What’s the biggest ‘miracle’ or something that by almost any measure shouldn’t have happened but did for you?

Sounds like she was the kids' miracle too

I survived being born. My mom told me that at one point the doctors didn't know if she was going to make it or if I was going to make it. Emergency C-section. 

When I was born, I was blue. They showed me to my mom real quick, she didn't get the chance to hold me, and they took me away to some other place. Not sure what they did, but I'm here.

Our daughter, Ella.

She's is the beautiful miracle in our lives.

That I lived through my late teen and early 20s. So much stupid, how I lived through those years is definitely a miracle.

   I was born with faulty kidneys. The two local hospitals tried , but could not do anything to help. The second one told my parents of the new kidney dialysis work that was being done at UCLA. They donated me to science , but were able to take me home after successful completion of the process. 
   The Dr told my parents he’s gonna make one hell of a drinker. He was wrong 🤣 The biggest miracle in my adult life was putting the drink down and getting sober 40 years ago. My entire life has literally been on borrowed time. 

The gentleman has a great attitude.

Get some 💪🏼

My dad barely survived being born. It was a small town rural hospital in 1941. My grandmother was bleeding profusely.   My grandpa told the doctor, when asked, to save my grandmother if it came to that. Lucky for me, both survived. 

are you still needing kidney care now? I lost 1 to cancer 3 years ago and we're really focused on trying to keep the other 1 healthy as long as possible. So far so good but I'm stage 3 (out of 5) CKD and they don't get better from here and I'm always looking for new and better treatments for later down the road if it comes to that... 🙂

I'm lucky to have been born and still be alive and walking.

 My Dad was in a car accident with 2 friends. He was in the back seat sleeping and woke up after the crash to see  one of his friends headless torso still buckled into the passenger seat and his other friend had been thrown from the car. They hit a guide wire for a telephone pole at a very high rate of speed in a fast older car sometime in the 50's or 60's.   They hit a tree and took branches off the tree 30' up.  And some how the guide wire from one of the poles they hit cut his friends head off. He was passed out drunk in the back seat and his 2 buddies had also been drinking. He told me the story so many times that I started to block it out.

  During the first surgery I had the Anesthesiologist was convinced that I used cocaine for some reason. Kept asking me. I've smoked pot before , but never anything else other than alcohol. She just kept asking, and was saying that its OK , I won't get in any trouble they just need to know so they can make sure they give me the correct amount of medicine.  I kept saying no, nothing.  So then they finally start the IV and meds and it was the first time I was ever put under so I had no ide what to expect.  

 As I was counting I could hear the beep, beep, beep of the heart monitor and then everything slowly turned white and the beep went solid and then faded away as everything was super bright white . Next thing I remember is looking around the operating room , and seeing dewalt drills, and dremal brand tools. And it was like I was seeing through a 360 camera. I could see everything in the room, and if I focused on something I would zoom into see it closer. It was the strangest thing.  Then the next thing I remember is being awake in the bed, and my throat was really sore . And the nurse came in and said " Oh wow, you're breathing on your own again, that's a good thing".  And that was how they told me I had died for a short period.

 Then maybe 3 or so years later, new years eve of 2003 . I was out in my garage painting a lunch box  that was a gift for somebody. At the time I was working for a developer fulltime and painting custom helmets on the side. I did  metal lunch boxes as gifts back then, and a few bike frames here and there. I was heading up to Vermont the next day with friends and had packed my truck with everything. Clothing, helmet for snowmobiling, extra boots, etc.  I finished up painting around midnight or just after and went into the house to sleep. At the time I had a bedroom in the basement of my parents house and it was an older house. No stairs from the basement into the house and only 1 door in and out. And 4 regular  sized basement windows. The garage had about a 4 foot path between the wall and a fence then a parking lot for a church. Leaves always built up in it. And there were always meetings at the church with people smoking cigarettes. It being new years , people were also lighting off fireworks .

I was sleeping and all of a sudden I heard somebody yelling, I was pissed off and went to the window to see what they were doing yelling at me in the middle of the night. Well it turns out the garage had caught fire. My parent's and Sister had already all gotten out of the house with all the pets. My mother had to pee and by extreme chance, she had left the door open to the laundry room that was normally close. And she noticed that it was really bright outside. Half asleep she was thinking wow the sun is so bright and then realized it was the garage on fire.  She went  back into the bedroom and woke my Dad up, grabbed a coat and blanket and the Dog, woke my sister up and she grabbed the cat and they went outside. My Dad grabbed blankets and jackets for everybody on the way out.  And and they called the Fire Dept. As they got outside they saw  a fireman from another town that was up the street at a party and saw the fire, called it in and came to help. He heard that I was in the basement and he was the one yelling at me. 

