tecoyah

I got a letter a couple days ago from someone I did not know.....the name and address were totally unfamiliar. It wasnt until I opened and read the contents that I remembered who this was. The letter was a thank you from a grandmother, and it really made me smile. A little over a year ago, I made a 911 call from work when one of my employees showed signs of a heart attack, (in his 60's, very nice man) and layed him on the floor to keep him from falling. I was with him until the paramedics arrived, and talked him thru the fear until he became unconscious.....about five minutes.
Turns out he had an anurism, and died on the way to the Hospital, but was revived quickly, and is doing well. The letter was from his wife and kids (also signed by a couple grandkids) and made me feel very happy. So....the question:

Have you saved a life?....tell us about it

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

highthief

A couple of times, actually. The most noteworthy was many years ago I was working as a mobile security officer conducting a patrol of an underground parking lot when I cam across a guy trying to commit suicide - he had taken some pills and had a hose hooked up from his tailpipe to car.

Ended up yanking the rear hatch window off to get him out. The freaky part was when he woke up - he just snapped, ran up the fire escape and tried to throw himself into traffic! Eventually got him handcuffed to a gurney and off he went with the paramedics.

Never got a thank you but I did see him around a couple of times after that, so he obviously had second thoughts about ending it all.

Also had a guy with an amputated leg just above the knee and a stroke victim that I gave first aid to until the ambulance arrived. Both survived.

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Si vis pacem parabellum.

BigBen

Yep. 3 Guys in an APC that rolled over. I was the first one on scene.

I am still trying to come to terms with it. It was the first time I saw a whole bunch of blood, and people really hurt.

I also have prevented people from doing stupid things that certainly would have resulted in injuries and probably fatalities, but I don't think that is what the spirit of this thread is... I think you mean the actual ACTIONS that SAVED a life.

I'm going to post it in my Army thread, so I can keep things together.

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3.141592654
Hey, if you are impressed with my memorizing pi to 10 digits, you should see the size of my penis.

meembo

When I was an RA in college I had a knack for discovering people who had been drinking WAY too much (aspirating on vomit) or finding depressed people taking entire bottles of pills as suicidal gestures. I once found a woman who was naked, outside, unconscious, and gang-raped (she chose NOT to prosecute -- go figure). It goes to show you can save lives of people who aren't taking care of their own very well at all. I think most life-saving happens this way.

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less I say, smarter I am

cj2112

I was working maintenance in the apartment complex I lived in. I happened to be doing some work on the pool while two young mothers stood nearby talking to each other. One of their toddlers fell in the pool, I instinctively jumped in after him. Did it save his life? I dunno, if I hadn't done that, I would hope one of the mothers would have. It just so happened that i reacted first.

rsl12

I volunteer as an EMT--dunno if I save any lives, but I hope I'm helping.

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Schwan

I pulled a drunk man from underneath a bus that was about to depart from a bus stop. Weird story. Never thought about it til today.

NoSoup

It was a long time ago, but when I was younger -probably around 14? - I heard what sounded like trashcans being knocked over outside my house. I looked out the window, and saw that there had actually been a really bad car accident. There was a van that absolutely crushed another car and torn off part of a house - and was currently laying upside down near the edge of the street.

I ran outside to see if everyone was ok, and could only find the driver of the van - an unconscious woman lying crumpled on the van's ceiling, with many cuts and at least one obviously broken arm. I would have left her there, but I could smell gasoline - I took a quick look around the van and saw that the tank must have been punctured - the gas was streaming into the van and pooling on the ceiling towards the rear of the van.

I tried to hold the woman's neck as stable as I could as I dragged her away from the van. After I brought her what I hoped was a safe distance aw
ay, I ran around looking for the other driver or possible passengers, which I couldn't find.

After checking on the woman one more time I ran inside my house to grab her a blankent - and realized that I hadn't even called 911. I grabbed the cordless phone and dialed as I left the house. I covered her with the blanket and when I started to explain what had happened to the 911 operator, she told me that help was alreaady on the way.

When the paramedics arrived, they immediately started working on her. I had to explain to them that I wasn't in the car accident, and that I was fine. I was covered in blood/gasoline, and my clothes were ripped from the glass and metal from the twisted metal from the van... and I had a couple of scrapes, but it was nothing serious.

When the police got there, they wanted me to explain what happened - when I got to the part about me dragging her out of the car, the officer stopped me and called me an idiot for moving her - saying that I probably broke her spinal cord and she would be a cripple. I tried explaining about the gas a couple of times, but he kept interrupting me - then the van started on fire. I think at that point he realized what I was trying to say. Shortly after that fire department arrived and news crews. The van was put out, and after a bunch of questioning neighbors and what not, the police figured that the woman had just hit a parked car - at a ridiculous speed. Upwards of 75mph on a residential street, rolled - clipped a house, and then stopped near the edge of the road.

