Just though I'd share this. One of my friends from church was found dead in his flat by his fiancee at 2pm this afternoon. I received news of this about an hour ago, and, naturally, I'm pretty thrown - Dave was a healthy and fit young guy having just turned 30 (a year older than me), and it appears that he suffered some sort of collapse. He was studying medicine and was engaged to be married later this year. I really don't want this to be a "big religious discussion" thread... The focus here is the fragility of life: whether you believe in Jesus or not, life could end any second without any warning - pretty alarming.
Absolutely true. My condition leaves me in a state where even a sharp blow to the chest or a fall will do me in-and it makes me take every day as though it's my last. I wish I could impart that manner of living to everyone.
Man, I'm sorry for the loss. That's rough. As for life, sometimes I feel as if I've been wasting it, never to fulfill potential and whatnot. But I am defintively sure that life in itself is something that we still never really take for what it is. A few years back I had a pretty good friend die, she was only 12, absolutely shocking. Died of poisoning from food. After that and having a few more relatives die (one in a fire) made me realize that life is very temperamental and indeed quite mercurial. That and we need to appreciate it more.
in my early 30's i was admitted to hospital and put on beta blockers, which i will be on for the rest of my life, i am only too aware of how short life can be. sorry to hear of your loss
A very close friend of mine was killed in a hit and run a few years ago, he was 26 at the time. Didn't really settle in my mind until his funeral, where the church, the church yard outside and the entire street was packed shoulder to shoulder with the local community and his friends. Single most touching thing I've ever seen. Sorry to hear of your loss, my regards to the family and friends.
Sorry to hear of your loss, no matter how it happens it's never easy. It's odd how it can work both ways though. We have a genetic line of Huntingtons Career in our family (thankfully it stopped at my mother but my uncle and aunt both have it) and one of my aunts was diagnosed with it quite early, she was around 28 and serving in the Royal Navy (and flying up the ranks at a rapid rate of knots too, not bad for the late seventies). Even though it was an early diagnosis the set in of the disease was extremely rapid and the top specialists in the country gave an outside chance of lasting 2-3 years with 3 years being about the same odds as winning the pools...........14 years later she finally died. She'd lasted so far beyond any expectation all we could manage was 'Oh.....'. It was a very bizarre feeling having aloved one die but being unable to feel the full grief of loss because you've spent the last decade or more grieving for that same loss. Conversely when I was 15 my girlfriend an I were walking along a road when a car swerved and struck her, ripping her hand out of mine. She died with her head on my lap with me telling her everything would be ok all the while knowing damn well that it wouldn't. That was so far to the other end of the spectrum i can't even begin to describe the pain of it. It is never easy but in time only the good memories remain and there will be people to feel the same for you when your time comes, that is a comforting thought.
A girl I known, went to primary school with her and secondary. Smart, very very good looking and had it all going for her....Her mum found her dead in her bedroom, hung herself...I really couldn't believe it. 2-3 years on and I still can't understand why she did it..Sigh...
In the end, nothing. He had swerved to avoid a cat instinctively and when his wheel hit the kerb it snatched on him according to the investigation, he also was not speeding or DUI or in a car which was not maintained properly. I saw him afterwards and couldn't possibly be angry at him, one look at his face was enough to tell you it was a genuine accident that he has to live with for the rest of his life. We still talk from time to time but not very often as he still becomes quite emotional when we speak. @Jake. That must be horrible. Anyone can grieve but the not knowing why must have destroyed her parents.
Precisely Throbbi, The parents were devestated, she was just about to take her GCSE's....Get her life on track and find out and all that... Its life isn't it? Like I've always said, lifes a bitch.
Life is incredibly fragile. Not just in terms of death, bit also in how easily everything can go south and you end up destitute and homeless. When you see some homeless person begging in the street, but for the grace of God, the universe or random chance, there truly goes any of us.
Life is also totally outwith our control, which is something I meant to convey by starting this thread. My mate is one example, and also friends of mine who had a baby boy who was born with a very rare cancer; he died aged 5 months on Christmas Day 2010. I think people get so caught up with day-to-day things that they forget how little influence they actually have in their own lives. Nexxo makes a good point that we could all end up destitute and homeless, and I believe that other people are chiefly to thank for our health and well-being: our families and friends who look out for us and teach us values. But no matter what we or others do, our lives are not ours to begin or to end. Scary thought.
Was it a heart attack? A school friend's brother died playing rugby at the age of like 21 some years ago, due to an enlarged heart. Undetected, it killed him in less than 30 seconds.
Everytime I think about a subject like this I always think of the Alanis Morissette song - Ironic, the lyrics "Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye He waited his whole damn life to take that flight And as the plane crashed down he thought 'Well isn't this nice...' " Doesn't matter what you do in life, there is always that one moment
This thread is definitively depressing. But it does hold true, we do tend to forget what matters most sometimes. And while that differs for many of us, we forget that material things can be replaced (usually), but people cannot. Recently I just went out of contact with one of my closest friends and confidant. It was mainly my fault, but I didn't realize how much she meant to me until she was gone. Of course, with my headstrong nature I tried doing everything in my power to prevent the rift. But it happened anyways. Doesn't have to be death, just important things leaving one's life that really makes one realize how temperamental life can be.
Good call. They said he had something like 5 years and he's massively outlived that. Plus he himself said he communicates better now than he did before his illness first affected him. Plus he's quite clever That being said, he is the exception, not the rule. The specialists say that my kids have an expected mortality of late teens to mid 20's which just isn't fair, it really hurts like hell. But, I have to live with it and hope they're are happy as they can be whilst they're here.
Sorry to hear of your loss, and everyone else's. I learnt about how fragile life is when I was 18 and had two samurai swords held across my neck in an armed robbery in the bar I used to work at. Still think about how easily I could have lost my life that day if I didn't just hand 26k over. On another note a 40yo guy who I used to play football with just collapsed one day. He was easily the fittest of anyone in the team, even us younger players. Sympathise with you but it was this that taught me a great lesson. Life is so fragile no matter how much you look after yourself, you go when you go, as horrible as that sounds. Now where did I leave that pie and beer
