouraging me to do something I obviously couldn't!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the memory. I agree that the thread is a little disturbing, but it's real, too. Thank you all for sharing your stories.

tom

CWT36 · Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:26 pm

Hey Chris, what's with the most terrifying moment of your life so far? SO FAR? You mean there's worse sh&t coming?? :laugh:

It reminds me of when my doctor said I better get my cholesterol down or I would have my first heart attack before I turned fifty. My FIRST heart attack!! The guy already has me having multiple heart attacks!! Now that's terrifying! :doc:

tbarron · Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:39 am


	CWT36 wrote: Hey Chris, what's with the most terrifying moment of your life so far? SO FAR? You mean there's worse sh&t coming?? It reminds me of when my doctor said I better get my cholesterol down or I would have my first heart attack before I turned fifty. My FIRST heart attack!! The guy already has me having multiple heart attacks!! Now that's terrifying!

You never know -- things can always get worse. :shock:

Bart · Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:33 pm

Most terrifying moment of my life:
On Sept 11, 2001 while watching the World Trade Center disaster at work, mywife called to tell me my son, who had just switched financial companies and office locations, was in Tower II.

He was unreachable by cell phone. And we were unable to contact him for over 90 minutes. Turns out he went donw fromthe 76th floor for a smoke outside when tower 1 was hit. He left his cell phone, suit jacket and brief case up stairs and just started walking up town.
He saw the 2nd plane hit his building.

He reached us by phone to let us know he was ok.

I wouldn't wish that feeling of horror and terror on my worst enemy.

geo · Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:04 pm


	Bart wrote: . . . Turns out he went donw fromthe 76th floor for a smoke

They say smoking is bad for your health, but not in case! That must have been scary as hell.

Bart · Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:10 pm

Geo,

Yeah, smoking may have saved his life, or at least saved him from serious injury. Who knows. But we wish he would quit now.

Every sept 11th his mom and I call him just to say we love him.

etudiant · Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:42 pm

I wonder if there is any worse feeling than seeing a loved one in a disaster, and being unable to help. Probably not. At least there is a survivor in this story.

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