Y'ever save someone's life?

[yewberry]

Through action, I mean.

Maveric has (and inspired this thread.) Lots of veterans here have. Even I have.

I'm expecting that more of us than one would expect have.

Yes? No?

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. Yes ... my own ...

Someone close to me needed help ... but in the end I was the one who needed the most help . I was bringing myself down , so in order to cope with this person , I would actually get sort of high ( I won't go into details ) - in the end I was the one who needed to be saved , so I cut this person out of my life and saved myself ...

[yewberry]

4. Yikes...good decision.

Scary stuff.

Glad to hear that you've found a better road.

[BikeWriter]

2. Sure, several times in the war, then I was a fireman for five years...

After that I hired on in industry where I was a safety activist for twenty-five years. I've resuscitated a number of people as well as carrying them out of fires and extracting them from accidents.

[yewberry]

6. Not to be too intrusive (she says, about to get too intrusive,)

is that weird?

I mean, I've saved (through direct action) like TWO people, and that's weird for me, maybe because it's weird for them. You've saved maybe DOZENS of people!

Of course, I'm talking about plain old "just living your life" situations...Is that different somehow from being a professional hero?

I'm thinking "no," except that you consciously decided to be that guy.

(And yay for you, for being that guy!)

[BikeWriter]

20. Thank you. We were survivors of the Texas City Disaster...

and Dad was one of the few Firemen who survived it. We were raised by and around that sort of people.

[texas1928]

3. Well when I was a telemarketer. I sold long distance.

I had a lady on the phone and she started sounding funny, and she was gagging. I asked her if she needed me to do something and she said she needed help. I kept her on the phone and got my supervisor contact the 911 in her city, and we got an ambulance dispatched to her home. I stayed on the phone with her til the paramedics arrived. They thought she was having a stroke. I got a call later from the family at my sups desk and they said thank you for helping their mother.

[yewberry]

9. Yow. Good job!

Had you had any training about what to do in this kind of situation? (only because I hadn't had any re: my escapades.)

PS--You look like the little boy (Adam someone?) from "Eight is Enough" in that second photo that you posted tonight. Anyone ever tell you that? I can't be the first.

[hfojvt]

25. of course I may fake this

the next time a telemarketer calls. :think:

[alittlelark]

5. I pulled my brother off the edge of a cliff when I was 10

I got my bulimic sister help when I was 19 (it was BAD). I stopped Missy from killing herself once - she succeeded the next year.

What's amazing is that I'm still alive - w/ an anaphalactic allergy to ALL nuts - at 40 years old, w/ 15 major reactions in the ER. I was dead for 15 seconds once.


<edited for FR spelling>

[RummyTheDummy]

7. Yep.....I talked a good friend, husband, father of two

Out of joining the national guard. told hime he'd be sent to iraq and he'd end up dead over and over again until he finally got it through his thick skull. he joined habitat for humanity. he just wanted to contribute something to society.

Oops..meant to reply to original post.

[yewberry]

14. Missy was your sister?

Geez, that's hard.

And allergies...Oof. So tough!

I had a frind that was terribly allergic to nuts...and soy, shellfish, vertebrate fish, thin-skinned fruit, nightshades, dairy, and some legumes. I kept an epi-pen on me at all times!

Yeeks--dead for any amount of time? Scary!

[Tallison]

15. So sorry about your sis...

[Kenneth ken]

8. several I suppose

I worked as a lifguard in high school; in the summer kids used to frequently come from the changing rooms and jump in the nearest water, which happened to be the deep end of the pool. I went in a number of times and pulled kids over to the edge. I should say my lifesaving skills pretty well sucked relative to what I was taught. I generally just sort of boosted them up so their heads were staying above water, none of them ever panicked on me, so I never had to do the cross-chest thing.

The scariest thing was a toddler in the wading pool. The water was about chest deep on her so I was kind of keeping an eye on her, then got distracted briefly and she was doing a face float. I thought for a couple seconds, "wow that kid can hold her breath a long time" before I realized it was the same kid I had been watching because I knew the water depth, if she got off her feet would be too much for her. I waded over and picked her all the way out of the water while she did a big whooshing gasping inhalation of air. :scared:

Except possibly the little girl, I don't think any of the other people I pulled out really came close to drowning, but without someone around acting as a lifeguard they would have.

[yewberry]

16. How did the family react?

If at all (re the toddler story,) I mean.

Funny, I've only had fairly muted reactions.

You?

[Kenneth ken]

18. oh

I doubt they ever knew; one of those drop the kids at the pool for the day and be on our way kind of things. There were almost never any parents at the pool, except during swim lessons.

[xmas74]

10. Yep.

I worked in mental health for about 5 years. I've done CPR on quite a few occasions. Also, as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, I've given lifesaving instructions (such as CPR) over the phone while running radio traffic to get EMS and First Responders onscene.

I've also helped to bring life into the world. I'm a member of the Stork Club (a group for dispatchers who have given instruction to deliver babies over the phone while EMS was en route. In some cases, EMS might not make it in time. I've delivered five babies over the phone).

[yewberry]

17. Another hero!

That must be insane, trying to help average people through a major medical drama.

Five babies over the phone must've equaled five incredibly freaked-out families, astonished that their bodies are MAKING DECISIONS AND GETTING THE JOB DONE!!!! Freaky.

Good job!

[xmas74]

19. Not really a hero.

Just did my job.
And the first baby was born to a woman who had already had six. She was an old pro at it and helped me more than I helped her.