The Garage was at the back of the house, with my truck, the laundry room and the only door in or out of the basement. For those who don't know, I am 6'9" and have been right around 280-330 most of my life since breaking my foot. He was trying to get me to go out the basement window. Two firemen pulling on my arms. Meanwhile the paint and race gas had really gotten the fire burning. Old 5 gallon buckets of dirty kerosene from cleaning air filters, small propane canisters from grills, the smaller 1 pound type and multiple 5 gallon containers of VP ultimate 4 . Gallons of DuPont Chroma base ,clear coat, reducers, Lacquer thinner , etc. Many small explosions were starting to happen .  I told them I was just going to go out through the basement doors and that it was dumb to try and get out the window. As I pulled away from the window I saw my mom collapse onto her knees , as I went back into the burning building. She later told me she though that was going to be the last time she saw me alive.

 I went to the door, opened the door, and then the basement bulkhead after and all I saw was fire!  The tope of my hat melted, and somehow I was totally fine. I turned around and slammed the door shut, I don't think I fully opened or close the bulkhead.  And went back to that window. But this time I had seen what everybody was so worked up about and was super motivated to get out of that window. I can remember seeing my life flash Infront of my eyes as I kicked holes into my wall to create a ladder of sorts. The same 2 people were there again, and I took my hat off, and put everything from my pockets inside it so I would have a better shot at fitting . Then I turned and grabbed a helmet I had started painting that was sitting on a shelf in my room , masked up. And the first trophy I ever won and handed them out to him and he started to yell at me and said " This is no time to think about material things, this is your life we are talking about You need to get out!!" . I reached out and had two people pulling me, and walked myself up those steps I had kicked into the wall, and got my feet up high enough that I was able to push myself threw the window by putting my feet on a soffit and pushing. I just barley made it out. But I made it out. With my phone , helmet and trophy.  My mom came over and gave me a jacket that my dad had grabbed.  And we went across the street to her car and watched the house burn. 

There were many smaller explosions. The walk in door to the garage blew off when the firemen were going to open it and 2 firemen had to be treated for minor injuries . The fire raged and I watched my brand new Silverado burn. The horn honking and then burning, tires popping. A giant 60 foot high explosion  was the most spectacular  and shortly after that they got the fire under control.  The fire dept was only 3 blocks away from my house at the time. And they said they could see the fire when they pulled out of the station. Only 1hour and 45 minutes had passed from when I went in to go to sleep, and when the fire was totally out.  And the garage, my truck, 3 450's and tons of tools, riding gear,etc, all burnt.  Luckily they saved most of the house. But the areas that were damaged happened to have all of my stuff in them. That day I lost everything except a 5th wheel camper that I had parked at a friends house a few miles away. and the clothing I had on. The camper itself was cleaned out because I was planning on trading it in.  My friend gave us some blankets to use and we all tried to get a little sleep after all of it. We got to the camper around 330am. We didn't really sleep that well, and we ended up going to the house early in the morning. 

One other strange thing that happened was my boss and another friend that  owns a roofing company were driving by and saw the fire and stopped in. My boss told me to call him in the morning and he would let me use a company truck until I got a rental or bought something and that I could use any tools I needed. So I went to his house and grabbed the truck and went and bought some plywood and tools to cover the doors and windows the Fire dept had broke out.  Then had the fun of dealing with insureance.

 Fast forward another few years , and at this point I am working for myself fulltime and at a local race. I'll keep this one shorter .I was in my toy hauler and  my foot was really bothering me. It felt like the stitching on the shoes I was wearing had rubbed on the screws in my foot. And I felt a burning sensation. That was the start of increasing pain that would end up being another close call with death.  It took a while to get a Dr. that would try and fix it. And by that point I was super sick and felt like I was going to die every night when I went to sleep, I though it would be my last. About a year and a half or 2 years had passed since I felt that first burning  before I got the date for my surgery. They did a blood test and saw elevated white cells ( I think that's what it was , signs of infection whatever it was). So they setup surgery for the next week. After opening it up they realized I had a massive infection and that was the cause for all my health issues at that point. What was supposed to be a couple hour surgery and one night at the hospital turned into multiple surgeries and weeks spent in the hospital. MRSA, somehow they saved my leg and foot. And said that I was insanely lucky to not only have survived so long with the infection, but lucky to still have my leg . The only way that I could have gotten that type of infection, inside  the bone  was from a previous surgery. And that was about 3 or 4 years before they discovered the signs of infection and operated.  At the time Internal MRSA infections had a 35% mortality rate, so about 1 in 3 people who get them die from the infection. 

 There are some other close calls that I got lucky with, but this is already too long.      

Anyone else's first thought when you read this title was that you've actually won a race ?  

My miracle happened a couple of years ago. It’s pretty heavy, and I hope I’m not over sharing, but hopefully this will stay with some dads of young kids. 

