Have you experienced a “life and death” situation?

[Koeshi]

When I was 17 me and my friends were camping in the lakes, and found a tree growing out over the water from the top of a small cliff and had a rope hanging from it.  So naturally I had to jump with it   Let go of the rope too late causing my head to flick back, missed the rock face by a couple of inches at the most.  Friends all thought I was dead cos the shape of the cliff meant they couldn't see me after I was past the outcrop I nearly hit my head on.  No need for priest, and we couldn't have called one anyways.

Also ended up in A&E a 3 times for a cracked skull when I was younger, but I don't remember those.  In my family a priest wouldn't be called until the doctors gave up.

[rostheferret]

I've been thinking about this, and the closest I came up with was a time I went sailing when I was about 12. It was a 16ft 49er iirc which we ended up pushing a little too hard and we capsized with speed. Natural reaction when the boat is beyond a 60 degree angle is to jump like in all the films, diving into the water in a flamboyant style. Nobody told me to resist this urge and I ended up trapped under the mainsail, the waves creating a battle between the buoyancy jacket - compulsory equipment for renting a boat - and the sail. Fucking jacket nearly killed me, without it I would have ended up just diving into the water and y'know, swimming away from the fucking mainsail. My dad realised what had happened and pulled me out.

I mean, except for that it's just even more pathetic stuff like bartering with a knife wielding crackhead and drunkenly getting into fights with Russians much bigger than me. You don't know pain until you're hit in the face with a woman's bag after she's put bricks in it and stabbed you in the crotch with her stiletto. I'll take all the punches to the face a man can deal, just put the stiletto down...

[TiYlER]

I nearly drowned in my friend's pool back in third grade. I remember looking up and seeing my friend sitting there smiling. He did eventually pull me up once he realized that I wasn't kidding and was actually drowning.

A little later I almost drowned in the ocean.

As for the priest thing: no, there were no priests called.

[buchno]

^ How did you make out that he was smiling?
...or were you still above the surface?

[TiYlER]

^ How did you make out that he was smiling?
...or were you still above the surface?

I was definitely below the surface, but I swear I remember him smiling. That or my memory has faded over the last 8 years.

[Masterworla]

hehe my whole life been wagering around life and death. luck isn't exactly my best friend.

[DeadSpaceX]

1st time, birth, premature. doctors expected me to die.
2nd time, pneumonia hospitalized for 1 1/2 years 4 to 5 yrs old, parents did seek a priest.
3rd time, 8 yrs old, drowning (i don't float, i sink)
4th time, 24, driving in an icestorm combination of wind gust and swerving to avoid tractor+trailer rig put me in a deep ditch at 60mph (90kph) heading for a concrete culvert with no traction for braking. managed to accelerate out before impact. mustang II cobra...no one in the car would have survived.
5th time, my old nemesis pneumonia, 37, tried to tough it out until everything below my waist went numb...it had infected my spinal fluid (docs still don't understand how) they didn't give me a great prognosis for surviving since it was something they hadn't dealt with before.

not religious, never will be. and in most situations there's no time for anything. relatives/family might seek a religious figure, if i'm completely unconscious, i'd refuse otherwise.