[ForrestGump]

11. Yep

Talked a suicide case out of it. More than once rescued people while diving. Hard to say, really, because we never know what actions we may have taken to save a life without it being plainly obvious that they were about to die.

Saved a fair few animals, too...

[HEyHEY]

12. No, had mine saved though

Coming out of a pub, I was hammered and just stepped out onto the road. My friend grabbed my arm and ripped me back on to the sidewalk as some maniac doing about 80km/hour missed me by a few feet.

[SarahB]

13. Prolonged severe respiratory infection in my 7 year old...

when he was an infant. We had a few close calls on several nights. Stressed us to the breaking point probably (for six months, it seemed like all I did day and night was breastfeed and give him breathing treatments- plus I had other kids to take care of). I remember one night giving him epinephrine when he was gasping for air. Scary stuff. He's more than fine now though thankfully. Nothing like war, but damn scary as a mommy. :(

[LynzM]

21. Only through the action of listening

Listening to someone who felt that life was not worth living anymore, that no one cared enough to make it worth living. I don't know if lending my ears was the thing that made a difference, but I know it helped.

I have such great admiration for everyone on this thread... so many who have done so many wonderful, brave things to save others...

[u4ic]

22. My ex would go through suicidal phases

and I talked him off of a bridge/stuck my hand in his mouth to retrieve the pills/convinced him to give me the knife...

[GOPisEvil]

30. Yikes!!!

:scared:

[u4ic]

31. He's been doing better

lately, thank goodness. We're still friends, and support each other.

I've always had the utmost respect for those who deal with crises, but since that relationship, it has become even more so. The stress and responsibility is unbelievable, and something I can understand more now, having experienced it first hand.

[GOPisEvil]

32. I'm glad he's better.

I'm so fortunate not to have these things to deal with.

[uppityperson]

23. Yes, professionally and otherwise

Was a nurse for yrs, working with life and death situations. None particularily stand out except for failures. Saddest time was not saving the life of the local CPR instuctor who came in after a heart attack. Last time I did CPR out in public (vs work) I realized I needed to carry a plastic CPR mask in my purse to stay healthy.

Someone came to me for a massage last yr, sore after an accident. I sent off to ER instead and turned out had a broken neck, airlifted to big city hospital.

Recently save the life of a person who OD'd on crystal meth who stopped me driving past to ask for help ("I think I'm in trouble" "I did something wrong" "can you help me?"). I did. He lived. Off to ER, ICU, now treatment.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

24. Yes, but I've had occasion to through what I do for a living.

[fishnfla]

26. 3 one time and one another

a car hit the water and went cattywhompus into Rose Bay,I pulled 3 unconcious victims out before they drowned and did CPR on one

Another time, MVA, did CPR on a young man

The irony is, both times I was stinking drunk and I had to skeedaddle when the cops showed up

[Zorro]

27. Yes

About 30 years ago when I was a tad of a lad, I was on a coastal steamer traveling from Goa to Bombay.

We were about a mile offshore, and I was by the bow railing looking out at the passing shoreline. There was a young Indian guy standing about 10 feet away also looking toward the shore.

I turned my head toward him, he looked at me, and then began climbing the rail jabbering in Hindi. I was the only one close by, so I hightailed over and grabbed him around his thighs to prevent him from jumping overboard. A couple of Indians then came up and helped get him down from the railing and took him off somewhere in the hold.

It was the kind of experience that causes one to ponder about the meaning of life.

[Bossy Monkey]

28. Maaaaaybe

Rescued 3 separate people; doubt any of them was in danger of dying, but still it's a nice warm fuzzy feeling, especially for an arrant coward and layabout like myself.

22 years ago in London, a gang of soccer hooligans were chasing, then beating a young man because they didn't like the football team advertised on his scarf. Thing is, one of them had picked up one of the big metal lanterns used to warn traffic away from road works and was beating him with this. I pulled out my voice of God and told them to STOP. Remarkably, they did. The young man said I'd saved his life anyway. I escorted him to a hospital around the corner, and went on with my day.

Say five or six years ago, an elderly woman was wandering around my neighborhood aimlessly. Seeing that she clearly didn't know where she was going, I asked if I could help. She asked for help getting to the drugstore, naming one that had gone out of business the previous year. I drove her there, found the sign saying which nearby store was now filling their prescriptions, and took her there. Fortunately, they recognized her and were able to call her son and take her home. My mom had Alzheimer's at the time, so it was pretty easy to visualize her in the same situation.

Three weeks ago, I went to the Chick-Fil-A. Normally I would just go through the drivethrough and eat and drink while driving around, but I was low on gas and so decided to go in instead. When I got out of the car, I noticed somebody on the ground in the drivethrough lane. It was an elderly lady who said she had just tripped on the curb and would be fine, just please would I help her up. However her shirt was highly stained with blood and her forehead was bleeding. A young woman getting out of her car asked if she was all right and I asked if the latter had a cell phone. She did and called 911. As the lady was in the drivethrough lane and a car was coming, we helped her up and to her car. I now feel guilty about this and wish I'd just gone to the car at the drivethrough and asked them to back out. Regardless, the rescue squad came in record time and gave her first aid, and an ambulance ride. Ever the stoic hero, I went in and got my Chick-Fil-A and lemonade.:)

[6000eliot]

29. Two people

both were choking.

[Midlodemocrat]

33. Twice, actually.

Saved a small child from drowning at the pool and in college, a friend was choking and I did the Heimlich on her.