How close have you come to death?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

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Recorded Clara Amfo said elsewhere, not written here
I choked on a hard-boiled lemon sweet when I was 13. My brother Sam saved me.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2020 source ↗

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Diana Athill Editor and memoirist
So, when many years later I really was near death as a result of a haemorrhage after a miscarriage, and heard a doctor saying “She’s very near collapse – call the lab and tell him to run” and understood that the “him” was the person fetching the blood they were going to pump into me, I was not in the least alarmed as I dimly wondered if I had the strength left to think some suitable Last Thought, concluded that I hadn’t, and said to myself the words: “Oh well, if I die I die.” I was sure, then, that nothingness was just that.

Recorded The Guardian, 23 September 2014 source ↗

More from Clara Amfo

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Question What song would you like played at your funeral? Death & what remains
Run to the Sun by NERD. I’ve always loved that song. People always think that Pharrell [Williams] wrote it about a lover but it was about his grandmother, who passed away. My brother was a massive NERD fan – he got me into them and there’s something so pure and loving about that song. I want my funeral to be a joyous occasion, I want people to rave and to wear bright colours. But for the moment of reflection, I want that song.

Recorded The Guardian, Honest playlist, The Guardian, 7 November 2022 source ↗

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