I was moving firewood to the house like normally do, loading up the back of the truck and shifting it. The kids normally come, but this time my wife’s dad came and helped as well.

We unloaded the firewood, my oldest (4) jumped in the passenger seat and my youngest (2) stayed at the back with my wife’s dad. I paid attention to her being there. I clipped my oldest in, looked around to make sure everything was clear and started slowly driving forwards. I heard a bang and the truck went up and down.

In the time it had taken to clip in my oldest, my youngest had wandered around the front of the truck, and my wife’s dad thought she had gone with me. At her height, she was well below the top of the bonnet.

We dragged her out, and she was dazed but breathing. The ambulance was there in about 10 minutes. She had improved a bit by this point, but they airlifted her to hospital. 

She was released from hospital the two days later, with bumps and bruises, but nothing damaged. 

It was truly the worst moment of my life. And I would never wish it on anyone. 

So grateful to still have my daughter.

So any dads of young kids that read this, please triple check were your kids are, it can happen so so quickly.

No, just the initial dialysis when I was an infant and nothing since. They are both in great condition, and I am a donor so if anything happens to me, they’ll give life beyond what they have given me. Good luck to you with your journey down that road. 

Wow, somebody was watching over her. I am not a father, but I know that must have hit you hard .I can not imagine how that must have felt. Thank god she was and is ok. I would say that is a miracle for sure!  

Your story reminded me of another close call.

When I was working for a developer I was running a 25 ton Excavator and digging out of a loam pile. It had a reach of about 30 feet, and the bucket held about a yard , it was about 5 feet across. I took a scoop from the top that was covered in tall grass and saw a young girl and boy right there. Must have been about 10 inches from hitting her with the bucket. I jumped out of the machine and ran up the hill to see if she was ok. She was so scared she could barely speak.  She said she was OK, and I made sure her and her little brother got home safely. since then I was always checking piles and around the lots before work and after lunch. She and I both got lucky that day. I know they just liked to watch my dig.  They lived in one of the houses in the subdivision we were working in. And I told them they could watch anytime, but that they needed to stay in their yard . And that they could come see the machines close up if they came back with one of their parents. But to never play around them while we were working . It was scary to think what was so close to happening. 

Wow. Praise God

Whew, sorry that happened man, very thankful it came out okay.👍 

My wife developed HELLP syndrome when she was pregnant with our 2nd child. At the time, doctors didn't understand the disease as well as they do now, and I came to find out that about 80% of the time, one or both of the mother and child died. I knew it was serious when they started doing tests on her and and the doctor said, "If we get the tests back and they're positive, we're going to deliver the baby. If 5:00 rolls around and we still don't have the results back.... we're going to deliver the baby." We were only at 32 weeks so far.
My son was born 8 weeks early. He weighed in at 5Lb., 6Oz. and had underdeveloped lungs. They kept him in the hospital for weeks with a feeding tube and round-the-clock care in the NICU. He made it, though, and now he's a robust young man who rides a 125. His mom made it, too. I got really lucky. 

I won my first jetski race

I was run over by a car when I was 4.... first time I broke my neck... good times!! Loll.... I truly only remember 5 minutes of it from incident to healthy... 

But.... that reminds me of something much worse... I was riding at a public state run spot.... there was a dad riding a quad, his son was riding an 85 bike... this was at st joe st Park in MO a decade ago.... anywhos.... dad comes flying down a hill and hits/kills his own son by accident.... there was cops everywhere after it happened.... heli came in but it was no help.... I still wonder how that guy is doing.... 

#becarefuloutthere 

Not long after we were married my wife was feeling really tired and drained from just walking the do around the block with a slight incline. She went to her Dr and they did all kinds of tests and they said she was in good health and fine she just needed to work out more. My wife had to insist for them to do a stress test. I dropped her off for it and not long into it they stopped the test and took her back to the patient room but they left the door open and every couple minutes one of them would come and check on her. They called me and told me to come and get her and take her across the street to the hospital to get her checked out. When we went in they were assembling a full blown surgical team before they would go in and check her out. They went in and brought her back in the room with the heart Dr and said she needed to have immediate heart surgery. They went back in and cracked her chest because she had the black widow. No heart attack just fixed the issue.

There are some incredible miracles in this post. Being 67 today I have seen a few so I will go with the one that’s motorcycle related. 

I was a 15 year old going to HS in Palm Springs. Typical teen who would take advantage of the single parent household and a mom that was way too busy trying to raise 3 kids. 
I had bought a 1972 street-legal Honda SL 70 from one of my moto buddies. Back then those small pit bikes were very popular and I was one of a dozen or so moto kids who had them to goof around on. 
So my mom knew I had a Honda Elsinore n the garage but never noticed I added a little Honda in there with plates. So on school days when she was getting ready to work I would sneak it out, push it down the street away from the house, fire it up and head off to school on city streets. No permit/license, no helmet. 