The next day, after all the rucus had died down, the same police officer that was yelling at me stopped by my house and thanked me for my help and offered to take me out for ice cream - an offer I politely declined.

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Just in case you were wondering...

raveneye

I had to give my daughter a heimlich this last summer . . . was the most terrifying sight I've ever seen, she came running up with a bright red face, pointing at her mouth, not breathing, tears running down her face, and I got behind her and squeezed, and a piece of apple shot out of her mouth. I didn't leave her side for the next 5 hours . . . .

Val_1

I gave the heimlich to a choking man a few years ago. It was in the lunch room at work. It was a little difficult to do cause he was taller than me, but I got the job done. He called me "Lifesaver" after that.

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I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.

-Frank Sinatra

meembo

raveneye, I forgot that I did that for my son as well, when he was about 4. He was eating apple slices, and for some reason the skins were getting caught in his throat. One minute he was fine, and the next his face was as red as the apple skin, and the little arteries in his cheeks were bursting. I turned him upside down and smacked his back, and some of the apple came out of his mouth, and then I reached in with a finger and scooped out most of the rest. We were both pretty upset for a while.

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less I say, smarter I am

Daoust

I have nightmares about having to do this for my little girl. Congrats on handling it so well.

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I have faith in a few things - divinity and grace
But even when I'm on my knees I know the devil preys

Misz

Iam still in aww about this story its truly amazing, big clap for everyone that has ever done anything like this.

Marvelous Marv

I'd been thinking about starting a thread like this.

About a year ago, a young, buff guy collapsed in the gym near where I was working out. People kind of milled around, saying "Is he diabetic? Is he epileptic? They mumbled about CPR, and I said, "Nobody touch him as long as he keeps breathing."

Another guy and I established that we knew CPR. Then he quit breathing and began to turn blue. We started CPR, he pinked back up, and the paramedics arrived. They were unable to revive him in 5 or 10 minutes, and gurneyed him to the ambulance. I thought he was a goner. Found out later he was fine.

You know what occurs to me? He had friends there who didn't do anything, and although I filled out forms and signed my name to them, nobody connected to him ever even called me up and said "Thanks."

I know I would have, if I'd had my life saved by someone in that manner.

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"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
Margaret Thatcher

Gatorade Frost

I don't know if it counts but I had to give the heimlich to myself before. I was sitting in my dorm choking on a carrot of all things (from soup, damn those deliciously large chunks of carrots that Cambells puts into their food) and had to hit myself over the chair.

But otherwise no danger has ever presented itself in a way that needed my help.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

Windbreaker

When I was about 15 my family was camping in the Sierra's near reno driving around a small canyon lake. My younger brother (13 or so) and myself were being pulled by my fathers boat. I was on a blow up shark and my brother was on a boogie board where you strap yourself in on your knee's. My rope was shorter than his so he was about 15ft behind me. When we whent back into camp we had to travel through a no wake zone so our boat speed was reduced. This apparently is a problem when trying to stay afloat on a boogie board.

My parents were laughing and drinking booze on the boat thinking nothing could happen while traveling at 5mph so they paid little attention to me and my brother. I turned back to look at my brother and he was gone, all I could see was the rope disapearing into the water with a trail of disturbed water behind it. I looked for a few moments then turned back to the boat and yelled at my parents. They took notice then I jettison myself from the shark and began swim down his rope. When I reached him I stuck my hand under the boogie board and ripped strap off of his knees and grabbed his shoulders to pull his head back above water. He immedietly started throwing up water. My parents whiped the boat around quickly and yanked him out of the water. They made comments on how I possibly saved his life, but if you ask them today I doubt they would even remember or acknowledge that it ever happen. The possiblity is there that he would have been fine without my help but I like to think I saved his life.

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Whadata!

quadro2000

When I was five years old, my dad took me to the local ski shop to rent our winter skis for the season. I was a pretty obnoxious kid at times and apparently had already given my dad a hard time on the way to the ski shop.

On the way inside, I stopped and saw an empty yogurt container on the snow-covered ground. Why I did this, I'll never know, but I brought it in to show my dad, who was meeting with a salesman. He was furious with me (for interrupting him, for carrying garbage around and bringing it into the store, etc) and ordered me to go sit in the car until he was ready for me to come back in.

I walked back to the car. As I passed the side of the ski store, I noticed something weird, between the store and the store next to it. About 60 feet in front of me, it looked there was someone laying in the snow. To me, it seemed like they were maybe trying to drink from the water spigot that was attached to the ski store's outer wall.

I went in and told my dad about it. My dad, furious that I got out of the car, told me to stop messing around and get back in the car, otherwise I'd be grounded.

I went back outside. The person was still there. I couldn't see a face, just a body laying in the snow.

I ran back into the store and told my dad about it again. I'm not sure what I did to convince him, but apparently he thought I might really be serious, because he agreed to go outside with me and check it out.

