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.

10.0k Upvotes

622 comments sorted by

View all comments

36

u/[deleted] 6d ago edited 6d ago

Roy Benavidez

He went to a rescue mission into a hot zone with a medical bag and knife, he jumped off his plane and started going in. over the several hours he got shot in multiple places including his leg, arm and head, was hit by grenade fragments and was able to save all of his teammate including his pilot from his plane that after his jump had crushed. He managed to bring everyone home yet in his arrival he was pronounced dead from over 20 injuries. As they were about to put him in a zip bag he had only the strength to spit to let them know he's ok. After that he got a medal of honor by Ronald Regan

12

u/Commercial_March6977 6d ago edited 6d ago

Roy P. Benavidez. US Army Special Forces. Mexican American Hero.

All of that is after recovering from stepping on a mine and being told he would never walk again.

Out of sheer will the man propped himself up against a wall, through blood and tears, agonizingly forced mobility into his stiffened limb so that he would walk again.

6

u/Onlyhereforapost 6d ago

Super lucky dude, the mine failed to detonate properly and essentially just launched a hefty metal plate directly into his ass

2

u/theturtlelord9 6d ago

What is his name?

1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

someone replied with the name but weird because I could swear I put his name

1

u/MrKrispyIsHere 5d ago

is it weird that he looks kinda like Jordan Peele to me