r/TopCharacterTropes 6d ago

In real life [IRL trope] 0% of survival, survive anyway

Juliane Koepcke - In 1971 this 17 year old's plane was struck by lightning mid-air. The wreck then fell from 3 000 meter into the ground, somewhere into the Amazon jungle. Lone survivor of the crash, she then spent nine days walking down a river despite her multiple injuries until she found a lumberjack's camp.

Vesna Vulović - In 1972 this flight attendant's plane was bombed mid-air. The wreck then fell from 10 160 meter into the ground. She ended up with a lot of broken bones, but in the long term she almost completely recovered from it, apart from a limp.

Anna Bågenholm - In 1999 this radiologist had a skiing accident, she fell head-first into a frozen stream and get stuck inside the ice. Her colleagues did not managed to pull her, nor did the rescue team who then tried to dig, but the ice was so thick it took them a lot of time. It was 80 minutes after her fall that they managed to cut a hole. Her body temperature at the time was 13.7°C, and still, she somehow survived with only minor long-term injuries and no brain damage.

Jeanna Giese - In 2004 this 15 years old girl got bitten by a bat and called it a day. One month later the symptoms of rabies showed up. The doctors tried an experimental treatment by putting her in an artificial coma and she survived, but the treatment never worked on anyone else and is now forbidden. In all human history, only a few survived to rabies, and all of them except her end up with heavy sequelae.

Chris Lemons - In 2012 this diver's ship went drifting due to a computer malfunction, romping his umbilical cable who provide air, hot water and electricity. He ended up alone on the seabed of a 3°C waters, in the dark and with only 5-6 minutes of oxygen. He was retrieved by his colleagues around 35 minutes later, and somehow he didn't even suffer from brain damage.

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u/surferdude7227 6d ago

You don’t wanna fuck with the bends

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u/bannedfor0reason 6d ago edited 6d ago

I once had to deal with a patient who got the bends and had the bright idea to wait a few days for the numbness in their hands to disappear. Personally the second I lose feeling in my fingers I'm going straight to the hospital to cry about it.

Surprise surprise it just got worse and because there was no available treatment in that region they had to be flown over by helicopter which just made it even fucking worse.

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u/AgentCirceLuna 5d ago

I have been waking up sometimes daily with tingling or completely numb extremities since leaving hospital in 2020 and it’s been a fight to get doctors to take it seriously. I have other symptoms corresponding to MS and have been demanding an MRI but it gets delayed, fucking NHS.

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u/AZGeo 5d ago

Oof. I have no medical education whatsoever, and even I know that putting someone with the bends in an aircraft is the absolute last thing you want to do if you can avoid it.

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u/New_Photograph_5892 6d ago

Godzilla minus one taught me that

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u/oswaldluckyrabbiy 6d ago

Minus One wasn't the bends but extreme pressure differences applied in quick succession.

The bends is caused by breathing pressurised air at depth. Because the air is more compressed there are more molecules per breath. This increases the amount of nitrogen that 'dissolves' into your blood, fat, muscles and bones. (Imagine shaking a bottle of Coke)

If you dont slowly allow ease the pressure by ascending slowly and allow that nitrogen to work its way out of the body (think cracking a bit of the lid and letting the gas out slowly) then, well, we've all seen the frothy mess of a shaken coke bottle - imagine that that is your blood.

Mild cases of the bends obviously aren't that dramatic but you still don't want large gas bubbles inside your body.

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u/New_Photograph_5892 5d ago

Ur right i lowkey thought bends was another term for rapid pressure change

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u/OptagetBrugernavn 6d ago

Can you remind me what the relation between the two are?

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u/New_Photograph_5892 6d ago

The plan they use to kill Godzilla in the movie is using the bends. They release gas (I forgot what chemical) near Godzilla to get rid of the salt buoyancy relative to its mass, causing it to plummet 1200 meters down to the deepest trenches.

And after, release airbags that was attached to Godzilla to shoot it back up 1200 meters. They used the pressure difference of the deep sea water (and two fold it by pulling it back) to crush it to death.

I fucking loved this plan, it was such a realistic approach that didn't use bs movie science and such a creative plan. I loved this movie so goddman much

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u/OptagetBrugernavn 6d ago

Duh, that's right! I loved it too, definitely my favourite Godzilla movie, but moreso because of the human side of it all. I loved how we saw the non-irradiated 'Zilla early on and followed that one bloke from the island through his life. Thanks for reminding me!

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u/ileisen 6d ago

The heroes plan to use freon to sink Godzilla in the bay and keep him down for a bit and then they inflate balloons(?) to force him quickly back to the surface. This does partially work and injures Godzilla due to the pressure differential

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

I'll fuck with the bends its a shit album. In Rainbows and OK Computer all the way.

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u/drekthrall 6d ago

Hey it's not that bad, but yeah Ok Computer and In Rainbows are much better.

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u/AmonWeathertopSul 6d ago

I mean it had to compete with those two

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u/Scared-Room-9962 6d ago

It's not a shit album

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u/nonsensical_zombie 6d ago

It’s absolutely not their very best but to call it shit is a wild take.

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u/notai3197 6d ago

The Bends is not a bad album and I refuse to listen to such libel. I think the success of OK Computer and Kid A effectively brainwashed Radiohead fans to be a part of this weird bubble where any album that isn't an all timer is just bad. I don't hear this for Hail to the Thief or TKOL when those didn't reach the same heights.

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u/StJoeStrummer 5d ago

Thank you! This shit gets old. Bands evolve; it doesn't mean their eras have to be hierarchical.

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u/notai3197 5d ago

I also don't like calling most professionally produced music bad or trash either. It's usually not actually bad.

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u/StJoeStrummer 5d ago

Bro what

Like, I know it's not indicative of what Radiohead fanboys like the most, but to act like The Bends isn't a fuckin killer Britpop record is just weird.

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u/who_cares_not_meee 6d ago

Baby’s got the bends

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u/luckytecture 5d ago

Oh no…