All I remember next is getting back into our car and watching an ambulance arrive...and watching paramedics carry an old lady on a stretcher.

As I found out later, the old lady had been walking to the grocery store from her home (only a few houses away from the ski store), and had somehow collapsed on the way. We got a call from her family that night, saying that if she had been outside a few hours longer, she surely would have died.

I have no idea why the yogurt cup in this story is so important to me, but I can never tell it without mentioning it first. It's the most clear thing I remember about the story for some reason. It was Dannon.

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You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers

Ganggreen

about 5 years ago, i was going to the bathroom in a public bathroom in a fast food joint. knew there was someone in hte stall next to me and could see his foot sticking in my stall in a weird way(not normal bathroom position). i knocked and he didn't say anything or move, so i looked over into stall and he was out cold so i crawled under. he had a fresh syringe sticking out of his arm and his works were still on the back of the toilet. so i told another person who was in there to call 911, then i proceedd to smack the hell out of him and get him up and make him walk around. never done heroin but know about it. knew i had to keep him from sleeping and taking the eternal nod. when EMT's came, they said he probably would have died if i didn't get him up and moving. on a sad note, saw the guy on the street about a month later stoned as ever, so i don't know, he might be dead now for all i know.

mr sticky

It's a little odd to be reading these... you see, I work in healthcare as respiratory therapist, and I guess you could say that a significant portion of what I do directly effects the patient's survival. The only thing is, I've been doing this for twelve years now and it seems "old hat."

I mean, I barely get adrenaline pumping any more. My job is pretty fast paced in an emergency, as I am responsible for the A & the B of the ABC's (airway, breathing and circulation, for those of you who don't speak healthcare). And though it's not exactly making widgits, there is a certain amount of routine to my resuscitation mentality. Most of the actual life-saving directives we use, go by rote, so there is a certain amount of cookbook flair in what we do.

It's interesting to get a fresh perspective on how people feel in a crisis situation.

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The sad thing is... as you get older you come to realize that you don't so much pilot your life, as you just try to hold on, in a screaming, defiant ball of white-knuckle anxious fury

Schwan

Great thread. Fascinating read. Makes me feel slightly better about the human kind.

ngdawg

I signed up for infant/child CPR classes. When my kids were about 10 months old, I found my daughter sitting on the floor, a look of sheer panic, but no sound coming from her and I realized she was choking. I scooped her up, hung her over my arm and smacked her back a couple of times-out popped a tiny piece of twig (from dried flowers I had thought were out of reach) and then she threw up.
Classes had not yet begun-they were a couple weeks later and it was then I found out that technically, I hadn't done it right. Didn't really care at that point.
At six years old or so, my son began to choke on a piece of steak-spouse thought he was goofing around somehow, just hanging his mouth open and turning purple. I knew what to do this time.

Soapbox: I firmly believe that with every lamaze and baby care class, CPR must be taught and maybe in some places it is-here it was not.
/me steps off soapbox

That was wonderful to get, I'm sure, Tec. We aren't always aware of our affect on others and it's nice when we're told of it.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

MooseMan3000

I was at a One Act theatre festival in high school. One school decided to do a rendition of Beowulf, and forgetting for a moment that the show was absolutely terrible, they also forgot to mention that the show used STROBE LIGHTS. Yes, that's illegal. No, they weren't kicked out of the competition. In fact, they won a few awards. "wtf?" you say? I concur. But I digress.

Anyway, a few seconds after the strobe started, I noticed a few rows in front of me, it looked like someone decided to lay down on the floor. I thought that was a little weird, so I got up to look and found that the guy was convulsing. Once I realized that he was having a seizure, I looked around for someone who could go get help for me, and I found the festival director was on his way. I immediately told him to call 911, but he sat there gaping like a fish telling me that "It's the middle of a show. We can't interrupt it." I actually ended up yelling in his face (yes, still in the middle of the show. Fucknuts and their strobe light and terrible acting) that it was a medical emergency, and if he didn't "call 911 right the fuck away, this person could die." (Note: this probably isn't true, but at the time I was only concerned with getting that guy off his ass) After that he decided it was OK to interrupt the show.

I stayed with the guy, kept him on his side, and tried to make sure he didn't hurt himself any further. I stuck with him until the paramedics arrived, where they thanked me for my help and took it from there. Afterwards I gave the director a large piece of my very irate mind. What man could be so selfish that he's more concerned with how well his festival goes than the life of someone in the audience? Anyway. That's my story.

squirrelyburt

I did CPR three times, one lived. From what I understand, thats pretty good by percentages of saves. My grandfather always claimed I saved my grandma's life once when she was choking. I was three or four so I don't remember, but he says she was choking and I went to get him about it. He taught first aid way back when and did the heimlich.

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If you've ever felt there was a reason to be afraid of the dark, you were right.