If you live long enough eventually you may have several near death experiences. At least ones you interpret as near-death. But who knows really?
I was in car wreck caused by my friend swerving to miss a possum crossing the road. Our little VW station wagon flipped over and over again- of course we were not wearing seat belts. When we finally stopped I heard Chuck Berry singing Sweet Little 16 from the 8-track tape deck. I was still alive but with a broken sternum and my friend had broken neck.
Once off the Canary Islands I got caught in a severe riptide with no one around and barely struggled back to a tiny rock to recoup and then swam as hard as I could back to shore. On Wheeler Peak in Nevada at 13500' I was caught in a severe electrical storm. Several folks got struck that afternoon.
In 1998 four others and I got swept off our paddleboat while going through Crystal Rapid on the Colorado River. Those of you that have done this trip know that Crystal is one rapid you do not want to swim through! I came up under the raft in 48° water, certain it was the end of me. But wonderfully strong hands pulled me safely back onto the raft.
Once near the top of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco I was pretty sure some Berbers were going to put an ice ax in my head if I didn't pay them some money.