Have you ever saved a life!!

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  • lolalament
    lolalament Posts: 73 Member
    I tried to - I took a defibrillator to someone having a heart attack, but by the time I got there the ambulance was already there.
  • aprildaguilar
    aprildaguilar Posts: 1,926 Member
    compressions on a man for almost an hour he made it for another few days then went
  • AlteredSkates
    AlteredSkates Posts: 123 Member
    Boat fire - swam out, pulled a mother and her daughter OFF the boat and got them to safety - neither knew how to swim.
    Military service - humanitarian support (languages) in Huichole area - we evac'ed people for various reasons (floods, shots, accidents). Actually had to force some dumb "social worker" onto a truck and restrain her in a mudslide area.
    Friend cut himself on purpose in the woods - field sutures. Talked him out.
    Heimlich twice but I think those would have self resolved.
    I also worked triage support in a hospital and later designed hip implants but that's not very direct "life saving"..

    Trekking: We had an Indian guy in another group that broke his leg in the Himalayas. He insisted we not call in a copter ($5000) - splinted and "racked" him so he could be carried out on a three/four day return. I helped, he made it but I'm sure it was the wrong decision.

    I should update my CPR/First Response training.


    :drinker:
  • crose0056
    crose0056 Posts: 105 Member
    My husband went into a lethal cardiac rhythm and stopped breathing. I am CPR certified and got him breathing again. Ambulance came took him to hospital where he did it again. They had a hard time bringing him back the second time. Spent a week in ICU and now has a pacemaker to prevent such sudden cardiac arrest. Learn CPR and keep your cool.
  • da1128
    da1128 Posts: 212 Member
    Yeah, comes with the territory when you used to work in the ER.

    This.
  • miranda_mom
    miranda_mom Posts: 873 Member
    I was working in mental health intake for kids and usually things were pretty routine, kids starting to show signs of ADD or depression or whatnot. One day a mom came in and rattled off this list of symptoms that her son was having. Something she said made me urge her to take him to the ER immediately when she got home. He was admitted to a children's psychiatric facility. When she called me a few days later, she thanked me and said that he'd told the doctors that when the rest of the family was asleep, he would wander around the house making plans to kill his entire family, which he was planning on doing soon. With treatment, he did well. But the mom said she never would have taken him to hospital if I hadn't strongly suggested it.
  • supplemama
    supplemama Posts: 1,956 Member
    I can't remember if Ive directly saved someones life, but im a blood donor coming upto my 27th donations so I hope at least one of the donations saved someones life.

    YES

    Yes, you have saved many many many lives.

    In 1994 I went into early labor (2 months early) and hemorrhaged, I nearly died. I had to have a blood transfusion. There were multiple things wrong with my baby and one thing they needed to do to save his life was a full body blood transfusion. Today he is a strapping college freshman who played football all throughout high school. The only thing wrong with him is he has asthma. He's come a long way from a tiny, premature baby struggling to live, in part because someone like you chose to donate blood.

    Thank you.
  • ginakiki
    ginakiki Posts: 226 Member
    Thank you everyone for sharing you all are hero's!!
  • randysbombshellgirl
    randysbombshellgirl Posts: 338 Member
    No humans but many critters including a squirrel a duck kittens and many seagulls. A big thanks to all you hero's for sharing your stories If I'm ever in a life threatening situation I pray one if you is around!
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    911 dispatcher here, so I *help* saves lives all the time I guess.

    But this one time, I was visiting my friend in Chicago, and we went to the mall with the Maceys on Michigan Ave. As we were walking out, there was this man lying face down on the floor with his arms and legs spread out. I watched about a dozen people step over and around him. I almost continued on just because I thought maybe it was a joke BECAUSE people were walking over him... Then I walked back to him and asked him if he was okay. He didn't answer or move. So I yelled out, "has anyone called 911?" Some chick from a store yelled back, "I did."

    Even though I didn't know WHY he was on the ground, it was clear he wasn't breathing, so I made the decision to support his neck and turn him over, preparing to start CPR. He was very large, so my friend helped me with this. As soon as we had him on his back, he took a loud, deep breath and opened his eyes halfway. I asked him if he knew his name, but all he could mumble was "stroke." So, I tilted his head back to improve his airway and kept him awake until rescue arrived. My friend had taken his cellphone and dialed his last called number. It was his brother who was at the mall. Our guy had told them to go on without him because he was feeling weak. He had assumed it was diabetes, so he bought some orange juice and started walking to the bench.

    I honestly don't know if this guy ever made it. I wish I had taken down his phone number.

