Have any of you ever faced death or come close to it?

I came pretty close once when I got hit by an 18 wheeler on the freeway.. the details are below.

There were 4 lanes of traffic: an 18 wheeler was in the far left lane, then me in the lane next to him and two other lanes of traffic.

The 18 wheeler didn't see me (I guess I was in his blind spot) and he started to merge into my lane. In a split second I had a choice to make.. swerve to my right, possibly causing two lanes of accidents and maybe kill someone or turn into the 18 wheeler and hope that I'd be alright... I chose the 18 wheeler.

I knew I could never live with myself if I caused someone else to die even if it was an accident.

When I turned into the 18 wheeler, he slammed on his brakes which spun me in front of his truck. The 18 wheeler then pushed me down the freeway for a while and then threw my car into the guardrail.

I looked up and I was facing on-coming traffic and I remember looking at driver's faces as their cars passed me.. they looked so horrified.. it's kind of funny now.
:-)

By God's grace I was alright.. and so was everyone else.

One thing I do recall is that I felt no fear during all of this. I just kept turning the steering wheel to the left and kept pressing my foot on the brake. When the paramedics came, I said I was alright and to just get me down off the guardrail because I had to pick up my son at day care.

So they had me sign a waiver stating that I didn't want to go to the hospital. The cops stopped all four lanes of traffic, had my car pulled off the guardrail, turned it around and I was on my way.

It wasn't until I was driving down the freeway that the thought came to me what if the crash had damaged my brakes or the steering mechanism?!?

I picked up my son, made it home, called my husband.. then sat down and cried.

Everyday really is a blessing ya know. :-)