Mine.
- Came up short on a roll-to-revert while wakeboarding (think of the trick as a half pipe snowboard indy barrel roll, landed fakie reverse/revert with my heels facing the boat). Done it 1000 times. But I had been working on some new stuff and was on a new lake where people weren't doing inverts of that difficulty if at all, so I was mildly showing off.
The bottom line is I changed my mind mid trick, mid-approach even. I changed my mind at the last moment but forgot to ask for more speed to set in for this more advanced version of the trick. So boat speed is @24mph but consider the cut I was taking at the wake. Really puts that overall speed up way higher, sometimes double. By the time I am cutting in, heels locked for a line loading power cut - I mean - just such the wrong time to change your mind. As I was inverted and now at around 45mph, carrying out this dumb idea to change the game plan, try to maneuver the board back under myself and land the trick in a bizarre but cool position, get the handle in check, and get ready for awkward crushing blind landing about 15 feet past the wake. It didn't work. I came up short. My tibia-fibula, were both shattered over the front of the WAKEBOARD. My talus was broken or cracked, there was major nerve damage, plus I got compartments syndrome. And the board did not release from my body so when I floated up, I was in a pool of blood, with my leg at a right angle, attached to this stupid thing, with splinters of bones cutting out of my skin. SCREAMING for the boat. The paramedics got in the water and cut my $600 custom made, by the factory, for me, irreplaceable bindings. Tib/Fib is a terrible injury for an athlete - I was in an 'Outlaw' semi-pro bracket. That was that...
- After taking a leak on the side of a huge interstate highway, on a 340 mile road trip, in the dark. After my biz was done, I slowly walked in front of my car as I heard a truck coming. That ^@%&%#@#($@ gave me about a foot of clearance max. It was Pet Semetary bad. I swear to God I would have been luggage if I had taken a single step more. I would have been cat food in an instant. I got blown around. by the wind too, and there were cars behind this jag going just as fast. God that was so scary.
- I had my tonsils out when I was a kid. I got the pain meds, got the TV going, couple days or perhaps a week goes by. I tell my mom I am sooo sick of macaroni or soup. Can you please call the Doctor I want a steak & cheese sub - she did, he said sure. And it came toasted of course. Went to bed a little later.
I went to bed, dreaming I was on a high floor tall of a building that was swaying. It was swaying and there was brown liquid that was sloshing around and nobody could get a grip.
I awoke in like - a puddle of blood. My tonsil healing site had hemorrhaged. I lost so much blood that night (no clue in terms of amounts but they were fucking scared). I had an extremely frightening ambulance ride. They immediatly sedated me and pumped the blood from my stomach. So scary - really more to see my Mom so scared. I wasn't little - I was like 17. 34 now. Very scary.
- I was recovering from a tooth extraction, put on pain stuff, then Tramadol to get off it. On the 3rd day on Tramadol, while working from home and my wife on maternity leave. As my wife tells me, I guess I let out a gutteral roar, every joint locks, I rock back from sitting on the floor seizing wildly (all of this was told to me - I remember none of it) and it turned out I had a grand mal seizure to be specific. When I was awake, ambulance was already there, but asking me things like "what day is it" Didn't know. "Who is the President" Obama "Spell your name" I can't! Wha....
- September 11. I was scared, I didn't know when this stuff was going to end - or how, or if this was headed our way.