"I've Spent 2 Years Wearing A Mask To Protect The People Around Me": And 40 Other Life-Saving Stories By Bored Panda Community Members

I read someone's blood tests and was pretty sure that the diagnosis they had was wrong.
Insisted that they see a certain specialist, they referred them to another doctor who confirmed my suspicion.
They are now on medication for something totally different than the original diagnosis but they would have soon died if I hadn't noticed.

I saved a husband and wife. Their motorcycle went off the side of a ravine in the middle of nowhere, southern CO. He came out of it with minor injuries. But I still had to drag him back up the side of the ravine because he was knocked out. She on the other hand had the motorcycle pinning her against a tree at the bottom of the ravine. I got the bike off of her and stopped the bleeding from her head. She had to be air lifted out. They both made it.

I saved my mom's life. She was choking on food, and I successfully performed the Heimlich Maneuver on her.

My husband (before I met him) came to the aid of a man who had been stabbed while travelling on a bus. Sitting a few seats ahead of my husband and the would-be victim was the attacker, who was being bothersome to other passengers. As the bus approached its scheduled stop, the attacker walked towards his target and stabbed him in the neck. My husband immediately grabbed the attacker's hand and forcibly removed the knife. He kept the struggling attacker in a headlock and walked him to the front of the bus while others helped care for the victim until the ambulance and police arrived. I’m so proud of him, he received a Medal of Bravery years later.

My wife owns a gym and helped a man lose over 300lbs as his personal trainer. She also taught him how to cook instead of buying fast food. He was so heavy when he started that he had to be weighed on a grain elevator scale. Now, he regularly runs 10km races. That man was going to die. Amazing turnaround!

I saved at least 2 of my friends' lives before by being there for them. I don't think they realise they are doing the same for me.

Yes - but I had help. I was with a bunch of friends in a (relatively shallow) pool, and noticed some motion out of the corner of my eye. My friend's 6-year-old was frantically trying to get another friend's 4-year-old above water. I shouted something incoherent and launched myself over to where the kids were and heaved the little girl out of the water on to the pool deck. All ended well - she's now a normal, healthy, annoying teenager.

Years ago, my friend called me at work. She wasn't making much sense, kept saying things like, I want you to have a good life, etc. I knew she kept a 2-liter bottle of rum at all times, and I heard sounds like liquid being poured, and drinking and swallowing sounds. I was afraid she was taking pills of some kind and washing them down with rum.
I kept her on the phone until I was sure I was hearing right, then hung up and called a friend of ours who was a psychologist. Thank God he picked up the phone. He raced to her home and called 911. At the ED they pumped her stomach, and she was fine.
I talked to her and she wouldn't promise not to try it again. The doc wanted to release her to me, but I knew I couldn't handle her. I said no, she told me she would try it again. So they kept her for a few days and got her on the proper meds.
She was so mad at me, but so what? She was alive.

I saved my sons’ life by using the Heimlich maneuver when he was 6 months old & starting on solid foods. I learned infant child cpr exactly 1 week before this happened, I was home alone with him. He was turning blue already. Maybe paramedics would have gotten there in time but I immediately tried what I just learned, and it worked. He is 14 years old now. I’m not even sure that he knows this come to think of it.

When I was a junior in college I was a bartender at a Mexican restaurant in the "downtown" of the small college town. It was the most popular spot for Monday night football, thirsty Thursdays and trashy hangover brunches. Bartending and serving can give you a sixth sense for sketchy behavior, and that place attracted it all. During everyone's favorite post-church lunch shift (tithing isn't tipping folks...), this wirey dude with manic eyes sat at the bar. He was probably my same age, or possibly younger, but age'd from hard living. He ordered off-menu, one of the best things we made, huevos rancheros and then proceeded to slide the food around his plate for an hour while watching the door. Everytime someone came in from outside he'd slide off his stool like he was going to bolt, but then he'd just sit back down and look at his food. After dropping some drinks off at a table I walk behind the bar and the dude was gone. His food was still there, and I figured he stiffed me for the food and a couple drinks, but I decided to leave his plate in case he came back. From the bar you could see the hallway with the bathroom, and I watched a little girl in a Sunday dress go back there twice, and both times the door was locked, but I hadn't seen anyone come or go in between, so I did my bartender duty and grabbed the bathroom key. I knocked and no one answered, so I unlocked the door and peaked inside.

