20 People Whose Small Decisions Ended Up Saving Lives

In our everyday lives, we make decisions for everything. There are routes or paths where these decisions may lead, each has its direction. It may be a small or a big decision that can affect your life, just like these people with their life-saving moments. Let’s dive into their decisions that gave a better outcome.

• This July, I was in an airport at the top of an escalator where a woman was trying to deal with her luggage, a baby in a stroller, and a toddler. Her toddler slipped right before they got on the escalator, and without thinking, she reached for him and, in doing so, let go of the baby stroller that was halfway onto the top stair of the escalator.
  The stroller started to tilt downward, and when I realized it was about to completely tip over, I dropped my own luggage, grabbed it, and brought it back up to the landing. No idea if I actually saved the kid’s life, but the escalator was empty, so I imagine it would have fallen all the way down. © synaesthetist / Reddit
• I was working on my car with a friend. It was up on jack stands, and I was under looking for something. My friend said something, and I crawled out to talk to him.
  No sooner was my head clear that the stands failed, and the car fell back to the ground. Had I stayed under, I would have been crushed. © Drake_Cloans / Reddit
• My cat was stretched out in my lap, sleeping panther style, while I had dozed off in a chair around 11:30 pm. Suddenly, she jumped up, which woke me up, and stared over my shoulder at the back door with her mouth agape and eyes dilated. She really looked scared, so I went to investigate and was startled to find a tall man, late 20s, in my laundry room. He had just picked the lock to enter the back door.
  I pivoted and ran barefoot out the front door to a neighbor, who called the police. Eight police officers arrived silent approach within a minute, but the intruder had already bolted. My cat gave me about a ten-second jump on the intruder, rather than him having the jump on me. I shudder to think what would have happened if my cat hadn’t warned me.
  The police asked if the intruder had a backpack, which he didn’t— so he wasn’t there to steal. My kitty is now 22 years old, and I gratefully dote on her every whim. © LosAngelista2 / Reddit

• I have been struggling so much for the last 3 months with just everything. This morning I went to get groceries with my last money, and the woman in front of me paid for my groceries. When I burst into tears and told her how this was my last money, and I’ve been feeling so down.
  She offered to get me more, but I declined and told her that this already meant so much to me. Later in the parking lot, she gave me a jar of homemade jam and wished me well. I just had to share this with someone.
  I’m never so lucky. I’ve never won a contest or had anyone pay for anything for me like this. I have never in my life been treated with such kindness from a stranger, and it just made me feel like maybe there’s a reason to be here. I just had to tell someone. © pearberry- / Reddit
• My sister was walking to class, and she passed a kid sitting in his car, looking to be asleep, but he didn’t look ok. She tapped on the window, but no response. She called 911, once the cops and an ambulance arrived, she had to get to class.
  The cop who first reported to the scene called to tell her that the kid would have died if she hadn’t called them when she did. She’s awesome and my hero. Not just for her actions on that day, but she is a Social Worker and does amazing things every day. © julz19ski / Reddit
• The red cross tells me I save 4 lives every time I give blood. So, apparently, I’ve saved somewhere around 24 lives. © Unknown author / Reddit
• Went back for my helmet, hardly ever wore one, lost control during emergency braking, and hit the highway going 45 mph. EMT said I would not have made it without the helmet. © maestro2010 / Reddit

• My mother was scheduled to go on a helicopter trip in the Arctic to look at polar bears or something. Ended up not being able to go because my little bro was born a few weeks early. There was a storm, and the helicopter crashed.
  The only reason my mother wasn’t on the helicopter was because my lil’ bro decided that he wanted out early. I guess he saved his own life too, technically. © timjwr / Reddit
• I walked on the street and wasn’t paying attention. My friend stopped me, and suddenly a big bus drove by. If he didn’t stop me, I probably wouldn’t be here. © CryptoMailAms / Reddit
• I was skateboarding home from my University two years ago, and I thought I saw a woman struggling to push her car into a parking lot (I thought it had died on her). Had a small internal conflict whether to help or not. Decided to stop and ask if she needed help. Turns out she was choking, 7 seconds later, I saved her life. © Unknown author / Reddit
• Apparently, while my father was looking at me in the hospital through the glasses to watch babies or whatever, he noticed I was blue-ish. So he called someone at the hospital, and I guess that person, too, saved me. © jpg12345 / Reddit
• I worked in a med lab, my job was to go over the Doctor’s orders and make sure everything was correct. They missed a potassium test, so I ran in, got that ordered, turned out to be lethally high. Tech called the Doctor at 2 in the morning, doc got the patient to the hospital. © thebaldguy76 / Reddit

• It was 2 am in the morning, and I woke up feeling thirsty. I was about to fall asleep again, but then I decided to get up because my throat felt dry. Went down to the kitchen, it was dark, but there’s a certain light in the corner.
  Turns out the gas stove was left open, I quickly turned it off, fires often happen in our area. Glad I went down for water, it could’ve spread.
• I don’t really remember this too well since I was very young (one or two years old, can’t remember), but we were at my dad’s friend’s house. They have horses, and we were outside in one of the pastures looking at them and petting them.
  Apparently, one of the horses lost its balance and fell in my direction. My dad’s friend leaped over and threw me out of the way, and the horse landed on him. I don’t remember if he got injured or not, but had he not been quick, I could have been severely injured or worse. © vTeej / Reddit
• A friend fell off a cliff we were climbing. I immediately jumped, grabbed him by his belt, hung onto the ledge with my other hand, and pulled him up and over the top. © cinaak / Reddit
• I told my Grandpa he had bumps on his back. He got curious and went to a doctor. Caught cancer early. © PennSullivan / Reddit
• Had a visitor in our house, mom told me to serve the guests something to eat. We have a few sandwich spreads and bread, so I prepared those. My hungry self decided to pick the one with peanut butter and serve it like I didn’t do a thing.
  When they were eating, the visitor said that, thankfully, there was no peanut butter in the sandwiches because he had severe allergies. Guess my cravings prevented something.

• I was hiking in Vermont. Trails were really icy, and I eventually had to turn back if I wanted to get back to my car before dark. I was crossing the top of a frozen waterfall, where you pretty much had to slide from tree to tree to stay upright, when I saw an older woman coming up. I told her the trails get even worse further up, but she was really confident in her Yaktrax.
  Not ten yards later, I heard her fall and turned back to see her just slide right over the top of the waterfall and into a gorge. If I hadn’t been there to call in mountain rescue, she would have likely frozen to death that night. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I don’t know if I really did, but two different homeless men told me I saved their lives after I spent 3 years visiting them every Friday afternoon. Some friends and I started a group that would go down to this river area to pass out water and canned food to homeless people. Over time, it really turned into just visiting and talking, sometimes doing things like going to court, etc.
  When I was getting ready to move away for school, and I knew it was my last time, one of them came up to me and told me that we gave him a sense of worth. He gave me a letter from the other one, which basically said the same thing. I hope they’re still ok. © pomonamike / Reddit
• I recently pulled a lady from a freezing river. I was bringing my kid home from nursery, and saw a dog without an owner on the riverbank. Pulled up and saw someone struggling in the water.
  My kid is a hero. He waited patiently, and I was able to drag her out, without going in myself. She was a mess, but my boy was also really good and caring, and helped her and her dog.
  He’s four. I’m so proud of him. An ambulance came and took her home. © Sa***Ciren / Reddit

Decisions that are made certainly have an impact, as these people shared. Click this link to read more.