    Wow. I sort of can't believe people were just stepping over him, but I sort of can. When you're in a big crowd, there's the "someone else will take care of it" factor. When it's a small crowd, I wonder if people are more likely to act.

    I have saved many animals and certainly helped people out when they really needed it (I hiked back to the trailhead and drove to the store to bring my diabetic friend a snickers bar when he had a hypoglycemic episode while hiking), but I don't think I have ever saved anyone's life at great expense/risk to myself. Those stories are very inspiring!
  • Melmade
    Melmade Posts: 349 Member
    When I was little and little brother was smaller he fell into the lake by our house. I screamed and my mom ran down and pulled him out. He was fine--though I don't think he would've tried to swim or climb out. I just remember him floating like a bubble in fetal position with his back toward the water's surface.

    When I was babysitting a long time ago (I was 12) a girl inhaled a piece of broken porcelain off a doll while I was holding her sister and talking to her parents on the phone for a second about bath time or something. The girl came up to me--her face had turned white, then blue. I did the heimlich maneuver, which got it out, then she swallowed it, and then threw it up. I called 911, then they took her to the hospital via ambulance. After the whole ordeal, the girl only remembered having to drink the "icky chalk stuff"--not the choking, heimlich, ambulance ride, parents freaked out, nothing else. I had tons of babysitting offers after that... but I think I was done with babysitting after that--hahaha!

    I saved someone from being raped once. It's not a life, but I hate to think of what had happened if I hadn't stopped it. It was at a weekend music festival where I was helping build a stage. There were several performances, set at night, in the woods. I was walking back from our tent when I saw a guy slam a young lady down on the ground, and she was trying to fight back. Fortunately I had a really bright head lamp on and shined it into his eyes. He was obviously on some kind of drugs or something--his pupils were different sizes. The lady ran away and I wish there had been cops around, but often at music festivals like that they're non-existent. I had some local residents keep their eyes on the guy after that, which they were happy to do.
  • metaphoria
    metaphoria Posts: 1,432 Member
    My husband and I have been first on the scene at traffic accidents and a waterfront situation. Only one injured person out of the four situations survived. I think most people dont realize that CPR is a last ditch effort and only has something like a 5% survival rate.

    Dependent on the cause of arrest its higher than 5%, though in trauma as you experienced survival is poor. Sudden cardiac arrest with good bystander CPR and early access defib can have a good chance of survival - estimated 75%

    The lesson - everyone should learn CPR

    Oh definitely. I'm not saying "don't bother", it's just without access to a defib, there's only so much you can do, and that people feel alot of unfounded guilt if thibfs go wrong.
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
    I might have done, on mfp.

    Someone on my FL was talking about committing suicide, and listed what she'd taken. I found the number of her local police department, another mfp member tracked down her real name via twitter and the policeman i spoke to found a near-match and called it.

    It turned out to be a family member and she got some help. She thanked me a few days later.

    I don't know if she'd have been ok without me, but I'm glad I didn't just hope she would be ok, rather than doing what I could.
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    I might have done, on mfp.

    Someone on my FL was talking about committing suicide, and listed what she'd taken. I found the number of her local police department, another mfp member tracked down her real name via twitter and the policeman i spoke to found a near-match and called it.

    It turned out to be a family member and she got some help. She thanked me a few days later.

    I don't know if she'd have been ok without me, but I'm glad I didn't just hope she would be ok, rather than doing what I could.
    Did you post a thread about this, I am pretty sure I remember this exact scenario or something very similar on MFP...great work:flowerforyou:
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    bump again because well people are amazing and it is important to remember this.
  • faithsimmons526
    faithsimmons526 Posts: 162 Member
    Yup ... I changed my mind. :laugh:

    Seriously ... I may have talked 2 strangers out of suicide. Hard to say whether they would have really done it though.
  • ginakiki
    ginakiki Posts: 226 Member
    I saved my sister when she was 4 in a pool drowning.....and today 2013 her son saved her life from a life of drugs. I am so proud of her
  • reedandmalloy
    reedandmalloy Posts: 43
    My son when he was around 8 years old. We were at the beach and he and his brother were on a raft. They got into an argument and he fell off...I was standing knee deep in water holding my daughter (age 3) and saw it happen. I screamed for someone to help him, but no one paid any attention. I saw him go under and basically tossed my daughter to a complete stranger standing near me. I just said, "TAKE HER!" and took off swimming towards my son. I got there just as he went under for the second time. The guy I had handed my daughter to had the most confused look on his face when I took her back!

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