The dude with manic eyes was laying face down on the floor, as though he'd fallen off the toilet, but his pants were up. I rolled him on his side and his face was the most terrible purple color I'd ever seen, his eyes fully open and completely bloodshot, tongue swollen and hanging out of his mouth. If it wasn't obvious, there was also a needle in his arm. I called out for help, grabbed some rubber gloves from under the sink, and swept my fingers in the dudes mouth and out popped the syringe cap. I checked for a pulse, but my untrained fingers couldn't find one, so I started CPR. Do you know what no one ever taught me in CPR class? How long it takes for an ambulance to arrive while doing CPR, and that you can't stop until they get there... People don't wake up after 10 pumps, spit out some water and thank you for saving their life. I have no idea how long it actually took, probably 10 minutes, but my arms were on fire and I was a sweaty mess (props to all you first responders who do it every day!) when they showed up.

EMS arrived, took over, loaded him up and zipped him over to the hospital. The manager tried to make a big deal about it and get me interviewed, but when no news outlets cared, he quickly forgot, and people their need margaritas, so I did too.

A few months later, it was mother's day weekend and graduation week. I was bartending and covering the indoor patio, "the greenhouse" and I sat a big family, all dressed up to celebrate their twins graduating from undergrad. I took the female twin's order and then turned to her brother, who ordered huevos rancheros, and I recognized the dude from the bathroom floor, though much healthier than the last time I saw him. He didn't recognize me at all, and as I walked back to the bar I realized that I'd just assumed he'd died. The thought of his sister sitting there alone, trying to celebrate her graduation a few months after her brother died made me tear up while I was putting their order in. I know that the actual healthcare workers had to do a lot more to save him after they took him away (this was pre-narcan), but I've always been grateful that I was able to be there for a stranger like that. I still think about him and wonder what he did with his life. I hope he and his sister are still close.

Without patting myself on my back too much, yes! I have spoken about this on BP before, but I have a Google Hangouts group for teens with mental health issues. And if not their lives, I've definitely saved a few people's sanity. And, I suppose, I've saved my own. Depression is NOT fun XD.

I was at a pool and saw a little girl walking along the steps, about chest deep in water for her. She accidentally stepped off the step and went under. I was a few steps away and moved as I saw it happen. Pulled her up and set her on the top step. There were other adults around, including a parent, I was just closest.

Yes, when I was ten years old, me and my father were once kayaking the Eagle River, and my dad lost his paddle and boat turned over, so I pulled him out onto a sand bar and we waited about a hour until a lovely young couple (and their dog Sprocket) came and we got onto their raft and boated to the next camping site. The ultimate Alaska adventure.

My father died of colon cancer so when my job asked me to promote free screening tests for colon cancer I took it seriously. One customer told me he didn’t need the test and I talked him into it. He came back later to thank me as he did have colon cancer and caught it early.

I saved my husband from drowning before we were married. He’s not the best swimmer to begin with so when he got caught in a rip tide, he started flailing and freaking out. Fortunately, I’m a good swimmer and was able to get him out before he drowned.

I limit my carbon footprint by walking instead of driving, recycle and use cloth bags instead of plastic, wear a mask or two, educate my grandchildren, donate to local charities, help neighbors in need, landscape with drought-tolerant native plants, avoid pesticides and fungicides, love my wife and protect her, and generally stay out of harms way. So... yes. But I will never know their names, if that's what you wanted.

For my job I do CPR courses twice yearly. Neighbour was choking on pizza and blue, ran over and started to do what I’d been trained for, and the woman on 000 told me I was doing it all wrong. Firemen showed up 2 minutes later, made sure the guy was safe, and told me I was right, the operator was wrong.

Neighbour's 2 yr old was playing in their car parked in the drive, and shifted it out of park. It started rolling down the drive so he scrambled to get out, but tripped and was dragged while holding on to the door sill with one hand. I was washing our car next door, heard him cry and ran to grab him as he lost his grip. The front wheel was about to roll over him when I tossed him across the lawn.

I didn’t even know I did until late but I saved my gf from killing herself by starting to date her

Maybe. Was a CIT (Counselor in Training) at a day camp for several weeks with a group of 4-5 year olds. Was in the outdoor swimming pool. At one point two of the small girls were in water that was deeper than they were--but easily shallow for me. I realized this and grabbed both back to shallow water. Keep in mind, I am not a great swimmer myself, was not a lifeguard, and not the strongest person. I think one of them got too far out and grabbed onto the second one for dear life, dragging her out with her. Both were fine, but one was clearly very scared afterwards.