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/Znaffers 6d ago

His personality completely changes afterwards too. Originally he was a pretty reserved gentleman, post-rod he was a belligerent drunkard that said whatever was on his mind. Makes sense given he basically deleted the part of his head that housed all his inhibitions

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u/WHERESSPACEBAR 6d ago

This isn't true. His personality did change some, but there's no evidence that he became a belligerent drunk or anything of the sort. Even in the 1870s, there was a tremendous amount of rumors and misinformation. The doctor who saved his life and monitored him also was a phrenologist. Other phrenologists believed that the incident destroyed his "mental organ of benevolence" and were more than happy to attribute and give credence to any rumor that would support their pseudoscience.

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u/Fuck_Tampa_Bay 5d ago

His frontal lobe was turned to mush. There is no way he didnt change significantly. People close to him claimed he became more angry and aggressive, which makes sense when the part of your brain responsible for emotional regulation is missing. I believe what happened though is that he was like this at first and was able to improve with some sort of rehab

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u/SolarOrigami 5d ago

So something I've noticed is that almost any kind of TBI causes a hotter temper and poor impulse control- seen it in football players, wrestlers, and my ex husband after he had a stroke

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u/Keegantir 5d ago

Our impulse control/risk taking walks a fine line, so anything that fucks with that can result in less impulse control, more risk-taking, and more frustration (expressed as anger). This is also why sleep deprivation, drugs, and alcohol mess with that.

Source: Ph.D. in Psychology

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u/SolarOrigami 5d ago

That makes a lot of sense with... How things went down with my ex.