This had gone on for months. Typical of schools back in the 70’s when students could ride up on a motorcycle and park it in shop class and go on with our day, no teacher ever bothered to ask how a 15 yr old was riding a motorcycle to school. 

One day at lunchtime a buddy and I wanted to go grab a burger a few miles from school so he hopped  on the back and off we went. Of course I rode like an idiot … back n those days we were racing twice a week and I had the arrogance of nothing could hurt me so why take a helmet. 

We r blasting down Ramon road in heavy traffic in the fast lane. 2 teenagers, no helmets, my buddy’s feet flailing on the sides without  buddy  pegs. The bike was of course wide open and we were doing around 45 mph when suddenly I heard a loud bang and the rear end swapped/slid to the left at a 90° angle from the road. I had zero control as it immediately shot us straight to the right across the other lane of cars and off into the desert where we went around 30’ or so before it slowed to a stop and we both plopped off into the sand. Some other classmates were in a car directly behind us and when they came to check on us my friend told me the car to the right missed my head by inches as we darted in front of it. 
One thing I can picture in my mind to this day. I don’t how to describe the feeling of “your life passing in front of your eyes” but it happened to me. In those 5-6 seconds from the tire puncture to me picking myself up off the ground visions of my life flashed through my mind. Screenshots so to speak of being a toddler up until my current age at the time. It made me realize my mind was certain this was it. Honesty it terrified me so much at the time I was not very shook up once we realized we were okay. I could have killed my buddy any myself so easily that day. 
Of course being a dumb teenager we pulled the bike out of the sand to a friends house who lived close to the wreck. Put it in his backyard and went out by the pool and smoked a  joint until school was over and they came home. Rounded up a tube, fixed the flat and rode my bike home (without a helmet of course) parked it in the garage and my mom never knew what had happened. 

Miracle or just dumb luck. I think back on that and how easily the life I have now with children and grandkids could have been altered  that day.  

it’s amazing any of us made it to adulthood after thinking back on all the stupid crap we did as teenagers 

Back When I lived in Madison TN just outside of Nashville you could get a 125cc and under MC license at 14 and ride on the street.

I won my first MTB race , and the first  MX race that I finished.  

  My first MX race was at Southwick and resulted in 2 red flagged  starts after big pile ups, a torn ACL that was misdiagnosed as a sprain and being off the bike for a couple weeks . There were 3 or 4 full gates to qualify into the second moto in my class that year at the opening round of NESC. I finished the first moto , that was the qualifier a lap down after crashing  and tearing my ACL in the first turn. At least I still got 3 gate drops even riding 1 class and only lining up for 1 moto.  

  Then I came back about a month and a half later and got a second in my first moto and first in my second for 1st overall. And  moved up to the B class after pointing out in 1 more race than the minimum possible, got 6th my first race in the B class, 3rd my second and then hurt my foot at an Arenacross. 

 I only won  one overall in the B class. It was on a day that was super hot and they were doing 30 minute moto's.  It was an open A and B moto. I got a 3rd place start behind my buddy that was in the A class, I just followed him and we pulled into the lead and it felt like just another day out practicing. I just followed him around, and could not believe that we just kept pulling a bigger lead on the rest of the pack.  At one point we came around to lap the rider that had holeshot the moto, he was in second place in my class and I remember him giving me a thumbs up as we went by him. That race was exactly how faster riders describe going fast. It felt slow. And was the least hard I tried  in any of the races I was ever in. Wish I had some video of it.

Looking back on race and practice video from that time, I can see that I was faster practicing than racing. And I could have done much better if I had not tried so hard and made mistakes all the time. Some videos I've watched of myself look like 2 different riders.    

Good job!

Getting my first teaching job at top-tier high school as a moderate to severe stutterer. Started as a substitute and got a summer school teaching job with the educational foundation that runs out of the district office. My first summer school class was an absolute disaster. I was added as a co-teacher during the first week to a Geometry Recovery class that was going poorly. I did all of the planning and direct instruction and the other teacher who started the term recused herself to grading homework and tests and sitting in the corner... I asked the site principal to observe me teaching this terrible group of summer school kids and she liked what she saw and hired me to start in the fall. The other teacher was pissed because she wanted that job, too. Still here 14 years later. One of the highest scoring public schools in the SoCal area. Took this photo after the floor got waxed in my room. 

I had a twin brother that died at 4 days old. He had major health issues obviously. I forget how old I was when I found out about him. There are times in my life when I question why was I healthy and him so bad he died after 4 days ? What if the problems were split down the middle or he was the one to make it. Like that movie twins with Arnold and Danny Devito. It's like he took all the bad traits so I could live a normal life. I don't think about him as much as I probably should, but I know I'm lucky to be here.